Mapping the Locavore's Food Supply

FiveThirtyEight and ESPN recently produced a short documentary about the creators of Falling Fruit—a website that maps food sources in cities around the world.

1 minute read

December 17, 2014, 7:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


In the first installment of a series of short documentaries, FiveThirtyEight and ESPN Films introduce Evan Welty and Caleb Phillips, creators of the Falling Fruit website—"an open-source, user-generated website that catalogs the location of edible plants all over the world."

As Anna Maria Barry-Jester explains in the FiveThirtyEight post, Falling Fruit "has more than 786,000 data points, each of which represents a location containing one or more plants."

"What’s remarkable about the site," adds Barry Jester, "is that 98 percent of the data points currently come from municipal tree inventories."

The article goes on to address the question asked by the headline: "How many people can the plans in one city feed?" although the answer is not totally clear.

When Planetizen first caught wind of Falling FruitHenry Grabar wrote about the potential of the site to help planners design more edible cities.  

Tuesday, December 16, 2014 in FiveThirtyEight

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Aerial view of town of Wailuku in Maui, Hawaii with mountains in background against cloudy sunset sky.

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly

Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

July 1, 2025 - Honolulu Civil Beat

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 9, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Map of Haussmann's redesign of Paris in the 1850s through 1870s under Napoleon III.

In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the New Design Thinking

Creativity has long been key to great urban design. What if we see AI as our new creative partner?

June 30, 2025 - Tom Sanchez

Red and white "Wildfire Evacuation Route" sign on signpost.

Cal Fire Chatbot Fails to Answer Basic Questions

An AI chatbot designed to provide information about wildfires can’t answer questions about evacuation orders, among other problems.

July 10 - The Markup

Protester at Echo Park Lake, Los Angeles holding sign that says "Housing is a human right"

What Happens if Trump Kills Section 8?

The Trump admin aims to slash federal rental aid by nearly half and shift distribution to states. Experts warn this could spike homelessness and destabilize communities nationwide.

July 10 - Shelterforce Magazine

Aerial of rainbow painted crosswalks at large intersection in Castro District, Sna Francisco, California.

Sean Duffy Targets Rainbow Crosswalks in Road Safety Efforts

Despite evidence that colorful crosswalks actually improve intersection safety — and the lack of almost any crosswalks at all on the nation’s most dangerous arterial roads — U.S. Transportation Secretary Duffy is calling on states to remove them.

July 10 - Streetsblog USA

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.

Home and Land Services Coordinator

Appalachian Highlands Housing Partners

Associate/Senior Planner

Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development

Senior Planner

Heyer Gruel & Associates PA