At the center of Cleveland's sustainability agenda is the cultivation of land to grow healthier food for its citizens. The city has a rare urban garden zoning overlay which protects urban gardens, but it also has to deal with food desserts—large territories where residents don’t have a supermarket within a 1-mile walk or bus ride but plenty of fast food within a half-mile.

This Friday, the Cleveland City Planning Commission will consider a series of resolutions that could open new urban agriculture opportunities for its residents. Specifically, the city will allow backyard chicken coops, bee keeping and even grazing of cows and goats. Its part of a larger local food initiative and some creative rethinking around how to make a shrinking city more sustainable. Read more.