Need for a New Design: Review of Emerging Urban Agriculture Practices, 2008

7/30/2019 Need for a New Design: Review of Emerging Urban Agriculture Practices, 2008

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The End of an Era: The Need


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I wish to speak a word for nature, for absolute freedom and wilderness, as contrainhabitant, or a part and parcel of Nature, rather than a member of society. I wishfor there are enough champions of civilization: the minister and the school comm


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An Introduction (and a Myth)

There was once a time when people lived in harmony withthe land. When subsistence came easily and was sought on a day-to-day basis. People moved freely, their movements checked only by thechanging of the seasons and political relations with neighbors. This

was the time of hunt and gather.Then came the Neolithic revolution. For the rst time in

human history people colonized large tracts of land for subsistence.Communities amassed storehouses and built kingdoms, empires, andreligious oligarchies upon them. From Peru to the Mississippi Valley,China to Mesopotamia, subsistence farming took hold. A numberof examples exist of people rejecting this trajectory (archaeologicalndings in the American southwest suggest that the Pueblo anastaziPeople resisted the powerful agricultural inuence of their southernneighbors for over a thousand years). Eventually, however, theNeolithic revolution swallowed up all but a select few.

Revisionists claim these few examples are proof that thisrevolution was not inevitablethat it was not a giventhatdependence on subsistence farming meant more work hours for themajority and too few for the privileged. In other words, foreign trendsforced people to give up their freedom and accept farming.

But that is all history.Our lives take place in the next chapter of the story, which

began, according to Michael Pollan, the day in the year of 1947 whenthe huge munitions plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabam a, switched over tomaking chemical fertilizer (Ominvores Dillemma 41). T he industrialrevolution brought us steam engines, mechanized factories, new

working conditions, mass transit, communications, etc however,it was not until after World War II did food production becamepart of the industrial machine. Until then, farmers we limited to thecapability of their given plot of land. The German chemist Fritz Haberchanged everything.

Habers discoveries kept Germany in the war much longerthan expected. He discovered poison gases like ammonia, chlorine,and Zyklon B (used in Hitlers concentration camps). The synthesisof articial nitrate nitrogen was his m ost notable discovery. As long as

the Nazis had nitrate nitrogen they could keep building bombs.

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4. Remediate black water creating a much needed new strategy for theconservation of drinking water

5. Take advantage of abandoned and unused urban s paces

6. Break the transmission cycle of ag ents of disease associated with afecally-contaminated environment

7. Allow year-round food production without loss of yields due toclimate change or weather-related events

8. Eliminate the need for large-scale use of pesticides and herbicides

9. Provide a major new role for agrochemical industries (i.e., designingand producing safe, chemically-dened diets for a wide variety ofcommercially viable plant species10. Create an environment that encourages s ustainable urban life,promoting a state of good health for all those who choose to live incities.

And all this not to mention the ethical implications for rebuildingof natural ecosystems, eliminating our dependence on fossil fuels,eliminating the idea of waste, and the reversal of the global warmingprocess. To quote Richard Neutra (Survival Through Design 1954):

Architecture is a social art. It becomes an instrument of humanfate because it not only caters to requirement but also shapes andconditions our responses. It can be called reective because it mirrorsa program of conduct and living. At the same time this art of a plannedenvironment does more, it also programs our daily conduct and ourentire civilized life. It modies and often breaks earlier establishedhabits.

Breaking habits that we cant aord not to keep is a question ofethical necessity. I have included at the start of this pamphlet DavidHolmgrens twelve principles of permaculture against which alladvancements in the world of food production and design at largeshould be judged.


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The State of Things:

Industrial Agriculture, Mono culture, Fossil Fuels, Pollution


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A Paradigm Shift in Food Production:

New Technologies, Experiments, and Theoretical Futures

Cabin ecology, as Peder Anker refers to it, is the preoccupation fordesigning as if each patron were an astronaut setting out for space. Itevokes the need for complete self stainability and independence fromoutside resources.

The following examples range in scope and scale. Some are built someremain theoretical. Each one represents an attempt at creating a moreresponsible relationship between people and the earth through themedium of food.


