urbanism

New company in SF will grow your vegetables for you in your own backyard. If you have extra space you can get a discount for allowing them to grow excess to sell to other urbanites.

A newspaper article on a popular urban agricultural project that took place for the first time last year in the poor town of Middlesbrough, North East England as part of a design initiative called Dott07. The project now in its second year goes from strength to strength with 2000 informal 'urban farmers' due to plant this year and reap the harvest at a large-scale town meal. More on the strategic spatial and land-use planning issues at http://tinyurl.com/2843d9.

The next phase of the developing Jeffrey Place in Italian Village may be in line for national recognition as an environmentally friendly Columbus neighborhood.

The idea is simple and based upon the problem that most of the fruit that makes it into our grocery stores is transported great distances (1,000+ miles on average). All this energy, while a large percentage of fruit in people’s backyard simply goes to waste because most homeowners lack the time and interest to properly share or store this food.

People really want to figure out what to do about the twin dooms they hear are upon them; thinking people know recycling just isn't enough. There has to be some kind of coordinated preparation. This is a book from the Post Carbon Institute about how we can become more ready for peak oil and climate change at the city level. It's meant for planners, city government, and citizen activists who want to try to make sure their corner of civilization has a plan in place.

Video presentation of a talk by activist Majora Carter at the 2005 TED conference, on the role of sustainable development and green business in the revitalization of New York City's South Bronx. Carter, who was awarded a 2005 MacArthur "genius" grant, now serves as executive director of Sustainable South Bronx, where she pushes both for eco-friendly practices (such as green and cool roofs) and, equally important, job training and green-related economic development for her vibrant neighborhood on the rise.

Interesting line in a New York Times article on New Urbanism. 'Carving out those small lots, however, requires a zoning change. As a rule, communities don’t like smaller lots, because that means more density, more cars, more people and higher school taxes.'