Week 9: A Plan for Agriculture in the Urban Environment

The separation of cities and farms has become increasingly stark since the dawn of the industrial revolution where it moved our food out of backyards and village commons into fields and factories miles away.
However, over time, people became disconnected with their food, the land and became engrossed in the mass market consumerism of unsustainable food products.
In the Hodgson article, it points out the flaws of this system and what urban planners can do to bring back the connection people once had with their food.
The points that urban planners should stress on when implementing urban agriculture policies is developing a community plan, what mechanisms that will be used to create the desired outcome, how the ordinances will affect private urban agriculture and public investments as well.
Planners talk about "an edible landscape" and a major tool planners can use is zoning.
Zoning laws can be tweaked to allow urban agriculture and promote it in the private sector so that people can have the freedom to invent new methods of farming.
For example, a Milwaukee resident, Will Allen, started his own community garden with a goal to supply food to low-income families living in the city. The growing techniques he used included vertically growing crops and an aquaponic system that cut down space and spreads what he's learned to other members of the community so they can start developing a little sustainable food system, as well.
Bringing farms back into the community help create a common bond between residents because food is one of the most important things on the planet- we need it to survive- so it's a common good and more people will be invested into it's smooth cultivation.
Point is, urban planners can use zoning to promote urban agriculture, loosen policies regarding livestock so they can come into the city as long as they don't cause health and noise hazards, and to re-invigorate abandoned plots of land or converting parts of city parks into urban farms so people can actually be in control, once again, of what they eat.