Vertical farms

Posted on July 10, 2008 by Merten

Urban farming and big scale high productivity agriculture are not necessarily incompatible. Although the grassroot organizations, mentioned in the post below, would probably never suggest something of the sort, vertical farms also present a solution to our future problems regarding food production. On various levels, on top of and in between housing and offices, livestock could be kept and crops grown. A new type of hybrid infrastructural building has been conceived to accomodate this new urban rural function.

La Tour Vivante – Rennes, France, 2005. Atelier SoA architectes.
Image SoA architectes

Image SoA architectes

SoA architectes
www.ateliersoa.fr

Pig City -The Netherlands, 2001. MVRDV architects. Image MVRDV
MVRDV architects
www.mvrdv.nl/_v2/projects/181_pigcity/index.html

More projects for vertical farms:
www.verticalfarm.com/Designs.aspx

Urban farming

Posted on July 10, 2008 by Merten

Urban farming is more and more part of daily life of city dwellers in the US and (especially Eastern) Europe. Growing vegetables and lifestock in high density urban areas might seem as something strange, but according to various articles the practice of urban farming and the presence of “rural” animals in cities has always existed. In the past it has been necessary as survival strategy, for example during the urban famine at the end of the second World War.

Corn field in downtown Detroit Photo Baliad

Today urban farming rises as an alternative for expensive, energy-consuming, processed and imported nutrients. Home growing increases control on the quality of the food and eliminates most of the transport costs. In Africa and other developing regions it´s creating independence for the urban poor. Besides these practical reasons, urban farming has been undertaken as revitalization strategies for abandoned urban sites, such as in Detroit. The resulting urban farms serve also as educational and recreational centers for the neighborhood. Exactly for being high density urban areas, these neighborhoods rarely have any legal restrictions on the growing of certain plants and keeping of unusual animals, which makes urban farms easy to be implemented.

Urban farming in Havana, Cuba
Photo Cityspinning

Articles:

Urban Farming: Back to the land in your tiny backyard
Carol Lloyd, San Fransisco Chronicle, 27 June 2008
www.sfgate.com/…

Designs of the time 2007 – Urban Farming
www.dott07.com/go/urbanfarming

Urban farming takes root in Detroit
Matthew Wells, BBC News, Detroit, 10 July 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/…

Vacant space vs. New development

Posted on June 26, 2008 by Merten

The Dutch “New Map” joins planning information of all municipalities in the Netherlands and gives a rather good idea of what the country will look like 10 years from now. Another project, called “The Old Map of the Netherlands”, gathered information on vacant lots and buildings.

When these two maps are put together, one finds that most vacant spaces are actually located outside the new development of housing, offices, commerce and leisure. This means that the potential of vacant space remains unused in Dutch urban planning. It also means there is still a bright future for squatting movements, just pick up the list and go…

Nirov Quickscan for the city Utrecht (searching for overlaps in the two maps, vacancy and urban development). Manon van Heusden en Jan Kadijk 23-06-08
Image by NIROV

Nirov Quickscan
www.nirov.nl/static/nieuws/Quickscan_OudeKaart_NieuweKaart.pdf

Nieuwe Kaart van Nederland (New Map of the Netherlands – new planning developments)
www.nieuwekaart.nl

Oude Kaart van Nederland (Old Map of the Netherlands – vacancy and possibilities for reuse)
www.oudekaartnederland.nl/okn.html

Infrastructure and democracy

Posted on June 24, 2008 by Merten

The delayed construction of Heathrow Terminal 5 was the longest public inquiry in the history of the UK. This week the Planning Bill, proposed legislation to streamline decision on big projects like airports, will be voted. Environment campaigners say it will strip ordinary people of the right to object to major projects. Engineers and politicians warn for failure and lack of infrastructure aswell as unacceptable costs through delays caused by civic protests.

“It took four years, with 700 people giving evidence at a cost of £80 million to come up with the decision that the vast majority of people expected in the first place.”

Row threatens planning shake-up
By Sarah Mukherjee, BBC 24-06-2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/…

Heathrow airport - terminal 5

Exibir mapa ampliado

Praia Roosevelt

Posted on June 23, 2008 by Merten

Proposta ousada do arquiteto Eduardo Longo, prevendo a adaptação das lajes existentes da praça para formar um balneário público com piscinas e solário.
Além de evitar a cara demolição e revitalização da praça, proposta pelo poder público (e até hoje pendente), o projeto mantem as vagas valiosas sob a laje e propõe um uso popular, lucrativo e controlável, assim pondo um fim ao mal-uso e fechamento atual do espaço.

Imagem Eduardo Longo