Urban agriculture is not just about growing food; it is about building a new urban ecosystem. To achieve truly sustainable cities, we must move beyond viewing urban farms as isolated projects and instead, embrace an integrated systems approach. This paradigm shift, rooted in the idea that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” allows us to design landscapes where every element works in synergy. This article explores the principles, tools, and real-world case studies that define this approach, offering a glimpse into how systems integration is building the resilient, interconnected cities of the future.
The Foundations of Systems Integration: A Shift from Control to Adaptation
Traditional design models often seek precise stability and control. However, urban agriculture operates as a living system, which is inherently dynamic and unpredictable. An integrated systems approach embraces this reality, planning for an organic, open-ended model that allows for flexibility and adaptation. The goal is not just to connect systems but to design for
interdependence, where all elements of the urban landscape contribute to a regenerative level of performance.
Every decision—from selecting a plant palette to choosing a construction method—has the potential to make the system more or less integrated. To guide this process, designers can use tools like the
Urban Ag Resource Systems Matrix to map potential connections between different elements. This matrix is organized around three core sustainable building blocks:
ecological, cultural, and economic.
Mapping the Connections: A Toolkit for Sustainable Design
The Urban Ag Resource Systems Matrix is a powerful tool for evaluating the potential synergies within a project. It helps designers and stakeholders visualize how different resources and systems can be linked to achieve a higher sustainability outcome.
Ecological Systems include:
- Hydrology: Water inputs and outputs.
- Soil: The health of the soil, including its microbiology and nutrients.
- Vegetation: Food production and biodiversity.
- Habitat: The relationships between beneficial species and wildlife.
- Climate: Temperature and moisture.
- Air Quality: The ability to improve local air quality.
- Solar Orientation: The location and seasonal impact of the sun.
- Renewable Resources: The use of local, sustainable materials.
- Open Space: The connection between human and ecological health.
Cultural Systems encompass human-centered elements:
- Human Health and Well-being: Physical, biological, and mental health.
- Community Building: Connectivity and vitality.
- Education: The link between health and nourishment.
- Stewardship: Fostering a connection between nature and health.
- Food Consumption and Celebration: The role of food for both sustenance and social connection.
- Food Safety and Security: Protecting human health through safe food access.
- Food Accessibility and Justice: Ensuring nourishment for all members of the community.
- Recreation: The impact of active and passive recreation on human health.
- Materials: The positive impact of local, sustainable, and nontoxic materials on human health.
Economic Systems address the financial and structural aspects:
- Transit Infrastructure: The accessibility of food and jobs.
- Utility Infrastructure: The integration of green infrastructure.
- Harvesting and Processing: The link between consumption, accessibility, and green jobs.
- Distribution and Retail: Connections between food consumption, accessibility, and jobs.
- Waste Management: The connection between compost, recycling, and green waste as a resource.
- Policy and Codes: The role of policies in building healthier communities and food security.
- Grants and Funding: The relationship between community support, vision, and economic viability.
- Land Use and Planning: Building resilient communities through planning.
- Green Jobs: The connection between education and prosperity.
By mapping these systems and their potential connections, designers can ensure that a project’s design is fluid, dynamic, and adaptable. This process allows for continuous adjustment as a project moves from concept to reality, and even into its long-term lifecycle.
Case Study: Our School at Blair Grocery
Our School at Blair Grocery in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward is a powerful example of a highly integrated urban agriculture project. Founded by a schoolteacher, Nat Turner, the school is both an education center and an urban farm, tackling issues of food insecurity, joblessness, and illiteracy among neighborhood youth.
- Regenerating Land: The school is built on a site that was a food desert, an abandoned former grocery store. The project reclaims this space, using it to grow a variety of crops like tomatoes, arugula, and beans.
- Waste as a Resource: A large composting area on-site is a key part of their sustainable farming practices, which builds healthy soil.
- Education and Green Jobs: The school teaches “ecoliteracy” by engaging local youth as both students and farmers. Students learn not only how to farm but also how to market and sell their produce, even negotiating prices with local restaurants and markets. This approach gives them ownership of their work and provides them with business and financial skills.
- Community Building: The project engages the entire community, making them stakeholders who are vested in the health and well-being of the neighborhood.
Designing for the Lifecycle: The “Incredible Edible House” Prototype
The concept of systems integration extends to every scale, even to a single building. The “Incredible Edible House,” a prototype developed by Rios Clementi Hale Studios, is a vision for a live/work house designed to reduce its food shed footprint and achieve self-sufficiency through networked systems.
- On-site Food Production: The design features a hydroponic skin capable of growing various crops, which both feeds the occupants and provides insulation.
- Energy and Water Integration: The house includes a power system with a solar photovoltaic awning and a vertical axis wind turbine. A rooftop rainwater harvesting system collects and stores water for irrigation and utility use, with graywater also being recycled.
- Regenerative Design: The prototype is prefabricated to reduce its ecological footprint and is modular in nature, allowing for efficient use of materials and energy. The hydroponic shingles use both harvested rainwater and recycled graywater for irrigation, demonstrating a closed-loop system where waste is a resource.
This project highlights how systems integration can redefine residential architecture, demonstrating that a building can be a living organism that contributes to a more sustainable future.
From Documentation to Reality: The Importance of a Collaborative Process
For these projects to succeed, the design process itself must be collaborative and adaptive. This requires:
- Feedback Loops: Regular meetings with stakeholders and team members are crucial to fine-tune the design and ensure the project stays on track.
- Refined Business Plans: The project’s business plan, which acts as a roadmap to success, should be revisited periodically. This ensures that the budget, funding, operations, and mission align with the project’s evolving needs and stakeholder values.
- Selecting the Right Partners: Sustainable urban agriculture projects require more than just a contractor. They need a long-term partner with a deep understanding of ecological systems, collaborative communication, and change management. This partner should be a trusted implementation and thought partner who is committed to the project’s long-term success.
- Volunteer and Contractor Collaboration: Projects can be built through a combination of contractor-based and volunteer-based processes. Regardless of the method, clear communication protocols are essential to ensure a smooth transition from the design team to the community or client who will be responsible for the project’s ongoing lifecycle.
By embracing this comprehensive, systems-based approach, urban agriculture can become a powerful force for building resilient, interconnected, and flourishing cities for future generations.
