Food for Thought

It's been ages since I've posted anything on urban agriculture, and it's long-overdue... I realize my neglect after spending a bit of time sifting through some research in finishing up the SDAT report text, as well as in preparation for a submittal for the first issue of [bracket] journal with the theme 'On Farming'... which is an open-ended exploration of it's fascinating the preponderance of visions and thinking on urban agriculture - just take a trip through the blogosphere in the past twelve months, and the overload of urban agriculture will quickly sink in.

Another ideas competition from 24-7sandwichshop.org offers some interesting juxtaposed scenery - in this case a feedlot with a family picnic - on their announcement for Food for Thought: "Idea competition inviting you to submit proposals for new ways of providing, presenting and eating food. A new recipe, a new type of restaurant, garden, farm, table, convenience store, city___anything is possible."

:: image via 24-7 Sandwich Shop

Back to the profligate nature of urban agriculture in todays thinking... it's interesting to see how much stuff there is out there from the ridiculous to the sublime, from the Haeg to the Despommier - whether research or books or programs or just random thoughts. It's hard to keep up with for sure - not that there is a preponderance of good info - just a lot more agro-noise floating around. Sifting through it and making sense of it is much more difficult. All in all thought - a positive trend.

As usual, there are a bunch of quality posts from the good folks at City Farmer, including this interesting link to a presentation from Dr. Thilak T. Ranasinghe: "...describing the concept of Family Business Garden (FBG) in the field of urban agriculture and the urban-rural continuum in Sri Lanka." A fascinating part is this image of Low/No Space Agriculture Techniques - using what is dubbed 'cultivation structures.'

:: image via City Farmer

There are definitely some vertical gardening inspiration here in these models - using the low-tech to inspire the high-tech. And speaking of 'high-tech', there's plenty of new models coming forth from the Vertical Farm Project, including these new ones called "VF - Type O" by Oliver Foster, from the University of Queensland, Australia.

:: images via Vertical Farm Project

Getting back to the idea of using low-tech to inform the high-tech (or just merely using the insane notion of going back to low-tech...) many countries throughout the world have strong urban agricultural precedents, including recent info from the Philippines, Zambia, the UK, and of course, one of the true models of sustainable urban agriculture - Cuba. A recent article from Havana, via Reuters, is looking into the Cuban resurgence of urban agriculture after successive waves of hurricanes decimated the almost a third of Cuba's plantings.

Via the article: "Around 15 percent of the world’s food is grown in urban areas, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a figure experts expect to increase as food prices rise, urban populations grow and environmental concerns mount. ... Since they sell directly to their communities, city farms don’t depend on transportation and are relatively immune to the volatility of fuel prices, advantages that are only now gaining traction as “eat local” movements in rich countries."


:: image via City Farmer

The key is to utilize as much space as possible for productive uses. "In Cuba, urban gardens have bloomed in vacant lots, alongside parking lots, in the suburbs and even on city rooftops. They sprang from a military plan for Cuba to be self-sufficient in case of war. They were broadened to the general public in response to a food crisis that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba’s biggest benefactor at the time."

This using of every spot of land allows Cuba to be flexible in adapting to natural disaster and economic downturns, such as when Soviet support diminished and large state-run agricultural programs were not viable due to the high fuel costs. Thus growing food in parking lots and rooftops starts to make financial sense as well. And speaking of rooftops, some new research on hydroponics is coming out of California Polytechnic University, as well as some interesting gardens coming from land-strapped Tokyo - which has been evolving rooftop agriculture to a new degree, for multiple benefits.


:: image via City Farmer

While farming is typically related to production of food - that is only one of the benefits that drives these new rooftop gardens in Japan. One is job production, the farms providing employment for young people that have lost other available means of making a living. Another is the reduction of heat island effect, which is a major driver in green roofs in Japan, so it makes sense that rooftop gardens would be a valuable addition as well. And compared to lower maintenance extensive ecoroof typologies, these urban food gardens may work better, due to a more appropriate type of vegetation. The rooftop shown above, for instance uses sweet potatoes, which are "...particularly good for roof- tops because their wide leaves can cover the whole surface and are efficient at transpiration — evaporating water — which has a cooling effect. The temperature of a roof area not covered by potato leaves was as much as 27 degrees Celsius hotter than an area covered by the leaves..."

These plants are then, yes, harvested and distributed locally, which eases concerns about food safety, uses less fuel, and allows for a true connection to local food, particularly important for a country that imports over 60% of it's food. The future of farming may just be looking up.

