a fascinating article on a prospective aquaponic farm as a vehicle for urban renewal in denver. Urban Organics, the potential facility profiled, not only would provide locally grown food and produce, but also cooking, nutrition and sustainability workshops.
what’s interesting about this project, is that it is engaging the local community in sustainability and health on a very basic level. by providing both a model of how people could grow their own food and lessons in how they could create their own food production systems, Urban Organics is providing the opportunity to create a behavioral shift. I’ve written about this a lot on TOSD, but I feel strongly that we can create as many technological advances as we want, but until we actually start effecting our collective culture we won’t make any significant change. sustainability isn’t about having the most fuel efficient car, it’s about changing your behavior so you don’t use one at all. Urban Organics wouldn’t just providelocally grown produce and fish, it would give an entire community the vision and means to do it themselves.
from the ::denver post.
Technorati Tags: urban agriculture
Filed under: food, urban agriculture
I came across some very interesting maps that show population density effecting geography… they are definitely very revealing to exactly where populations reside and where countries are more sparse.
from ::fastcompany.
Filed under: Uncategorized
it’s easy to get mired in a view of design that focuses data exchange between ecotect and grasshopper, performative skin systems in generative components, and scripting architectural solutions, but once in a while you find a completely different take on what design is and what you really should be doing to be creating a design solution. james rojas of g727 and metro has one of these takes on design on an urban scale: let the community members design it themselves. if you haven’t seen one of james’ installations for yourself, you can’t imagine the vast amount of trinkets, toys, and other items that people can use to construct their own vision of their environment. by using either items we recognize as toys or elements taken out of context, the users have a remarkably high amount of creativity and exploration.
read more about one of james’ installations on ::industrianism.
Filed under: design, urban planning , james rojas, los angeles, urban design
alexis rochas’ green roof @ the FLAT building. from ::youngandbrilliant.
gizmag reports that adding green roofs to an urban area the size of detroit would be the equivalent of talking 10,000 SUVs and mid-sized trucks off of the road. that would be incredible in itself, but I find myself wondering if 1/5 of the USA’s vehicular emissions are from the transportation of food, then what would the be impact if these roofs weren’t just green but agricultural? what would be the impact if the vegetation wasn’t just counteracting vehicles emissions, but actually replacing the need to have emissions in the first place?
from ::planetizen.
Filed under: architecture, green, urban agriculture
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