Week 9 - Planning for Urban Ag.

            Portland, Oregon’s, Diggable City Project, involved undergraduate students researching and then creating a program proposal to inventory all of the city’s land use. From there they determined whether the area would be able to add on more urban agricultural uses or create them. This is a great example of how community leaders within the university work with the city to propose a change to the city they live in, especially because they did not receive funding for their work. Similarly, in Vancouver undergraduates replicated Portland’s project. Just like Portland, Vancouver also had few projects implemented but both have been able to make more use of areas already zoned or utilized for maximized benefits. Both cities are known for their amazing strides in sustainability.

            In Milwaukee, Wisconsin a gentleman by the name of Will Allen started his own urban community garden with a focus on supplying food to low-income families within the city. His growing techniques include vertically growing crops and an Aquaponic system, which take up less space. Allen tries to make all of his techniques replicable and spreads awareness of the benefits of urban agriculture through seminars and educational events on his farm. Another interesting process he has is called biodigester – this process takes waste and converts it to electricity by using bacteria to break down waste into various gases.  

In addition to planning urban agriculture, the re-integration of livestock into the city is also a concern. Immigrants are historically responsible for bringing and keeping livestock within US cities and have also been reinforced by social and economic transitons. After NYC banned chickens and required special permits for those who wanted to do anything with livestock, many cities follow suit. While zoning discretion and land use vary from city to city, all of them try to limit livestock in the urban place.