:: image via City Farmer

There are also some intriguing new resources out there as well, including some new books. First is called 'Agriculture in Urban Planning' and is edited by Mark Redwood, a senior: "This volume, by the world’s leading experts on urban agriculture, examines concrete strategies to integrate city farming into the urban landscape. Drawing on original field work in cities across the rapidly urbanizing global south, the book examines the contribution of urban agriculture and city farming to livelihoods and food security."


:: image via City Farmer

And an interesting research paper by Adam Brock, called "Room to Grow: Participatory Landscapes and Urban Agriculture at NYU" which has some vital parallels that can inform urban agriculture. Particularly, not a lack of land, but the need for a loosening of central control of property and land: "Techniques such as edible landscaping and distributed gardening further add to the physical potential for urban agriculture on campus. The greatest challenge to cultivation at NYU comes not from the landscape itself, but rather from social forces such as centralized ownership structures and historic preservation."


:: image via City Farmer

And finally, a research report called "Urban Agriculture in Naga City, Philippines - Cultivating Sustainable Livelihoods" prepared by a trio of academics at the University of British Columbia. The report investigates.


:: image via City Farmer

While some of us have probably over-indulged in a literal sense over the holidays, there is plenty of good information out there to feed your brain instead - have seconds... enjoy.

PHRWEE Urbanism

Coming from a childhood of tiptoeing through Air Force Bases around the world, I'm actually a big fan of random and overwrought acronyms (which I believe may have switched in my adult years to a new found love of clever portmanteau). In this regard, I am impressed with urb - and the fantastic and thought-provoking recent three part series (and counting?) related to POST HUMANIST REWILDED ECO ETHICAL URBANISM or, yes, PHRWEE. Getting past the acronymic acrobatics - the series works through one of those questions that always keeps me coming back - our relationship with nature.

The big picture is posed from Dave Brown at urb comes early in Part I: "Over the past several years a steady stream of design conjecture has given rise to a new design paradigm which attempts to recalibrate the (not so) delicate (im)balance between us (humans) and the rest of the world (everything that is not us or produced by us, but more than likely is probably consumed by us); an attempt to place us within the ecosystem rather than over it."

Much like the realignment of ecology to include humans in the bookkeeping of systems thinking, this phenomenon involves turning an immense corner in our tendency to rationalize the humanist tendency that involves domination of nature. "This attitude prevailed during the last couple of centuries and has gotten us to the sorry state of affairs we have arrived at today. Global warming, peak oil, environmental degradation, mass extinction; the list goes on and on."

Brown continues with some recent literature on the subject that I must acquire - "Stefano Boeri’s “Down From the Stand: Arguments in Favor of a Non-Anthropocentric Urban Ethics,” published in the first issue of New Geographies, which discusses a lot of the ideas floating around and the issues involved; and Owen Hatherly’s “Living Facades – Green Urbanism and the Politics of Urban Offsetting,” published in MONU’s Exotic Urbanism issue."

To start, post #2 discusses Boeri's article, particularly focusing on three key elements: "...re-naturalization of urban spaces, cohabitation with various animal species, and finally, to develop a new understanding of human relations which learn from these ideas of bio-diversity and bio-politics and deal with issues of globalization and increased diversity and social mobility."


:: Farmadelphia - image via BLDGBLOG

Brown evokes Farmadelphia and City Zoo as some vibrant material that is starting to reconnect us with nature and continues to the fascinating topic of rewilding, which offers a 'return to the commons' approach that offers opportunities for this in action. Rewilding is defined as "...passive and active activities intended to result in the reintroduction of extirpated or once-native species back into natural landscapes. ...Many PHRWEEU designs are looking to do just that—restore urban environments to their natural states by re-introducing flora and fauna to those ‘blighted’ areas."


:: City Zoo - image via Tomorrow's Thoughts Today

Part 3 involves a look at the article “Living Facades – Green Urbanism and the Politics of Urban Offsetting,” in MONU’s Exotic Urbanism issue by Owen Hatherley... which as Brown aptly summarizes, is: "...a great article that takes a rather cynical viewpoint of the recent sustainable design efforts. His article is important for two reasons—to caution us of the appropriation of PHRWEEU imagery by governments and corporations to provide a positive public representation of their ‘eco-friendly’ actions (if they even exist in the first place), and to remind us that the history of “green” design goes back farther than most of our historical amnesia will allow us to remember."


