Designing Urban Agriculture E-Book

April Philips

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 471

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

A comprehensive overview of edible landscapes—complete with more than 300 full-color photos and illustrations

Designing Urban Agriculture is about the intersection of ecology, design, and community. Showcasing projects and designers from around the world who are forging new paths to the sustainable city through urban agriculture landscapes, it creates a dialogue on the ways to invite food back into the city and pave a path to healthier communities and environments.

This full-color guide begins with a foundation of ecological principles and the idea that the food shed is part of a city's urban systems network. It outlines a design process based on systems thinking and developed for a lifecycle or regenerative-based approach. It also presents strategies, tools, and guidelines that enable informed decisions on planning, designing, budgeting, constructing, maintaining, marketing, and increasing the sustainability of this re-invented cityscape. Case studies demonstrate the environmental, economic, and social value of these landscapes and reveal paths to a greener and healthier urban environment.

This unique and indispensable guide:

• Details how to plan, design, fund, construct, and leverage the sustainability aspects of the edible landscape typology
• Covers over a dozen typologies including community gardens, urban farms, edible estates, green roofs and vertical walls, edible school yards, seed to table, food landscapes within parks, plazas, streetscapes and green infrastructure systems and more
• Explains how to design regenerative edible landscapes that benefit both community and ecology and explores the connections between food, policy, and planning that promote viable food shed systems for more resilient communities
• Examines the integration of management, maintenance, and operations issues
• Reveals how to create a business model enterprise that addresses a lifecycle approach

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: Food Cities: Ecology + Urban Agriculture

Designer as Change Agent

Growth of the Farm to Table Movement

Addressing Food Justice and Food Security

Human health, childhood obesity, ecological medicine

Peak Resources and Their Effect on Urban Farming

Ecoliteracy and the Current Unsustainable Urban Food System Model

Setting the Stage for a Sustainable Food System

John P. Kotter's Eight Steps to Successful Change

Scale Aggregation

Chapter 2: Planning Strategies for Urban Food Systems

Defining Urban Agriculture

Harnessing an Urban Food Systems Approach through Urban Agriculture

Chapter 3: Vision, Synthesis, and Form

The Urban Ag Design Process Spheres

Process Spheres Synopsis

The Planning Sphere

The Vision Sphere

The Synthesis Sphere

Chapter 4: Systems Integration and Connections

An Integrated Systems Approach Continues Throughout the Design Process

Using Feedback Loops to Keep Project on Track

Refining the Urban Ag Business Plan to Address Lifecycle Performance

Preparing the Preliminary Budget

Testing the Return on Investment

Selecting the Appropriate Installation Methods

An Overview of Urban Ag Construction Methods, Techniques, and Terminologies

Considerations for Animal Farming in Urban Environments

Chapter 5: Lifecycle Operations

Setting the Stage for a Lifecycle Operations Approach

Lifecycle Operations Plan Components

Soil and Organic Matter Management in a Lifecycle Approach

Understanding Harvest Distribution

Tools and Storage Considerations

Adapting the Maintenance Framework to Smaller Projects

Labor Considerations and Green Jobs

Mentoring and Longevity Models for Operations

The Finance Plan

Chapter 6: Outreach and Community

The Outreach Sphere

The Challenge Ahead

Bibliography

Image Credits

Index

Cover Design: Michael Rutkowski

Cover Photography: Front top: Courtesy of Riverpark Farm, photo by Ari Nuzzo; Front bottom (L to R): Photo courtesy of Atlanta Botanical Garden; Courtesy of Riverpark Farm, photo by Ari Nuzzo; Beth Hagenbuch; Back (L to R) © Beth Hagenbuch; Photo courtesy of Atlanta Botanical Garden; Courtesy of Riverpark Farm, photo by Ari Nuzzo; © Beth Hagenbuch; Courtesy of Riverpark Farm, photo by Ari Nuzzo

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Copyright © 2013 April Philips. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Philips, April.

Designing urban agriculture : a complete guide to the planning, design, construction, maintenance and management of edible landscapes / April Philips.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-118-07383-4 (hardback); 978-1-118-33023-4 (ebk.); 978-1-118-33092-0 (ebk.); 978-1-118-33307-5 (ebk.)

