Founded on a grid by the Greeks. But all grid cities are not the same. The way the grid adapts to the topography, nature and artifice fusing. The height/depth of the city blocks. Like a cut in the earth. What happens when the narrow streets step back, a sense of relief, the space to slow down. The baroque churches make sense here.
Sunday 21 November 2010
Urban agriculture
Sources of research
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/oct/21/nagoya-biodiversity-summit-food-security
Particularly the Edible Estates section which deals with urban food growing within inner city social housing estates
http://www.london.gov.uk/londonfood/
http://www.london.gov.uk/londonfood/board/
http://www.growingcommunities.org/
http://www.foodvision.gov.uk/pages/growing-food
http://foodurbanism.blogspot.com/
http://nomadicallotments.wordpress.com/
http://www.transitiontowns.org/
http://www.ealingtransition.org.uk
http://westealingabundancew13.wordpress.com/
The Union Street Orchard it describes has just been taken down but is described in the above link.
Two years ago the site was the location of the Southwark Lido by French architects Exyzt
Last year Exyzt built the Dalston Mill project, partnering with muf as part of the Barbican's Radical Nature exhibition:
http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=9311
This year they partnered again for the Dalston Barn project, testing for muf's masterplan for Dalston:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23851003-the-big-society-begins-in-dalston.do
The Vacant Lot Project:
http://www.what-if.info/Vacant_Lot_no1.html
Its expansion last year:
http://www.what-if.info/20_vacant_lots.html
A collaboration with artist Jeremey Deller to reproduce the original garden in the Westfield Centre
http://www.what-if.info/Vacant_Lot_Louis_Vuitton.html
The Manor Garden Allotments, removed for the Olympic construction.
In Hackney:
http://www.growingcommunities.org/
Precedent studies for food proximity
Andrea Branzi, Agronica Project, (1995)
Manzini, E. and Susani, M, The Solid Side, V+K Publishing/Philips, 1995
‘Symbiotic Metropolis: Agronica’, by Adrea Branzi, D.Donegani, A.Petrillo, and C.Raimondo, p 101-120
Domus 878, Feb. 2005, Per una architettura enzimatica, Enzymatic architecture, by Andrea Branzi, p. 48-57
Incredible Edible, Town of Todmordens
Wageningen Food Valley, Netherlands
Potager du Roi, Versailles, France
Holkham Hall Walled Garden, Norfolk
Different models of urban agriculture
Ancient Persian, the usage of waste
Machu Bishu, water was conserved and reused as part of the stepped architecture of the city and vegetable beds were designed to gather sun in order to prolong the growing season
Lake inlay in Burma, floating rafts on the water
Allotments
The Bedding areas in a park are replaced by food growing plots, so that users do not realise at first sight that planting is entirely made up of over 150 varieties of heirloom vegetables, herbs and edible flowers
A fish farm as part of a river ecosystem where they are able to harvest watercress and fish to sell to local restaurants. This holistic system goes one step further, by feeding some of the fish on worms that are produced as part of a large scale composting enterprise on site
Saturday 20 November 2010
T 18
Revised Manifesto
I want to further understand how the processes by which decisions and judgments about the city are made. I was fascinated by Peter Bishops brief presentation of the process by which the King's Cross area got planning permission. At what point does design become part of the process. What is the designer's role? Politics is exciting, but at some point a city is physically manifested, who writes the brief? Who is the city made for, to whom does it belong?
T17
Revised glossary
Glossary of Terms
(10 words useful to the world of spatial planning and urban design)
Planning - Considering all the many elements that make up a place, and bringing them to bear on an idea about how the city might materialise
Spatial planning - to bring an understanding of how spaces are used and how they relate to each other
Design - arranging different elements to bring coherence and understanding, so they work both separately and together as a whole
Urban design - understanding and arranging the different elements of a city so they are integrated, and it is coherent, and the city works at different levels, both in physical terms, and how it exists in our minds
Place - a destination, a space that speaks of a use, with a sense of shelter, somewhere to be
Community - a network of connections between people
History - a sense of the past, an understanding of why things are as they are
Urban fabric - the physical materiality of the city
Point of orientation - a point, or place, or building from which we orientate ourselves
Skyline - the line of the city against the sky, moments that give character and scale
T 15
History/theory/policy essay
Is urban planning a symptom or a cause of the progression from a richly layered urban order into the flattened complexity of contemporary 'world cities'?
MA dissertation on urban agriculture
History
The origin of cities, the spiritual and practical connection with the sun, the earth, food, compared to our relationship with it as modern urban dwellers.
