Food City: The Urban Landscape, as a Food Source
What kind of infrastructure would a city have to develop if it cultivated its own food? Food City envisions a future based upon resilient and recuperative forms of urbanism in a region with the nation’s highest food insecurity. University of Arkansas have developed Food City Scenario for Fayetteville in Arkansas, region with the highest level of food shortage danger. This project has received many awards, including honorary American Institute of Architects Award and American Society of Landscape Architects Award.
Food City devises a model agroecological vocabulary for reclaiming a missing middle scale of urban agriculture between that of the individual garden and the industrial farm. This missing middle foodshed functions as an ecological municipal utility featuring green infrastructure, public growscapes, and spaces for food processing and distribution. Beyond current ad hoc production practices, the next stage of urban agriculture includes large-scale conservation, accelerated nutrient management, and upcycling of municipal waste. Food City’s transferable set of planning tools not only assists to embed high-quality food production into American urbanism, but shows how urban infrastructure can also deliver important ecosystem services.
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Materials provided by American Institute of Architects, American Society of Landscape Architects
Illustrative materials provided by © University of Arkansas Community Design Center