Farmadelphia

chickens hang out amidst lettuce

Throughout the northeast United States, there are once-proud cities that have lost population and industry. Treehugger has seen some revitalization and urban farming in Detroit and Buffalo. Yen Ha and Michi Yanagisita of Front Studio, "the only Asian women-owned architectural partnership in New York City" have produced the most stunning and evocative images for "Urban Voids: Grounds for Change", a competition sponsored by the Philadelphia City Parks Commission and the Van Allen Institute in 2006, just presented on ::Bldgblog. As James Howard Kunstler's predictions about our cities continue to come true, this may well be one of the solutions that keeps us in food and in jobs.

20071226-111219-TreeHugger-farmadelphia-aerial-view.jpg
urban voids interwoven with agricultural patchwork

Sunflowers aid in the bio-cleansing of land in preparation for crop farming

a field of golden wheat provides bread for the community

Free roaming city cows graze on locally owned pasture

For example, an abandoned building could have its walls and ground lined with a non-permeable membrane to prevent soil contamination for new plantings. Then layers of a weed barrier, soil bed, loam and mulch are added on top. The nurseries would provide: year-round job opportunities, high profit yields from selling flowers and the adaptive reuse of abandoned buildings.

::Front Studio (work, then competitions, Farmadelphia) via ::BLDGBLOG