Look at Roman aedicules, frescos depicting architectural fantasies, showing hunts, sacrifice (before feasting), and plates of food, and compare this with urban dwelling anti-hunt campaigners, horrified by the murder of animals, (but many of whom wear leather shoes). They illustrate the disconnection of many urbanites from nature and the natural cycle of life, unfamiliar with the process of food production.
Historical examples showing practical solutions.
An argument for the relevance of urban agriculture
Urban agriculture is an old idea that has become current both as a strategy for adapting to the challenges of climate change and oil depletion, (by making food production more sustainable), and because of the recognized benefits to health (both mental and physical), and of engaging and building communities to improve green spaces and the environment in general.
An understanding of the policies in place, and analysis of what effect these have
An analysis of what is happening around London, how it came about, what is working.
Community coming together, beyond apples rotting on the tree, localization
Giving responsibility back to the people? The big society? Localization?
What makes a good city?
Good people, ergo good communities. Attachment theory?
Friday 19 November 2010
T14
Rip it up 3: Liverpool – city as shopping opportunity?
Paul Domela, with responses by Torange Khonsari and Ines Weizman
Thursday 28th October 2010
A neon sign of a child's drawing, attached to a church tower.
Something that provokes an emotional response in a viewer.
Is this architecture? Does it transform a space?
It's part of the story.
T 12 Urban Markers
ArcelorMittal Orbit in the Olympic Park
Daniel Bosia, Arup
Kathryn Findlay
I don't like the red spiral, and listening to the design process made it no better.
However, as Kathryn Findlay pointed out, we can't predict how it might take on a life of it's own, when it comes into existence.
The Euston Arch
Alan Baxtor
The London Gate in Aldgate
Fernando Donis
The Ebsfleet Horse
Mark Darley
the twentieth century is deeply antagonistic to markers, eg corbs city
Flicker city clusters, show particular parts of the city dominating our understanding of the city
Return to an almost classical experience of, a classical form of space.
A mapping of what becomes a spatial structure
Medium generic city, undifferentiated, generic, efficient, unmarked, Starbucks on every corner
The value of the wonderful illogicality of humans, veryu different form teenage mess and muddle.
Are buildings not markers?
Where does de cluttering come into it
The chair ended the discussion because it started to 'degenerate into a debate about our planning system'.
T9 1minute presentation
We have been looking at Pitzhanger Manor, built by John Soane in Ealing.
By this time he was the architect of the Bank of England, and in this buildings he references that building.
Time, earth, the past, layers, ensembles, journeys.
All good city qualities.
I chose to do this MA because I wanted to further understand the processes by which the city comes into being.
T6 Urban Design definitions
‘At the heart of our urban strategy lies the concept that cities are for the meeting of friends and strangers in civilized public spaces surrounded by beautiful buildings’.
Richard Rogers
‘..working at a variety of scales and paying close attention to the social, ecological, historical and economic aspects of places’.
Lynch Architects
"We are interested in places, uses and the way they come about. By places we mean cities, spaces within them, buildings, and landscapes. Our work has come to be internationally recognized for a patient and innovative role in adjusting and improving the urban fabric and its uses."
EastT 5 Site
Unit 1: Our site this year will be in Italy on the Bay of Naples, at Erculano, on the edge of the historical excavations of Herculaneum.
However we have been given an introductory design project in Ealing, which is Pitzhanger Manor and it’s gardens, (designed by Sir John Soane 1800). Part of the brief is to research urban agriculture.
Urban Agriculture
Urban agriculture is an old idea that has become current both as a strategy for adapting to the challenges of climate change and oil depletion, (by making food production more sustainable), and because of the recognized benefits to health (both mental and physical), and of engaging and building communities to improve green spaces and the environment in general.
Issues of food security and health are debated at a global level. The recent biodiversity summit in Nagoya explored how the world might achieve food security before ecosystems reach critical tipping points, and UN agencies such the WHO are engaged in addressing the twin issues of hunger and obesity, intimately connected to the way food is produced and distributed.
These issues are also discussed at national, regional and local levels of UK governance. There is a UK plan, a London plan, and an Ealing plan (Food Matters 2002). The government has set a target of reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 (34% by 2020), as a response to global warming.
National Policies and initiatives
Health. The Choosing Health: Making healthy choices easier White Paper, together with its associated Food and Health Action Plan, and initiatives such as the “5 a Day” programme, the “School Fruit and Vegetable” scheme and ongoing efforts to ensure food safety and food hygiene.
