200 Seeds: Anything Germinate?

Happy weekend. Wow - it's happened so fast. 200 posts strong - and pretty much on-goal for 2008. There have been some lulls, some work-related slow periods, and some just plain I don't want to write anything periods - which have caused me to re-think and allowed Landscape+Urbanism to do well nonetheless. Some would argue a more sporadic posting with more writing and/or theory would be good... I agree. I also have a job, a bunch of community activities, a life, and many, many other projects. So me plugging something out in half an hour is good - with an occasional longer and more thoughtful post.

:: SFMOMA Rooftop Garden - image via World Architecture News

I took this opportunity to take a look at some of the posts over the last 8 months, as well as looking at the initial Seeds and the 100th Post - and see what ideas and trends have emerged. It may be obvious to regular readers, but a quick summary...

:: Veg.itecture (of course, plus more theory about the concept)

:: Urban Agriculture (particularly new methods for expansive

:: Eco-Planning (does it exist... how to strive towards it)

:: Innovative Landscape Architecture (projects from around the world)

:: Representation Techniques (it matters - it really does)

:: Landscape Urbanism (more application and theory)

:: Readings (books reviews and such)

So a quick accounting. Since the counter was implemented in February, there have been around 36,000 visitors and almost 90,000 page views. A google search of Landscape Urbanism get's high marks, as well as a number of hits for content. Technorati is steadily increasing and sitting at 68 currently - which is good. People are reading, looking and linking. Whatever metrics are used to determine success, I feel like what I set out to accomplish has been met. There are 100 or so blogs that we are linked to - which is great. Comments have been sporadic but interesting - ranging from kudos to clarifications - all with an eye towards refining and expanding the overall understanding of issues. The comments of 'I love your blog' are nice too :)

So, in going forward, I'm not really looking to change anything dramatically... just continue to evolve the content as my interest and thinking evolves. I thought about reconfiguring the categories to better fit the content, but think I'll just leave things as-is. A search is probably best anyway.

I feel like there are a wealth of items in Portland and surrounding areas that could be covered. The slow-down of the Sustainable Stormwater Blog means I will cover more of this topic, as Portland (arguably) is leading the charge with innovative implementation. Also, I'd like to do more book reviews and articles with expanded content, as well as keeping the format of simple posts or aggregations of projects on a consistent theme.

Always, if anyone has suggestions on improvements, I would appreciate them. As a designer, I'm predisposed to accept any criticism constructively, so there's no fear in offending me. If however, there is something that you disagree with or take offense - shoot an email or post a comment. And keep reading. It's inspiring to see all of the new blogs and great inspiration, and I hope I contribute a bit to that in some way.

Urban Ag: The Pulse

It's been a while since I've done a significant post on urban agriculture. This is somewhat purposeful - for one everywhere you look the topic has caught fire. A quick summary shows recent articles in the LA Times, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, American City, CNN, San Francisco Chronicle, Globe & Mail, Granville, Dwell, Slate - and on, and on...


:: image via Treehugger

For a variety of current and upcoming projects - and a more expansive paper I'm writing - I've been compiling a number of case-studies and other assorted research around the concept of urban agriculture. Here's a quick update on some of the recent findings. Anyone interested in Urban Agriculture would be remiss to not check with City Farmer - which always has links to a number of papers worth checking out, including these:

:: Urban Agriculture Resource and Education Centre - Concept Paper
:: Edible Backyards: Residential land use for food production in Toronto
:: Urbanization and class-produced natures: Vegetable gardens in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (MRB)


One worth some further elaboration, Edible Cities featured a group from the UK did a study of US-based urban agriculture projects entitled (the report is available here) which "...shows edible cities are the future - Edible Cities, looks at examples of urban agriculture projects in cities and identifies a series of opportunities that other cities could be adopting."


:: image via City Farmer

The report summarized a number of topics and opportunities, from SustainWeb: "A commercial element to many of the US projects, which is much less common in the UK; A more liberal situation in the US than in the UK to encourage composting, but less willingness than in the UK to include animals in some urban agriculture projects; Different approaches to fencing and public access to projects, which varied within the US, depending on context; Imaginative and productive ways of growing without access to subsoil, either in raised beds on hard surfaces or, in one case, in hydroponics on a barge; Inspiring use of an holistic and sustainable approach to fish farming in an urban area which produces marketable quantities of tilapia."

Also included were ideas on promoting food production in cities, again from SustainWeb: "Using the many possibilities of urban tree planting to promote traditional varieties of fruit and nuts; Untapping the potential of both Royal Parks and other parks to accommodate some food growing in their grounds; Exploring under-utilised spaces such as derelict council property, private gardens and social housing to grow food; Making use of the abundant buildings in urban areas to grow food on rooftops, up walls and in window boxes; Building on the food growing expertise that already exists in a multicultural community, as well as providing education and training for new growers."

The materials are available for download, with a suggested donation. I have yet to delve into the report in any detail, but it definitely sounds promising. A cross-post from the concept thrown out by _urb_ on Agro-urbanism... as well as the original post - which has some comprehensive thoughts to check out. One quote worth repeating: "Luckily, architects, landscape architects, and urbanists have been planning for this type of situation. There have been many proposals in the last couple of years for different types of agricultural based infrastructures that can be integrated into nurban areas, what I am calling AGRO-URBANISM. The impetus for these proposals are manifold and include the concerns previously mentioned as well as issues of sustainability and sustainable development, a re-positioning of the landscape architecture discipline and the rise of the hybrid discipline “landscape urbanism”, and recent trends in architecture focusing on performance-based design which derive inspiration from ecological and biological systems."

