Spaces, Systems and Infrastructures: From Founding Visions to Emerging Approaches for the Productive Urban Landscape
The proliferation of urban agriculture on an array of urban spaces is one of the more visible responses to perceived failures of contemporary food systems. This paper seeks to identify fundamental strategies connected to food system change efforts, linking these with diverse attempts at designing an...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Land |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/2/410 |
| _version_ | 1797619886621458432 |
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| author | Joe Nasr Matthew Potteiger |
| author_facet | Joe Nasr Matthew Potteiger |
| author_sort | Joe Nasr |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The proliferation of urban agriculture on an array of urban spaces is one of the more visible responses to perceived failures of contemporary food systems. This paper seeks to identify fundamental strategies connected to food system change efforts, linking these with diverse attempts at designing and planning the productive city. It first situates the contemporary concept of the productive city within a broader historical dialogue of foundational figures in urban and regional planning, architecture, and landscape architecture for whom food production was a central component of future cities. Recently, a growing number of practitioners have theorized the need for integrating urban agriculture in urban design and planning. Across this spectrum of emerging theory and practice, we identify three approaches to designing productive cities. First, <i>spatial design</i> strategies identify new territories for food production. These offer the potential for <i>systems design</i> thinking that links the individual spaces of production to other sectors of food systems that extend across networks of spaces and multiple scales. Finally, both spatial and systems design involve strategies of designing <i>productive infrastructures</i> of soils, water, nutrients, and other essential flows. The engagement with spaces of production, food systems, and productive infrastructure opens up a range of challenges as well as opportunities for emerging forms of practice and design thinking for the productive city. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:33:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-31a829932a7d40beb3bbb0540cfe155c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-445X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:33:20Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Land |
| spelling | doaj.art-31a829932a7d40beb3bbb0540cfe155c2023-11-16T21:36:57ZengMDPI AGLand2073-445X2023-02-0112241010.3390/land12020410Spaces, Systems and Infrastructures: From Founding Visions to Emerging Approaches for the Productive Urban LandscapeJoe Nasr0Matthew Potteiger1Centre for Studies in Food Security, Toronto Metropolitan University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, CanadaDepartment of Landscape Architecture, State University of New York, Syracuse, 1 Forestry Drive, Syracuse, NY 13210, USAThe proliferation of urban agriculture on an array of urban spaces is one of the more visible responses to perceived failures of contemporary food systems. This paper seeks to identify fundamental strategies connected to food system change efforts, linking these with diverse attempts at designing and planning the productive city. It first situates the contemporary concept of the productive city within a broader historical dialogue of foundational figures in urban and regional planning, architecture, and landscape architecture for whom food production was a central component of future cities. Recently, a growing number of practitioners have theorized the need for integrating urban agriculture in urban design and planning. Across this spectrum of emerging theory and practice, we identify three approaches to designing productive cities. First, <i>spatial design</i> strategies identify new territories for food production. These offer the potential for <i>systems design</i> thinking that links the individual spaces of production to other sectors of food systems that extend across networks of spaces and multiple scales. Finally, both spatial and systems design involve strategies of designing <i>productive infrastructures</i> of soils, water, nutrients, and other essential flows. The engagement with spaces of production, food systems, and productive infrastructure opens up a range of challenges as well as opportunities for emerging forms of practice and design thinking for the productive city.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/2/410productive landscapesurban designurban agriculturegreen infrastructurefood system planning |
| spellingShingle | Joe Nasr Matthew Potteiger Spaces, Systems and Infrastructures: From Founding Visions to Emerging Approaches for the Productive Urban Landscape Land productive landscapes urban design urban agriculture green infrastructure food system planning |
| title | Spaces, Systems and Infrastructures: From Founding Visions to Emerging Approaches for the Productive Urban Landscape |
| title_full | Spaces, Systems and Infrastructures: From Founding Visions to Emerging Approaches for the Productive Urban Landscape |
| title_fullStr | Spaces, Systems and Infrastructures: From Founding Visions to Emerging Approaches for the Productive Urban Landscape |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spaces, Systems and Infrastructures: From Founding Visions to Emerging Approaches for the Productive Urban Landscape |
| title_short | Spaces, Systems and Infrastructures: From Founding Visions to Emerging Approaches for the Productive Urban Landscape |
| title_sort | spaces systems and infrastructures from founding visions to emerging approaches for the productive urban landscape |
| topic | productive landscapes urban design urban agriculture green infrastructure food system planning |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/2/410 |
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