:: image via MONU Magazine

I'm not sure I'm entirely convinced that we've forgotten the historical roots of green facadism to the degree that Hatherley suggests - at least from the landscape architectural side of things - but some more historical context is always helpful and the example cited is a new one for me. "Hatherley then goes on to remind us that the concepts of green roofs, living facades, and vegitecture are not actually all that new. He points out that green roofs and living facades have actually been around since the days of Romanticism. He describes how architects during the Romantic period would design new buildings “as if they had always, already been overtaken by undergrowth, fronds, weeds cracking cement and stone. John Soane…commissioned the draughtsman Joseph Gandy to render his new Bank of England…as a crumbling, overgrown relic."




:: Bank of England by John Soane - images via urb

These actually remind me a lot of Jame's Wines big-box ruins for BEST stores, purposely eroding the building facades for some sort of metaphorical ends. It's obvious that the new trend towards literally greening of buildings has become vogue, and that has created perhaps some impossible and definitely unsustainable versions of this application. The article mentions the 'political offsetting' - which to me is akin to forgetting the real point and applying greenery just because it is literally and metaphorically green. Or perhaps it is the ultimate in greenwashing. "As for the questions about political offsetting, I think Hatherley makes a strong argument for rethinking the role of the ‘green’ in ‘green design.’ "When speaking about the living facades now in vogue, Hatherley suggests that this is a remarkable transparent semiotic strategy, wherein by sticking natural materials onto a building’s façade, the impression is given that it is somehow in tune with nature rather than a hugely expensive, unsustainable waste of energy and resources. It is by no means clear that renewable technology itself is so picturesque."

As this points to the very nature and view of Veg.itecture, it's definitely worthy of response and dialogue. There is an exhaustive list of benefits to using these strategies - both for the specific building and society as a whole. We've also mentioned all of these elements and more on L+U (green fakery, application of greenery as an inert material, issues with maintenance, how to actually build these visions, etc.) and all of them are vital to the expanding the ongoing discussion. To use this as a way to undermine the strategy of veg.itecture is an interesting turn of events - and I expect more of this in the future... thus Brown's response that PHRWEE-practitioners must rise to answer these questions.

The critique of MVDRV's latest 'project' is perhaps the weakest argument, based on a comment in the Archinect forum... While I'm not a fan of the termite-mound with 'boxwood' hedgery ringing the forms as the most positive solution, to attack the pragmatics is just silly. We don't skip a beat to discuss smart skin, technological wizardry, and the newest architectural solution - but get up in arms when vegetation is involved. It's a tacit response to negate any of the benefits of true urban facade greening under the microscope of expense, structure, maintenance, or any other pragmatics... while not coming through with an accurate accounting of the cost-benefit ratio. Perhaps this is coming squarely from architecture that feels threatened by landscape impinging on their sacred territory and most definitely from a total lack of understanding as to how vegetation is integrated into buildings...


:: MVRDV - Gwangyo Power Center - image via urb

I posit that using this dialogue to improve, not negate, the question of vegetated architecture is the proper response. This is perhaps how we tap into the historical precedents and use them to investigate some of the evolution and use of ruin - both literally and figuratively - and how this can become a powerful tool, not another pomo form of architectural gadgetry both stylistically and technologically. Brown concludes: "...what is now sought are strategies of immediate nature, immediate wildness, and immediate ‘ruination’ (for the last point listen to Libeskind describe his latest skyscraper for New York). PHRWEEU is looking to coexist with the natural world and encourage positive productive benefits through increased diversity, instead of allowing ruination be a state that is returned to after we obtain our use-value from a structure and abandon it to entropic processes."

This is the true form of PHRWEEU at least in my mind - the idea of time, evolution, movement, erosion - and how architecture and landscape architecture will be able to respond to this in postive ways. To acknowledge the human in ecosystems is to acknowledge a powerful agent of change. In order to become post-humanist, allow for rewilding, still maintain the eco- and the ethics - we have to become more open to idea - not immediately shut them down due to lack of understanding. That's the old model. It is also to acknowledge that there is no end-point to anything - but a series of fluctuating lines of potential fields, modes of adaptability, and methods of intervention that allow us to maintain these dynamic systems.

So Dave, I'm on board wholeheartedly - but think the idea need perhaps a little sexier acronym... if we adjust the letters, and give the 'f' sound from the ph... and make re-wilded a mere R - makes is PHREE (free) Urbanism... what do you think? Or maybe a clever portmanteau is in order :)

The Detroit Dilemma - Ruminations

I recently finished up the draft text that summarized the land use and open space portions of the Detroit Sustainable Design Assessment Team (AIA SDAT) that I participated in a few months back. It gave me a chance to revisit some of the thinking around my initial thoughts and reactions - with some distance and further reading that has illuminated both the potential of what we proposed, as well as how much we could've/should've done to provide an actual 'vison' for the community.

