Newest eco-development model: ‘Agricultural urbanism’
New Urban News Article with images and graph, 6/1/08
Farms and gardens would be key to a self-sustaining 2,000-home development envisioned in British Columbia.
An eight-day charrette in May, led by Andres Duany, laid out an innovative, agriculturally-oriented path that new urbanists could start using in communities that are worried about losing farm land.
Duany and other new urbanists collaborated with Michael Ableman, an organic farmer and author, to show how a 538-acre tract near Vancouver, British Columbia, could accommodate nearly 2,000 housing units and at the same time foster a wide range of food-producing activities.
The new approach — “agricultural urbanism” — calls for carefully fitting numerous food-related activities, including small farms, shared gardens, farmers’ markets, and agricultural processing, into a walkable community.