A local project worth checking out is the Rocket Restaurant here in Portland, of which City Farmer had a long post from rooftop gardener Marc Boucher-Colbert. I mentioned this previously, but this article talks in detail about the trials and tribulations of rooftop ag on this innovative project, along with some more photos.

:: images via City Farmer

Some interesting background on the concept of rooftop agriculture, via Marc: "The Austrian architect and painter Hundertwasser, who seemed like he was one not to mince words, said something to the effect that by building a structure, one murders the biotic community there (pretty much true, as far as I can tell), and that, therefore, one has a moral obligation to plant the roof and restore what one has killed."

The main thrust of a number of theorists is the idea of reclaiming land within the urban core for agricultural purposes. An article from March in the Guardian on Middlesbrough posits this as well, saying: "All over the town, disused urban spaces were turned into fertile corners bursting with freshly grown fruit and vegetables as more than 1,000 residents." I've mentioned the project before, as well as directed people to the work of David Barrie (and his wide-ranging blog) but it becomes the crux of urban agriculture.

Definitely more to come... as it's still a hot topic.

Parc del Centre de Poblenou

Architecture as art. Art of Building. Vegetated Architecture. There are a lot of blurry lines out there between themes in design... and this often leads to cross-pollination and perhaps overstepping of turf sometimes. Taking the multi-disciplinary approach a bit further, Coolboom recently featured Jean Nouvel recently in the design for the Parc del Centre de Poblenou in Barcelona.


:: images via Coolboom (photo copyright Iñigo Bujedo Aguirre)

Some info from Coolboom: "...a gigantic sustainable garden of 5,5 hectares designed as “meeting point” and “acoustic microclimate” playing with light and shadows. ... The main garden of the park has a forest very well organized ending at one end of the park with a ramp of volcanic soil. In the second garden, the woodland surrounds the building of the old Oliva-Artés factory and takes the citizens through a visual and olfactory experience. In the third garden the most prominent feature is a crater that carries the visitor with a spiral to the “center of the Earth”."








:: images via Coolboom (photo copyright Iñigo Bujedo Aguirre)

As you can see from these photos, the planting is a bit lacking in spots. This seems to be a cop-out of 'urban' parks - a remnant of our nature belongs outside the city ideology, which is unfortunate. The detailing is interesting, particularly the rusted metal 'gates' and some of the iconic, architectural structures. These create some great spaces, which would be more powerful with some landscape context to set them off a bit. Be sure to check out more photos at the Flickr page of santimarti... with even more details.








:: images via Coolboom (photo copyright Iñigo Bujedo Aguirre)

This trend of architects-as-park designers (i can't resist, Parkitects) has plenty of precedents - many of which , such as Tschumi and Koolhaas at Parc de la Villette, and the work of Stan Allen (featured previously here for his Taichung Gateway Park.) along with many landscape architects, are some of the robust seeds of Landscape Urbanism.

This idea was referenced my Michelle Lin from Brooklyn in an editorial response to the NY Times: "The architecture-themed issue, “The Next City” (June 8), was a wonderful exploration of how today’s cutting-edge architectural firms, like OMA and MVRDV, are exploding the boundaries of conventional architecture. However, I would have liked to have seen perspectives from landscape architects, or what some refer to as “landscape urbanism.” Even architects like Rem Koolhaas, Bernard Tschumi and Stan Allen are turning toward landscape architecture to infuse and renew their own architectural-design strategies. Planning cities by single buildings was, and continues to be, a shortsighted strategy. To truly design our urban centers, we must now think of the city as a landscape of infrastructure (transportation, utilities) and systems (ecological, social, institutional)."

Angling back to Nouvel for a further take, the Times Online recently reported, the architect Jean Nouvel recently discussed the idea of the difference between architecture and art... with some interesting quotes. My favorite: "“For me it is the idea,” he booms. “The concept, that is everything. I don't design a lot, or work with models.” He disdains the computer - “it has no emotion, no feeling” - and even the pencil: “I craft with words.” Most of his day is spent debating, describing, cajoling, using words to get across his concepts."

Can you design with words? I love words, but need to draw and visualize to design. But design is personal - and I'm guessing for all of Nouvel's words, there are a number of talented people to realize this verbalism and give it form. Are architects capable, or should they strive, to make art? Does the act of design make architects capable of viable landscape architecture as well. Sure. I'm a proponent of good design is good design. I also think the collaboration between the two is vital. There's little info on Poblenou as to the team that made it up, whether that was local LAs or horticulturalists. Maybe that's the result of lack of collaboration, resulting in architectural elements and monocultural plantings that could have been energized with good landscape design? (See Revisit: Olympic Sculpture Park for a great example of the collaborative potential).

We as LAs often bemoan the idea of architecture usurping some of the role of park and urban design that we seem to have given up - and has gladly been taken with visiionary architects. Often the results are spotty - sometimes more architectural than good spacemaking. Often the results are amazing... As vegitecture continues, I think we'll see a shift of the pendulum back - with landscape architects recapturing some of this territory - particularly in creating and actively generating building and urban form, creating beautiful infrastructure - and perhaps even recapturing the park as a viable and innovative part of our oeuvre.