Greenbelt Alliance releases a new At Risk: The Bay Area Greenbelt report roughly every five years. To create this report, we perform a detailed mapping analysis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software, ArcGIS, to addresses three topics: development pressure, policy protection, and natural values.
Greenbelt Alliance publicly releases our At Risk GIS Data to be used by GIS practitioners, planners, and government staff so that they can also perform their own analysis.
Download the data set below. Please note, the file is apx 125MB. It may take a few minutes to download depending on your connection speed. You will also receive an email with a link to the file for future use.
By providing holistic data to land-use professionals, we inform good development decisions and preserve our natural and agricultural lands.
Methodology
The At Risk analysis evaluates development pressure factors on open space surrounding the region’s cities, policy protection measures to protect or minimize impact to the land, and the interweaving natural and agricultural values and benefits that tell the story of these Bay Area greenbelt landscapes. This research models the cumulative strength of natural value policy protection measures against the overlapping development pressure factors to derive an At Risk score that approximates the likelihood of urban development for a given area.
This land development assessment is then reported in time horizons. Land at high risk is likely to be developed within 10 years; land at medium risk is likely to be developed within30 years, and low risk land as unlikely to develop in the next 30 years.
Additionally, the project gathers and evaluates spatial data from the best available research to understand where vital lands provide clean water, food, and wildlife habitat supporting healthy ecosystems. Comparing this natural value data against the At Risk results provides a plausible estimate of the potential loss of these ecosystem service benefits and values.
Get the detailed Report Methodology here.
Looking for an online tool? Try the Bay Area Greenprint.
Contact us for questions about mapping and the At Risk GIS Data.