Ecological Urbanism

[agritecturalscience-blog]

Caleb Harper - This computer will grow your food Creating a platform for people to feel empowered about their food Considering that we import most of our food, i never thought about food in relation to the climate and growing conditions that produced the food. Which begs the questions of what if climate was democratic? What if there was a platform which simulated the growing conditions of say Mangos from the Philippines, or Banana’s from Colombia, or Oranges from Florida? These are the types of questions that Harper asked himself. The result of his research was an open sourced food computer. One thing I found interesting was his observation that through his exploration he was able to build a very intimate relationship with the language of plants. Considering the technological based life that we live these days, our relationship with our food and with nature has been lost.  This is an amazing innovation that I feel will help alleviate a lot of the problems associated with food democracy in the world. I look forward to a world where this food computer is common place where we can openly share growing conditions of different plants for a desired taste.

[agritecturalscience-blog]

St Lawrence Market is a magical place with a unique atmosphere unlike any other place in Toronto. What I like about the Market is that you are exposed to locally produced products and traditions from across Toronto’s vibrant cultural food scene. What I find amazing is that the building still functions and serves the same purpose as it did when it first opened 200 years ago. It is a staple food hub in the city where you can learn about the latest food movements and trends.

[agritecturalscience-blog]

Scadding Court Community Centre Seeing the aquaponics setup at Scadding Court was pretty impressive. What really fascinates me about it is that it is a designed closed-loop ecosystem! Mind boggling to think about design and the anthropocene and how humans are creating a new type of nature that is capable of simulating natural growing systems. I wonder if better efficiencies could be made through the design of the system. Could the connections, piping, and flow of nutrients be streamlined in some way in order to achieve the most efficient design in terms of its organization? It is really great to see urban agriculture initiatives starting to gain traction and creating awareness through education. If more people are informed about this stuff then people will be empowered to become not only consumers but producers.

[agritecturalscience-blog]

Turning a roof, which would otherwise be an underutilized part of a building, and transforming it into a productive landscape that benefits the greater good of people living in cities. We need to bring food back into the city and let it inform the way our cities are organized. It’s these types of discussions that need to happen in order for urban agriculture to be a normal everyday thing as opposed to something that would be nice to do. I absolutely believe that this is a necessary thing that could unify us all and help alleviate the social, political, economical and environmental pressures we are all desperately trying to overcome. It’s not an end all be all, but it will play a key role in improving the quality of life in urbanized areas moving forward into the 21st Century.

[agritecturalscience-blog]

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Broadacre City c.1932

It is interesting to think that ideas of the non-city, a city dissolved into a literal and metaphorical field with a continuum of urban and rural functions were being proposed and explored as far back as the early 20th Century. Although spatially radical, it seemed as though Wright felt a fundamental need to integrate the productive landscape into our settlements in new hybrids of mixed intensities. As opposed to remaining on the periphery as is the case with the planning and development of modern cities. When did the strong divide between rural and urban occur? And why has this binary relationship lasted for as long as it has?  With the unpredictability of global weather patterns affecting crop cycles, the rapid urbanization happening around the globe, and the growth in world population the fundamental question we must ask ourselves is: How will we feed ourselves in the 21st Century?

[agritecturalscience-blog]

Architects have been steadily pushed out of urban design but through embracing Ecological Urbanism may reclaim their authority and create cities in symbiotic harmony with nature.

Susannah Hagan