There has been some more recent coverage of Detroit, mostly focused around the blatant ridiculous giveaway, bailout for the car companies in Detroit - (save the big 3, save the world, right?) One such article, via Bloomberg, mentions the connection between industrial dissipation and the large amount of vacant lands. "GM's Bust Turns Detroit Into Urban Prairie of Vacant-Lot Farms" discusses vacancy, land banking, and urban farming, to name a few items. These photos come from the local group and their vacant farmland Urban Farming.

:: image via Bloomberg News

Some of the highlights of the article align with the common thinking we came up with in the SDAT. A diversified economy, urban agriculture, land banking, reclaiming vacant lands, concentration of resources, and streamlining parks operations. Overall, there is the paradigm shift - the hard thinking that comes from the acknowledgement of a Shrinking City and how to realistically approach change. "Now, business coalitions such as Detroit Renaissance are moving forward with plans to identify neighborhoods where resources should be concentrated and help the area diversify away from cars. The organizations want to use local research hospitals to attract health-care and biotech startups, according to Doug Rothwell, president of Detroit Renaissance, as well as foster a creative community around the city's legacy of advertising agencies. "

:: image via Bloomberg News

One aspect we discussed was how to spend some money that had been allocated for renewal... not enough to solve problems but to make a real statement. There was definitely a strong desire to make right some of the woes that come with the distributed leftovers of wide-spread vacancy: "On Nov. 25, the City Council passed a Neighborhood Stabilization Plan that seeks $47 million from the federal government to address the city's problem of vacant buildings and empty land. An estimated 55,000 lots are considered unproductive because they bring in no taxes and cost money to maintain. ... The grant would pay for knocking down 2,350 of Detroit's tens of thousands of abandoned homes and clear the sites for development. If no buyers materialize, planners would consider adding the space to public parks or land reserved for recreation or environmental preservation."

We were definitely on the right track, but did we really tell Detroit something they already didn't know. Maybe, maybe not... but it was definitely reinforcing some of the strong trends already in place, for instance the strong push to move urban agriculture from a small scale to a larger scale operation. From Bloomberg: "With enough abandoned lots to fill the city of San Francisco, Motown is 138 square miles divided between expanses of decay and emptiness and tracts of still-functioning communities and commercial areas. Close to six barren acres of an estimated 17,000 have already been turned into 500 "mini- farms,'' demonstrating the lengths to which planners will go to make land productive. ...Harvests are sold in markets or donated to soup kitchens. This year's produce was picked ``quickly because people need food so badly,'' said Sevelle. ...The farms may also raise home values. In many neighborhoods, nearby gardens could add as much as $5,000 to selling prices, said real estate broker Russ Ravary, who works in the city and surrounding suburbs. The average price of a home dropped 55 percent to $18,578 in the first nine months of the year, according to the Detroit Board of Realtors."

Another article from this month in the Detroit Free Press follows a similar theme, 'Acres of barren blocks offer chance to reinvent Detroit' provides some of the same thinking, and specifically relates some of the recommendations of our SDAT. "Earlier this fall, some out-of-town planners recruited by the American Institute of Architects visited Detroit for a brainstorming session. The leader, Alan Mallach, research director of the National Housing Institute in Maplewood, N.J., concluded that Detroit needs no more than about 50 square miles of its land for its current population. The remaining 89 square miles could be used entirely for other purposes, he said. ...Mallach's group liked the suggestion of large-scale commercial farming, both as a way to put the space to good use and to generate new income and jobs for the cash-starved city."

The article paints a similar picture as well: "Detroit, where the population peaked at 2 million in the early 1950s, is home to about 900,000 today and is still losing people. The depopulation and demolition of abandoned properties has left the city dotted with thousands of vacant parcels, ranging from single home lots to open fields of many acres."

:: image via Detroit Free Press

And comes up with some similar thinking: "This abundance of vacant land has people talking about new uses, such as urban farming, reforesting the city, and large-scale recreational areas. Urban farming is getting the most buzz. Michigan State University's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources is among the groups touting urban farms as a solution for Detroit's vacant land. ... Given the amount of open land, I think there's a real opportunity for Detroit to provide a significant amount of its fruits and vegetables for its population and the surrounding area," said Mike Hamm, the C.S. Mott Chair of Sustainable Agriculture at MSU."