1. Urban agriculture. 2. Edible landscaping. I. Title.

S494.5.U72P44 2013

630.9173′2—dc23

2012045251

Preface

DESIGNING URBAN AGRICULTURE is about the intersection of ecology, design and community. It is a dialogue on the ways to invite food back into the city and forge a path towards creating healthier communities and a healthier environment.

When the recession began I planted an edible garden. I started with potatoes and herbs such as parsley, sage, rosemary, mint, and thyme. Within a few weeks I began to notice that even though I only spent 15 minutes a day each morning in the garden my work day stress levels went down and life's hiccups seemed to more easily be put into perspective. My family and I also noticed that our food tasted so much better when I added the home grown edible ingredients to our meals. The potatoes we harvested that first year were the most exquisite and sweetest potatoes I have ever tasted in my life. We all began to eat a bit healthier. If someone was stressing out I'd send them out to the garden to harvest something from our backyard crops and they would come back with a smile on their face and a strawberry or two to share. You could say that we had discovered a little slice of bliss in our daily lives.

What happened next became my adventure into the world of urban agriculture because I wanted to learn more about this incredibly interesting landscape typology and its effects on human health and design. With media headlines such as people around the country being put in jail for planting vegetables in their front yard, or the huge amount of farms failing across the country for various reasons like water and climate, as I dove into the research I began to discover the dark side of our industrial food system and industrialized agriculture. And because the food system in America is broken, the health of our cities and communities are at risk.

As a landscape architect and urban designer I had questions I wanted answers to such as 1. How could these agrarian landscapes be designed at the urban scale to become an integral part of the food system of a city and also be connected to a regional food system, and 2. How could designers collaborate and partner with urban farmers, food entrepreneurs, community organizations, urban ecologists, visionary developers, and city planners in a meaningful way to facilitate the creation of these landscapes while simultaneously addressing issues of human and environmental health, food justice, food security, climate change, cultural aesthetics, and sustainable development. The end result of my quest to answer these questions is this book.

My journey to find answers took many turns along the way. Researching and reading consumed a vast portion of my time tracking down news, articles, books, and web sites that covered the subject matter not readily available in one place. I found seminars, forums and conferences to attend and amazing film documentaries to watch and learn from. One of the most fascinating components of this quest were the conversations I had with colleagues and urban farm enthusiasts from all walks of life about the links between food, design, ecology, and building community.

In particular, my conversations with Jake Voit, who was the Sustainability Manager for Cagwin & Dorward , a top 25 Landscape Contracting firm in the United States located in California turned extremely fruitful. Jake and I had an ongoing conversation thread for over a year's time frame sometimes emailing web sites, articles, ted talks, and sharing video links since we are both passionate about defining the role that designers and citizens can play with urban agriculture in creating positive environments for change. We eventually had enough content on the subject for a provocative dialogue that I invited Jake to present with me at a number of national conferences. By this time Jake was leading the grand vision of the InCommons Initiative for the Archibald Bush Foundation in Minnesota that creates community powered problem solovers. (His work there created highly effective listeners and facilitators of deep relationships based on empathy and a realization of interconnectedness, which influences creating conditions for current and emerging leaders to hold the space for a paradigm shift from individualistic transaction-based communities to shared relationship-based communities.)  He began to focus our discussions on the integration of collaborative conversations and ecological parameters into a systems thinking process. I am indebted to the continuing collaborative dialogue we share and the material he has contributed in this book on sustainable agriculture construction practices and how to build resilient communities through collaborative conversations. This includes his description of Cuba's transformation into a sustainable agriculture economy after the trade embargo crisis and his firsthand knowledge of permaculture principles from being raised on an organic farm. His explanations on the intricacies of the soil food web and how to monitor and design for soil health provide clarity and tools for soil management that is a critical component of urban agriculture landscapes. With Jake's background in Environmental Studies, Philosophy, and Permaculture Design, I found his perspective was always unique.

My personal focus then turned towards advocacy and in particular why designers need to play a key role in the integration of urban agriculture landscapes into the urban realm. These explorations and conversations were extended further into physical solutions with my most visionary clients who allowed me to champion urban agriculture within their development projects. I am indebted to them for their trust in letting me design these landscapes for them.