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Chicago

With an estimated 80,000 vacant city lots in Chicago, mostly in economically under-developed neighborhoods, turning vacant land intoan asset for the community is the primary objective of City Farm. The farm itself is a moveable feast: the land can be farmed, then thecompost moved and reused elsewhere as lots become developed and communities grow. In addition to simply creating more green spaceand beautifying the urban landscape, the City Farm project hopes to provide education in organic farming and job creation for the com-munity on the sites themselves, building a community-sustained operation while also providing highly nutritious products to people inunder served neighborhoods.

Cuba

With the collapse of the Soviet Bloc and its economic support in 1989 as well as the tightening up of the US eco-nomic embargo, Cuba suddenly plunged into its worst economic crisis since the 1959 Revolution. Ocially dubbedthe Special Period in Time of Peace, the ongoing economic crisis has had a devastating impact on Cuban food secu-rity. Cuban agriculture, which was highly dependent on chemical inputs from the Soviet Union, suddenly confronteda reduction of over 50% in oil, fertilizer, and pesticide imports. Meanwhile, food imports also dropped o as Cubastotal import bill shrank by up to 70% between 1989 and 1993. As Fidel Castro himself stated in 1991: The food ques-tion has the number one priority.

The eects of the Special Period and consequent food shortages have had greatest repercussions in the city of Ha-vana. With approximately 2.5 million people, Havana has about one fth of Cubas total p opulation and is the largestcity in the Caribbean. In addition to the decline in food production needed to serve the capital, there is also a short-age of petroleum necessary to transport, refrigerate, and store food available from the rural agricultural sector. Thus,it is no surprise that Havana has been designated as a priority in the National Food Program; urban gardening hasgured critically among the many measures taken to enhance food security.

While Havanas urban agriculture has taken on many forms, ranging from private gardens (huertos privados) to state-owned research gardens (organicponicos), Havanas popular gardens (huertos populares) are the most widespread andaccessible to the general public. Popular gardens are small parcels of state-owned land that are cultivated by indi-viduals or community groups in response to ongoing food shortages. The program for popular gardens rst began inHavana in January 1991, and has since been promoted in other Cuban cities. In 1995, there were an estimated 26,600popular garden parcels (parcelas) throughout the 43 urban districts that make up Havanas 15 municipalities.

Source: Scott G. Chaplowe, World Sustainable Agriculture AssociationFall 1996, Vol. 5, No. 22

City Farms future goal is the creation of a demonstration garden for school children. In this set-ting, students would learn how to grow, harvest, and prepare nutritious seasonal produce, whi ch couldbe integrated into their curriculum and revitalize school lunch programs. Students learn patience anddiscipline, and experience rst hand the connection between what they eat and where it originates.

Source: www.resourcecenterchicago.org

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A Simple Solution

By Miranda Smith

ORGANIC HYDROPONICS :

From Self-Reliance by permission of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, 1717 18th S treet N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009.

To many, the idea of organic hydroponics seems like an impossiblecontradiction. Hydroponics, the growing of plants in a medium otherthan soil, usually utilizes a chemically derived nutrient solution.Organic gardeners, as a rule, do no like hydroponics: for those wholove the soil, the prospect of plunging elbow-deep into a gritty mixof parlite and vermiculite is not very inspiring. Nor is brewing upa batch of Hy-pon-ex or Miracle-gro. How-ever, as an enterprising

group of urban gardeners in Montreal has discovered hydroponic foodproduction need not rely upon a chemical nutrient solution ... and,

under the unique conditions of rooftop farming in the city, soillessvegetable cultivation has distinct advantages.

THE MONTREAL PROJECT

Two years ago, the Canadian government funded an eighteen-monthdemonstration project in Montreal to investigate the feasibility ofrooftop agriculture. The intent of the funding was the developmentof appropriate agricultural methods and technology so that people

would be able to farm the at wasteland above their city. The targetcommunity was the inner-city, ethnically mixed neighborhood, St.Louis Sud. Project workers taught courses in gardening and roofmaintenance skills, so that community residents could take over theproject when funding ran out.

