Designing for Urban Food
As a promoter of urban gardens (horti urbani), I was drawn to this event. Designing for Urban Food examined how urban agriculture can shape and change urban design and the urban setting itself.
Gatherers
Designing for Urban Food forum was created by a group of University of Washington College of Built Environment students who hoped to illuminate the connection between Seattle's vibrant food movement and the structural design world. This event was also inspired by the Mayor McGinn's "Year of Urban Agriculture" as well as by community initiatives all over the city at the grassroots level that aim to bring urban farming into the city structure.
Thursday April 15 2010
Interdisciplinary Panel
Scholars and Designers from various parts of the Northwest were brought together for a healthy discussion about the place of farming in an urban setting. Panel members included several UW College of Built Environment professors (architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning) as well as designers practicing in the field. Each participant gave a brief presentation before the general panel discussion began, and the floor was opened to questions from the audience.
Rendering of possible design for urban food: each resident tends his or her own garden plot while a
common path runs through the entire garden to encourage community interaction
Balcony gardens and communal greenhouses in the residence; large community garden in front
Benefits of Urban Agriculture
The presentations and panel follow-up strove to answer the question "what are the overarching benefits of urban food production and how can the design field play a role in its encouragement and success?" Here is what I took away from the presentations and panel discussion:
Designing for urban food is not meant as a means to replace farms or even feed a majority of a given city's population (though there was a heated debate over how productive an urban farm can really be once companion planting and season extension are added to the mix). The point of urban agriculture is not about quantity but rather about quality. Fresh, local food could benefit all urban residents, in monetary costs but more importantly, in social, structural and environmental issues. With each urban garden there is the possibility of understanding food and nutrition and with each new design, incorporating communal gardening spaces, the possibility of a new form of social community is being created.
Friday April 17, 2010
Charrettes
The day long Friday session (fueled by donations of local food) allowed interested persons to gather and brainstorm. The organizers set up several actual sites around the city that could be redesigned to include a space for urban agriculture. Then, with tracing paper in hand, visitors were encouraged to redesign the sites. Some people spent ten minutes on the entire process and some stayed for hours, perfecting their design. The finished product was then hung around UW's Gould Hall.
The result of the charrette exercise will not be an immediate application of ideas but it was a means to bring the community of Seattleites for urban food together. Connections and networking were a productive result of the exercise, as well as the recognition that with a little imagination, urban spaces could be transformed into attractive and innovative buildings and urban plans, overflowing with food.
Get Involved
One of the best reminders of the two day event was how important (and easy) it is to just get involved. There are many levels of commitment and the urban food initiative is happening in neighborhoods all over the city. Here are a few places to start:
~promoting community agriculture efforts and increased access to locally grown food
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Rendering credits:
Created by architecture student Zachary Stevenson for a studio class entitled "Vertical Farming and Sustainable Site Design"
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