This book showcases projects and designers around the world who are forging new paths to the sustainable city through these urban agriculture landscapes. The case studies demonstrate the environmental, economic and social value of these landscapes and illustrate ways to forge a new paradigm for a greener and healthier lifestyle. The book begins with a foundation on ecological principles and the idea that the food shed is part of a city's urban systems network. It outlines a design process that is based on systems thinking and the design process spheres I developed for a lifecycle or regenerative based approach. It includes strategies, tools and guides to help readers make informed decisions on planning, designing, budgeting, constructing, maintaining, marketing, and increasing the sustainability aspects of this re-invented design typology.

Michael Pollan has said that the garden suggests that there might be a place where we can meet nature half way. Wendell Barry in his What are People for essays said that “eating is an agricultural act.” My own personal experience with urban agriculture leads me to believe that our dilemma with explaining food as an integral system within the city is because we do not as a culture think of food in this way. People are so disconnected from where their food comes from that thinking about the food system as something they are a part of becomes the first hurdle to tackle if we are going to create positive change. Getting someone to taste food that comes from their own garden is a first step towards optimizing this realization. It is even more rewarding with a classroom of children especially if they have never eaten some of the vegetables or herbs you might get them to taste. These types of local food experiences will begin to change the cultural food beliefs and expand the definition in society to embrace urban agriculture as part of the community's infrastructure systems. If we look at urban agriculture landscapes in this manner we can begin to reduce the amount of people experiencing the effects of a food dessert and increase the ability to foster a more healthy community. The net effect will be to build a more health conscious society that values healthy living as a natural extension of the services a city must provide. My hope is that this book provides a roadmap to anyone interested in the creation and advocacy of edible landscapes that promote beauty, ecological biodiversity and social sustainability in our urban realm.

Acknowledgments

AN ENORMOUS THANK YOU to the grassroot urban pioneers, farmers, chefs, authors, film makers, and design adventurers whose ideas, passion for good food and healthy living, environmental stewardship, and commitment to community and ecoliteracy inspired me to write this book about inviting food back into our cities. Their actions big and small make a difference and are helping to steer urban agriculture into the mainstream as an essential part of urban living.

I am indebted to my friend Jake Voit with whom I was able to share many collaborative conversations with along the way. Thank you for your keen insights on community resiliency, sustainable construction practices and your supportive spirit. This book was seeded from the dinners, chats, and discussions we had about food, design and community. You are a gentle, thoughtful man. Tall too!

I am grateful to my colleagues and fellow urban agriculture enthusiasts around the world who allowed me and my staff to delve into the case studies and resource material featured in this book. I heartily thank you for sharing your thoughts, stories and amazing photos. I especially wish to thank Mary Pat Matheson, Mike Sands, Tres Fromme, Peter Lindsay Shaudt, Margi Hess, Kenneth Weikal, Beth Hagenbuch, Barbra Finnin, Andreas Willausch, Thomas Wolz, Jeff Longhenry, Alexis Woods, Ries van Wendel de Joode, Joe Runco, Marco Esposito, Kevin Conger, Marion Brenner, Wes Michaels, Ted Rouse, Bill Eubanks, Elizabeth Beak, Judith Stilgenbauer, Rainer Schmidt, Gabby Scharlach, Greg Johnson, Eli Zigas, James Streeter Haig, Scott Shigley, Tom Fox, Ari Nuzzo, Hillary Geremia, Pamela Broom, Tony Arrasmith, Peg Sheaffer, Douglas Gayeton, Richard Kay, Rio Clementi Hale Studios, Aidlin Darling Design, William McDonough and Partners, Our School at Blair Grocery, St Croix Habitat for Humanity, Allemany Farms, Big City Farms, Gotham Greens, The Atlanta Botanical Garden, Sandhill Organics, Miller Creek Middle School, and City Slicker Farms. And a fist bump goes to John Liu and Keith Bowers whole lively dinner debate and dialogue at the Bioneers 2011conference inspired me onward in my journey.

A hearty shout out to my superb assistant Lance Fulton whose methodology oriented mind set was a valuable skill that kept me organized and on time with the deadlines. He tracked, compiled, recompiled, corresponded, and organized all of the case study data files that made it into the book. A big thanks to Ashley Tomerlin who has a keen eye for graphic interpretation of facts and is able to surprise me with her outside of the box thinking. And to the rest of my office for understanding that my late night writing sprees sometimes meant they might not get quick answers or direction from me until I had my organic caffeine.