:: image via Detroit Free Press

There is also the inevitable discussion of the politics of Detroit - which from our experience there, if one of the major sticking points. A quote from some past leadership leaves it open: "If it comes to pass that there is a development that would be in the best interest of the city, then it could always be redeveloped," former Mayor Dennis Archer said last week. "But in the meantime you could have great pocket parks, you could have children understanding how to raise a garden, harvest a fruit, vegetables. Those are invaluable things. I think it has a lot of merit."

An interesting comment was from a group that seemed like a perfect ally to the idea. The group Greening of Detroit was a major informative group in our SDAT process, but the following quote leaves me a bit perplexed: "Ashley Atkinson, director of project development in urban agriculture at the nonprofit Greening of Detroit, supports small family and neighborhood plots of no larger than 3 acres. But she says that commercial farming would exploit Detroiters and their land. Instead, she supports widespread use of open spaces for recreation, hobby gardens and other uses."

It's curious - although I don't want to neglect this viewpoint - the idea that commercial farming would exploit Detroiters and their land is just plain silly. The way to make the endeavor viable and profitable is not 3 acre plots... period. These work for self-sufficent homestead gardens, but not agriculture - and would dissipate the productivity of the land in ways that minimize the overall impact. We're not talking agribusiness, but cooperative and hands-on farming on a scale of 1000+ acres that provides an economy of scale to make it viable economically and provide resilience - without exploitation. It's also clear that residents don't want hobby gardens, recreation, and other uses - because there isn't the economics to maintain them to be safe and workable... I agree that the entire 80 sq.miles is not going to be farmed - the key is a It's a new model, and my only thought is that it would perhaps take away some of the great work that Greening of Detroit is doing - which is flatly not the case. They, and other successful groups in Detroit, are the pioneers that can take the reins and lead the way in making the urban agriculture/productive landscape approach work.

Another part of the article that I was really interested in, was the juxtaposed map of land areas of Boston (49 sq.mi.), Manhattan (23 sq.mi.), and San Francisco (47 sq.mi.) laid neatly within the 139 square mile footprint of the City of Detroit. Prepared by Dan Pitera, a professor of architecture at University of Detroit Mercy and one of the more involved local participants, this really shows an indication of the immensity of the problem.

:: image via Detroit Free Press

Looking at the graphic is staggering. It's one of those simple ways to show a relationship that would make Edward Tufte proud - simple, concise, and totally provocative. It got me thinking about Portland, for instance... and I was literally floored with the information I found that the City of Portland occupied 134 square miles (almost equal to Detroit) and had even less population and density. I was dumbfounded - as you could probably to a same graphic for Portland (and believe me, I will!) - it will blow people away...

The article ends with the big question, and one that means that Detroit may be able to shift from being the poster boy for shrinking urbanism to the one that figured it out. "Whatever happens, clearly Detroit is evolving early in the 21st Century as a sort of blank slate. Instead of looking at shrinkage as a problem, many planners see it as an opportunity. Detroit has a chance to invent an entirely new urban model, they say. Whether it's farming or greenways or a network of thriving urban villages connected by transit lines, the solution could be uniquely Detroit's. And the likelihood is that the rest of the world, already fascinated by Detroit's urban drama, would take notice."

And finally, an amazing resource that I've been trying to track down that has been an amazing find (gotta love Interlibrary Loan...) - 'Stalking Detroit' by Jason Young (editor), Georgia Daskalakis (editor), and Charles Waldheim (editor) is chock full of prescient Landscape Urbanism theory and writings - as well as much more applied thinking that we did in our four days in Detroit.

:: image via TCAUP

From the Univ. of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning site, a quick synopsis: "Published in late 2001, the book subtly blends sixteen stand-alone features with over one hundred color photographs and duotones to bring the reader right to the center of Detroit itself. The energy of its design and in its words articulates the former power of Detroit and questions the myriad revitalization efforts to date."

:: image via TCAUP

And from the books introduction (p.10): "Detroit is the most thoroughly modern city in the world. Modern, not of course for its great works of architecture or its progressive social advancements, but modern in the sense that this city has exemplified the assumptions of enlightened modernity like no other. Among those assumptions was a tacit belief that technological advances stemming from empirical knowledge of the world could necessarily lead to social progress. From our perspective at the turn of the century, Detroit, rather than corroborating modernity's faith in progress through technology, affords an extraordinarily legible example of post-Fordist urbanism and its attendant forms of human subjectivity as shaped by the city's continuously and rapidly transforming economic, social, and operational conditions."

With writings from James Corner, Charles Waldheim, Georgia Daskalakis, Patrik Schumacher and Christian Rogner - amonst others - this tome is worthy of a further exploration once I have a chance to get through it. Now if only I had access to that before heading to Detroit.