Chad Gilbreath & Joel Palmer

Agrarian Urbanism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGJt_YXIoJI

Major Problem: Sprawl

• Developments spread out with no overall planning on regional level

Sprawl

• Segregated land use

• Long commutes to work, shopping, recreation,

• Housing segregated by income levels• Strip malls, shopping centers along

freeway

• Designed for the car, excludes the pedestrian

• Developments are “placeless”, not destinations, not centers of activity

• No community

New Urbanism

Walkability

New Urbanism

• Connectivity• Mixed-Use & Diversity• Mixed Housing• Quality Architecture & Urban Design

• Traditional Neighborhood Structure

• Increased Density

• Smart Transportation

• Sustainability

• Quality of Life

But there’s still something missing….

Half the world’s food is lost, wasted, or discarded along the chain from farm to shop to consumer to dump.-London Evening Standard 2-21-2011

Enter….. Agrarian Urbanism

Agrarian urbanism is a type of development that integrates food production as the central design element.

Agrarian Urbanism Defined

Ornamental landscaping is replaced with food bearing plants

  “…agriculture is the new golf.”

-Andres Duany

In other words, access to locally grown food and the culture by which it is grown and processed is an amenity that people will pay for.

Market: Who is this for?

The Ethicists

The Four Segments of the Market

The Trendsetters

The Opportunists

The Survivalists

Environmentalists, “guardians of Mother Nature,” heirs to the pioneers of the 1960’s

The Ethicists (Because it’s the right thing to do)

Ethically driven “green gurus”, proponents of “green” dwellings, dinky cars, owning less “stuff”, laundry on clotheslines, and a dwindling population Have learned how to tap into government policy, some have become regulators

The Trendsetters(Cool greens)Local foodies(uncool to

eat processed foods)

• Pleased to eat organic (if it tastes good)

• Recycle (if it is convenient)• Drive small cars and have energy-efficient houses (as long as they look really good)

• Mostly young, their virulent mass will likely provide the critical mass for a tipping point

Pragmatists who thrive on the economics of environmentalism

The Opportunists(What’s in it for me?)

• “gadget greens”, seeking technological fixes rather than behavioral changes• Okay with subsidies or regulation tipping economic playing field their way

• Agrarian Urbanism would typically be developed by Opportunists and marketed

to Trendsetters and Survivalists

Consider themselves the only realists- the ones who understand the inevitability of decline and the troubles to come

The Survivalists(Circle the Wagons!)

• “grim greens,” too late to avoid climate change, time to hunker down and adapt to the consequent energy shortages, food scarcity and social instability

• Not in bunkers, but rather in local communities. The only effective response to challenges is at the scale of their community (village, compound, family)

The perfect response to growing market demands:

Why Agrarian Urbanism

Local Food Production Healthier lifestyle (walkability, healthier

food) Positions recreational time as productive rather than consumptive

Food production becomes the social condenser rather than shopping

Builds community and family Environmental benefits Though an urban setting, the

negative aspects of urbanity are mitigated Connection to the land and all that entails

ObstaclesMany planned, but no full-scale communities

have been completed

• Financing• Societal perceptions about “food growing

communities” must be overcome- connections with “commune,” etc.

• Enough people to buy into it and make it successful• Local development regulations

• Existing zoning laws and building codes• Getting developers to see this as a viable product

“The vegetable garden, it turns out, is a ripening political force: the best response to the energy crisis, the climate crisis, the obesity crisis, the family crisis, the financial crisis…it will be no small irony if suburbia becomes the locavore’s home of choice…and growing backyard veggies could be the answer to the crisis of disaffected suburban youth.”

-Dominique Browning

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