Posts Tagged ‘food systems planning’

Today marks the first in a series of interviews with food systems planners, farmers, chefs, community activists, residents, and others who are making a positive difference in the world through their work.  The new feature, “5 Questions With…” will appear on Thursdays.  Five Questions with Lynn Peemoeller, Food Systems Planning Pioneer  Lynn Peemoeller is a food systems planner that blends expertise in natural sciences, urban planning, policy, agriculture, food, culture, nutrition, activism and the arts to study and work on a wide range of projects that address the human interaction with the complex cycle of food from the farm to the fork to the garbage dump, examining both the negative and positive state of humanity and development shaped by food.   For the past four years, she has been an independent consultant on projects in the U.S. and abroad.  She worked for several years organizing farmers markets in New York

Some interesting articles from around the country: Getting the Lead Out:  The Hazards of Urban Farming Reduced with Simple Solutions - Cleveland.com Pay Dirt - Maggie Ginsburg-Schultz, Madison Magazine Cultivating Healthy Living - The Salem News

This came across my email box – it looks like a fantastic panel. What: “Food Access Solutions: Urban Agriculture, Local Food & Community Development” When: Friday April 16, 2010 from 10 am to 2 – pm;  Post-panel reception begins at 1:15, appetizers will be served! Where: THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20020 How: Registration required – Click to register. Issues to be discussed: Food access in low-income DC neighborhoods, acknowledging work being done under the radar, the dire health consequences of failing to act, community food security trends nationally, the difficulties in bridging cultures, and the possible creation of a DC food policy council. Event Description: An umbrella group of urban gardening activists (Rooting DC and DC’s Field to Fork Network) will be convening a community food security panel discussion East of the River in Washington, DC on April 16th from 10 to 2.  This location was chosen

In an earlier post, I touched on urban greening and gardening as a key component of a livable community strategy.  From the urban planning perspective (by nature a comprehensive one) any sort of “sustainability strategy” should focus on the triple bottom line of economics, environment, and equity (social justice).  However, it should come as no surprise that in our country we often place the most weight on the first “e” – economics.  And some “down-and-out” communities are using urban greening as an economic development opportunity. In the current economic downturn, and certainly, during the economic restructuring of the past decades, Flint, Michigan has certainly been hard hit.  Beata Mostafi from the Flint Journal tells the tale of the synergy between urban greening and economic development in an article entitled “Project envisions turning urban lot into greenhouse for Hoffman’s deli”. The University of Michigan-Flint is incorporating food systems planning into their revitalization of an historic

The American Planning Association’s March 2010 issue of Zoning Practice deals with zoning for urban agriculture.  If you are an APA member, and serious about urban agriculture, you must check it out.  Written by Nina Mukherji and Alfonso Morales, and edited by my colleagues Jim Schwab, AICP and David Morley, AICP, its one of the most accessible documents out there on how to put many of these ideas into practice through zoning. While I can’t post the document here in its entirety, I’ll be unpacking some of the ideas contained within over the next few weeks.