I am grateful to my editor Margaret Cummins for her patience and support during the final stages of production. Her ability to weed through the vast amount of information I showered her with and distill it into simple succinctness was astonishing.

I appreciate the insights of my initial peer reviewers who helped me guide the development of the original ideas for the book into its evolution. What a process it was!

And to my colleagues who insisted that I include a few of my own sketches in the book or else, I say thanks for the nudging. You know who you are!

To my foodie heroes: Jamie Oliver, Michael Pollan, Alice Waters and First Lady Michelle Obama, you all rock!

Thank you to my mom, Anne, who taught me to love books and gardens. And to my father, Al, who taught me that perseverance is a virtue and hard work is rewarded. I know you are both looking down and smiling on me.

Last, but not least, my family, husband Gary and daughter Gabby, deserve my heartfelt thanks and gratitude for accepting my frenzied nocturnal writing habits fueled by music and dancing during the duration of the writing process like it was the most normal thing in the world, for their understanding when there were weekends I was missing in action, or sitting on the sidelines with my laptop furiously and nerdishly typing away. I can't thank you enough Gary, for being my biggest cheerleader, supporting of all my crazy endeavors and making the meanest, dirtiest martinis with three olives on the left coast. Gabby, girl, you inspire me every day to be a change agent in the world for the next generation and those generations beyond.

Chapter 1

Food Cities: Ecology + Urban Agriculture

Lafayette Greens Detroit, Michigan

Though owned by Compuware, a large software corporation headquartered in Detroit, the Lafayette Greens (Figure 1.1) edible urban garden and park looks, feels, and operates more like a public institution landscape (Figure 1.2). Compuware envisioned the project as a means to give back to the community by helping to beautify downtown and creating a space where downtown workers, visitors, and residents can relax and recreate. By making the space an edible landscape, instead of just a plaza, the company is helping to educate the public about health, environmental responsibility, and how to grow food.

Figure 1.1 The vacant city lot was transformed into an urban agriculture oasis.

Figure 1.2 The urban agriculture plaza situated in downtown Detroit.

Designed by Kenneth Weikal Landscape Architecture, the three-quarter-acre Lafayette Greens is both an aesthetic and functional success, winning an honor award from the American Society of Landscape Architects in 2012.

The site design incorporates a wide variety of elements and materials to maximize programming on the site and foster strong connections (Figure 1.3) outwardly to the landscape's urban downtown context (Figure 1.4). In addition to the custom metal raised beds (Figure 1.5), elements include garden sheds (Figure 1.6), a children's garden and learning area, and a dedicated space for public art. Informative signage serves to educate the public about the connections between horticulture and sustainability.

Figure 1.3 Design and materials were employed to create a functional and aesthetic space that connects into the urban fabric through circulation and programmable elements such as these repurposed steel beams.

Figure 1.4 The materiality references the surrounding urban context.

Figure 1.5 Local volunteers work the raised planting beds.

Figure 1.6 Fun storage sheds reference the vernacular farm landscape.

Built on the lot of a recently demolished building, the site's geometry is based partly on the desire lines of those who traversed the site while it was vacant. This facilitates and encourages circulation through the site rather than around it. A wide main walkway lined with lavender (Figure 1.7) and custom-built benches traverses the site. Lavender was chosen because it has been shown to have a calming effect on people. The site layout and edible-plant-bed orientation were designed to maximize sun exposure for the site-specific shade patterns caused by surrounding buildings. The children's area is in one of the sunnier spots of the plaza to promote lingering (Figure 1.8). And unlike many projects, the garden's aesthetic geometry can be appreciated by those who look down on it from nearby buildings.

Figure 1.7 The main artery path is lined with lavender for its calming effects.

The garden is intricately detailed, and incorporates many reused and repurposed materials. Concrete rubble is used to form gabion curbs, while broken sidewalk pieces serve as pavers.

On-site garden sheds are built from reused wood and salvaged doors. Repurposed food-grade steel drums are used to make smaller planters in the garden's children's area (). Environmental efforts extend beyond materials, with the site's stormwater being captured, filtered, and detained in a bioswale of native plants. Adjustable drip irrigation is used to tailor water consumption to each plant's needs, minimizing waste. Roughly 70 percent of the site's surfaces are permeable, including small, drought-tolerant fescue lawns.