Environment. Notably the new UK Strategy for Sustainable Development, the work of the UK Sustainable Development Commission, the national Waste Strategy and the work to implement the Kyoto protocol on climate change.
The Sustainable Development Commission’s 2009 report on Food Security & Sustainability recommends that the UK Government adopts a new definition of food security in terms of genuinely sustainable food systems, where the core goal is to feed everyone sustainably, equitably and healthily; which addresses needs for availability, affordability and accessibility; which is diverse, ecologically-sound and resilient; and which builds the capabilities and skills necessary for future generations.
The Cabinet Office’s Food Policy Report includes food security and states that carbon reduction and health will be priorities ahead (Food Matters: Towards a strategy for the 21st century, 2008)
London initiatives:
Capital growth is a campaign to support 2,012 new community food-growing spaces for London by the end of 2012. It is a partnership initiative between London Food Link, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, and the Big Lottery's Local Food Fund. Rosie Boycott, the Chair of the London Food Board, promotes it.
There are presently around 27 Farmers’ Markets, operating or planned, in Greater London and generate spending of up to £3.9 million pa
The Mayor's Great Spaces Initiative, launched in March 2009, is part of London's Great Outdoors, the Mayor's vision to transform the every day experience of London's outdoor spaces and improve public space across London. In Ealing the Park Royal Southern Gateway is part of this initiative.
The Food Strategy of May 2006, (when Ken Livingstone was Mayor), set out how health can be improved, pleasure from eating and dining can be increased, the experience of London’s cultural diversity can be enriched, and a more sustainable future can be ensured. It also describes challenges such as diet-related illnesses and obesity, and access to nutritious and affordable food. It seeks ways to support local, regional and organic producers, and help connect them to markets and consumers in London, ensuring a safe and secure supply of food, and reducing London’s ecological footprint.
Ealing
Ealing covers 55 square kilometers (over 21 square miles); 1.4% of the total land area of London. There are 19 major open space areas in the borough - designated green belt or metropolitan open land areas - totaling 8.4 square kilometers of park sand green spaces; which is 15% of the total borough land.
There are some ten miles of canals in the Borough as well as the rivers Brent and Crane and other smaller rivers and tributaries. There are also more than 30 designated conservation areas.
There is a history of orchards and wheat fields. In the 19th century much of the land from the Uxbridge Road south to Windmill Road, east to Northfield Avenue and west to Boston Road was given over to market gardens and orchards.
On the eastern boundary of these market gardens and orchards were allotments which date back to the year of the Poor relief Act of 1832, when the area called Ealing Dean Common (then both sides of Northfield Avenue) was given to the poor of West Ealing by the Bishop of London. There are still allotments on the eastern side of Northfield Avenue, but the ones to the west were built on in the early 1980s.
Ealing has poor air quality, and health issues of high obesity and diabetes.
Local initiatives
The Soil Association and London Food Link’s Hospital Food Project is a two-year project aiming to increase the proportion of local and/or organic food to 10% of the catering provision of four London NHS hospitals, and one of these is Ealing General. This will help to promote health by providing fresher and more nutritious food for patients, staff and visitors, and will help support local communities by keeping money and jobs in the local food and farming sector. (In Cornwall, the local health trust found that when they served fresh food, sourced locally, people got better more quickly).
West Ealing Abundance, (part of West Ealing Neighbours, a local residence group that has been going for 5 years), is engaging the local population in avoiding food wastage. West Ealing is built on orchard land and there is still a proliferation of those trees in the area. They have started publishing information on-line showing the whereabouts of apples, pears, plums, blackberries, damsons, and horseradish on public land, and thus encouraging people to harvest them. They have had a surge of people inviting them into private gardens to pick fruit that is going to waste. This has then been given away to the local soup kitchen or turned into jam and chutneys and sold at craft fairs. They have also bought an apple press, and sold fresh apple juice at the West Ealing family day. These activities promote what they are doing and educate the public.
EBCC (Ealing and Brentford Consolidated Charities) are developing 4 sites along a social enterprise model.
Ealing is a transition town, and part of Ealing Transitions Group. They are therefore concerned with addressing the challenges of peak oil and climate change. They have been involved with a small community pop-up garden in Walpole Park. This was part of a trial connected to a Heritage Lottery Application for the Park. They are also involved in developing a couple of orchards.
On the Transition Town website I found this quote: ‘Planning has never been more important and needs to be redefined – away from urban ‘development’ to planning a sustainable future’.
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