The two gardeners who were hired to teach, research, and supervisewere experienced organic gardeners who preferred to work with soil.During the rst summer, the rooftop gardens were planted in earth.Over 100 cubic yards of dirt had to be carried by hand up two ights

of stairs, each cubic yard weighing between 195 and 270 pounds. The

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soil then had to be loaded into carefully positioned containers, so thatthe stress on the roof would be minimized. Even though the roof wasstrong and could support 80 pounds per square foot, still much of thewasteland had to remain uncultivated. If a lighter medium had beenused, more rooftop space could have been utilized for food production.

During that rst summer, the dierences between ground level androoftop agriculture became apparent. Container soil dried rapidly andhad to be watered daily. Nutrients leached out with every rain and theplants had to be side-dressed with a variety of fertilizers at least everythree weeks. Since the relative populations of soil micro-organismsand animals are greatly reduced in rooftop containers, their role in soilregeneration in the rooftop project was less signicant. Earth worms,though they lived well in the boxes, could not bring minerals back intothe earth from the parent rock because there were no parent rocks.By July, the root systems ha d become potbound, lling the entirecontainer. It was found that insect problems occurred more easily onthe roots than on the ground it strict care was not maintained. It began

to look as if organic container gardening could never be more than apoor cousin to ground level organics.

The project workers, however, came up with a solution, a methodwhich could minimize the many logistical and ecological problems thatwere being encountered. That method was hydroponics and, given theirorganic gardening background, the workers decided to experiment withorganic hydroponics.

THE ORGANIC HYDROPONIC PROCEDURE

Contrary to prevalent thought, it is extremely simple to mix a batch oforganic nutrients adequate for the needs of any plant. One can eitheruse a tea made from high quality compost, or a basic solution of 1-1/2teaspoons sh emulsion, 1-1/2 teaspoons liquid seaweed, and a teaspoonof bloodmeal to each gallon of water. The mix varies, depending uponthe type of plant being grown. Less bloodmeal should be used withowering and fruiting produce than with leafy crops. Other nutrientscan also be added: blended eggshells, for example, might be helpful

when added to a cabbage crop. There is room for variation and for


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more experimentation ... the basic mix is meant to be a starting pointrather than a proven end product.

The sh emulsion, seaweed, and bloodmeal recipe was developed intrials on lettuce during the Montreal winter. By spring, two successfullettuce crops had been harvested, so the project workers decided totry the nutrient solution with a tomato crop. Two large ve- by seven-foot cold frame boxes were prepared. One was tted with hydroponicaccessories and lled with a growing medium of hall perlite (a lavaproduct) and half vermiculite (made from mica) to which fty poundsof sand were added. This was found, after much experimentation, tobe the best medium. The other box was provided with the normaldrainage holes, lled with the conventional soil mix, and fertilized onregular schedule.

For the rst month of the summer, the thirty-six tomato plantsbeing grown hydroponically lagged behind the thirty-six soil-growntomatoes. This was because no seedling tomatoes had been started in a

soilless mix and It was necessary to take the plants from the soil, washthe earth o their roots, and then set them in the hydroponic box.

By July, the hydroponically grown tomatoes were larger, more sturdy,and had more fruit set than the soil-grown controls. They also hada much greater resistance to the aphids which infested downtownMontreal last summer. This increased resistance is a good indicationthat the plants were receiving excellent nutrition from the organicmix. Comparisons of the nal yields are not yet available, but by mid-

August the hydroponic tomato plants were producing about a thirdmore tomatoes than the soil-grown controls. There is no doubt thatthis simple nutrient solution provides excellent nourishment.

Critics of hydroponics claim that the method is too expensive and toocomplex. They also claim that it takes the fun out of gardening andis unaesthetic. The latter claim has some validity. Some communityresidents in Montreal were put o by the boxes of sterile, almostfeathery growing medium. Many stressed that they were gardeningfor more than the potential vegetable yield, that they enjoyed working

with dirt and compost. They wanted to learn about earth and they

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were quite willing to make do with the Intensied problems ofcontainer soil for the chance to work with that medium.

For people concerned with the economics and yields of urban foodproduction, though, hydroponics makes a great deal of sense. Thoughsoil is cheaper to buy than perlite and vermiculite, the labor costsfor the Montreal group in carting 100 cubic yards of earth to theroof were signicant. These costs were sla shed with the switch tothe hydroponic medium which weighed only two percent the weightof dirt. Further, since container soil does leach so readily and doesrequire repeated fertilization, the actual cost of fertilizer for containerplants grown in soil is comparable to the cost for hydroponicnutrients. Two more considerations must be mentioned. First, sincethe hydroponic medium is so much lighter than dirt, a much largersurface area of the roof can be covered with containers without thefear of structural collapse. Also, since hydroponic roots do not need to

grow as far In search of nourishment as do the roots of plants grownin soil, planting densities can be more intensive and higher yields can

be achieved.

In terms of complexity, hydroponic food production requires neithersophisticated equipment nor supervision. The technology is simpleand easy to construct. The container must be slightly elevated at oneend and have drainage holes at the opposite end. One-inch polyvinylchloride pipes with holes drilled every three inches are laid about aninch under the medium and raised at both ends of the box. Smallerrubber hoses from the nutrient supply are inserted into the pipe atone end and the upward bend in the pipe at the other end stops theow of the solution. A gravity system f or controlling nutrient ow,composed of two ve-gallon buckets elevated on boxes and standingtwo feet above the top of the growing container makes care for thehydroponic vegetables simple. The nutrients can be mixed directlyinto the water in the buckets and lling the buckets and adding thenutrients takes approximately ve minutes of work each day. Thehydroponic medium holds water so eectively that rare is furthersimplify led: it is quite possible to skip a feeding for a day or two

without causing any damage to the plants.

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The experiments conducted in Montreal are important ones: thepotential of organic hydroponics for producing both high yields andhealthy produce on the rooftops of urban homes and businesses issignicant. That the project was conducted in a low-income area andthat the community residents have indeed taken over the gardenproject is also encouraging. Further work remains to be done: wehope to continue researching the methods and techniques of organichydroponics in our newly completed rooftop greenhouse at theInstitute for Local Self Reliance in Washington, D.C. And we hope thatmore community groups try their luck with organic hydroponics ... inMontreal, some people grew to love it.

WHAT IS HYDROPONICS?

Hydroponics is the cultivation of plants in a medium other than soil.When you start an avocado pit or root a plant cutting in a glass of

water, you are practicing the simplest form of hydroponic culture. Asthe technique is more commonly used, plants are grown in a bed of

material such as gravel, sand, or even sawdust. At ILSR, we use a mixof perlite and vermiculite, the one a lava product and the other a kindof pued mica. The soilless growing material provides the physicalsupport which the root system needs. A nutrient solution is fed intothe mix periodically so that the roots can absorb all the nutrients whichthey would normally extract from soil.

Article from Mother Earth News

The Pyramid Farm


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Vertically Integrated Greenhouse

The Vertically Integrated Greenhouse (VIG) combines a double-skin building fa cade with a hydroponic greenhouse, oering o ne pathwaytowards energy ecient cities that can grow their o wn food. The concept was j ointly developed by New York Sun Works, Kiss + Cathcart,and Arup New York.The Vertically Integrated Greenhouse (VIG) is a highly productive, lightweight, modular, climatically responsive system for growing

vegetables within a double skin facade (DSF). The system is achievable with extant technology.A south facing, vertical glazed facade at the relatively high latitude of the UK admits a fairly even distribution of sunlight throughout theyear. Compared to a conventional greenhouse, the VIG provides increased production in winter, when produce prices peak.Plants are grown on trays suspended by a simple cable system, and all crop management occurs at the bottom level. Systems modules canrise as high as 10 or 20 stories ea ch. An adaptive control system alters the angles between rows of plants in the manner of Venetian blind,maximizing solar absorption diurnally and seasonally.Research on existing buildings in Europe indicates that a DSF adds approximately 5% to the cost of a new high rise; the additionalcomponents to make the DSF into a V IG add only slightly to this cost. Greenhouse crops add a signicant nancial return to the base casefor a DSF, which centers on enhanced winter heat ga in and noise control. The crops also shade the interior.Other studies indicate that a green work environment raises productivity by 1.0 to 1. 5%, representing a net present value in the U.S. of$400 to $600 per m2 of oor area.


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Farmadelphia

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The Living Tower


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Wealth is our organized capability to cope effectively with the e

and decreasing both the physical and metaphysical restr


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Documents

Need for a New Design: Review of Emerging Urban Agriculture Practices, 2008