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Carrot City:
The impact of food on the
design of cities and buildings
Mark Gorgolewski
“The symbiotic relationship between a productive
landscape and the human settlement system is as old as
civilization. During the past 200 years, that millennium-
old positive relationship deteriorated into a further and
further separation of town and landscape.”
(Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes: Viljoen 2005)
Hungry City - Carolyn Steel
Garden Cities – Ebeneezer Howard Broadacre City – Frank Lloyd Wright

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Ville Radieuse – Le Corbusier
Proposal Includes:
-Large scale agriculture land in protected zones
-Large kitchen gardens in detached suburban houses
- Allotments of 10 acre for apartment dwellers
Global population
‘’By the year 2025, 83 per cent of the expected global
population will be living in developing countries....
Agriculture has to meet this challenge.... Major
adjustments are needed in agriculture, environmental
and macro-economic policy, at both national and inter-p y,
national levels, in developed as well as developing
countries, to create conditions for sustainable agriculture
and rural development.’’
United Nations Conference, 1992
Energy return on investment
• “The 20th-century industrialization of agriculture has
increased the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by
the food system by an order of magnitude; chemical
fertilizers (made from natural gas), pesticides (made
from petroleum), farm machinery, modern foodp ), y,
processing and packaging and transportation have
together transformed a system that in 1940 produced 2.3
calories of food energy for every calorie of fossil fuel
energy it used into one that now takes 10 calories of
fossil-fuel energy to produce a single calorie of modern
supermarket food”
Michael Pollan
http://www.michaelpollan.com/article.php?id=97
Topsoil loss
• America has lost 75 percent of its most productive
topsoil in the last two centuries
Diet for a New America - John Robbins
• Geologist David Montgomery states that approximatelyGeologist David Montgomery states that approximately
one percent of our topsoil is lost every year to erosion,
most of which, he notes, is caused by agriculture
http://www.seattlepi.com/national/348200_dirt22.html?source=mypi
Relevance to urban sustainability
• The World Wildlife Fund estimates that the food chain contributes
about 30% of the total UK greenhouse gas emissions
– In the UK it has been suggested that carbon dioxide emissions could be
reduced by about 22% if food were produced organically, consumed
locally, and only when in season
• A total of 50 million Americans are food-insecure (US Dept of Ag.)
• Global obesity is a world health epidemicy p
• Peak oil – our food is now grown with fossil fuels
• Transport - availability of cheap energy supplies in the future
– Food Miles” - food in southern Ontario travels on average 4,500 km to
arrive on your plate
• Social equity - urban dwellers have little control of their food supply
• World population of 9 billion by 2050 will require modifications to
what we eat
• Climate change will affect the productivity of some agricultural areas
Is it feasible for a city to produce a significant
amount of its food?
What will be the impact of the design of cities
?
What will be the impact of the design of cities,
urban spaces and buildings?

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China
• Chinese cities as a whole claim to produce 85 percent of
their vegetable consumed by their inhabitants.
• Shanghai and Beijing have even sometimes apparently
achieved self sufficiency in vegetablesachieved self-sufficiency in vegetables.
Urban Agriculture: Small, Medium, Large. Architectural Design, G Doron, 2005
In 1943 Canadian urban spaces produced 115 million
pounds of vegetables
In 1995 it was estimated that there were 26,600 urban agriculture
sites in Havana including:
- Private gardens (huertos privados)
- State-owned research gardens (organicponicos)
Havana Cuba
- Community gardens (huertos populares).
80% of state-owned land to was dedicated to community gardens
They have had a visible impact on the food security of the city and in
improving the Cuban diet
Some are producing 27 kilograms of vegetables per square metre
Urban farmers can be in the top 10% of earners in Havana
In Havana, the urban farms and gardens produce 90% of the city
food demands
About 200,000 Cubans worked in urban agriculture sectors in 2003
Potential Benefits
• Reduced “Food Miles”
• Reduced carbon emissions
• Fresh food – improved nutrition
• Health benefits – Average tomato now has 30% less vitamin A
compared with 1960’s
• Community benefits – stronger community ties around UACommunity benefits stronger community ties around UA
projects.
• Food security, availability, and affordability
• Education – puts urban dwellers closer to food systems
• Use of waste space – Detroit
• Economic development - employment
Carrot City: Design for Urban Agriculture
Re-imagining the city
Building Community and Knowledge
Re designing the Home
le
Re-designing the Home
Producing on the Roof
Creating components for growing
www.carrotcity.org
Scal
Michigan State University
found that the creation of
urban farms and gardens
within the Detroit’s
boundaries could supply
local residents with more
than 75 percent of their
Re-imagining the city
vegetables needs and
more than 40 percent of
their fruits needs

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Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes
Bohn and Viljoen Architects, UK
Nevin Cohen, New School, 2011
Capital Growth, London UK
• Capital Growth has been encouraging Londoners to turn
derelict land into vegetable gardens.
• These will offer local, seasonal, healthy, affordable and
organic food.
• They absorb some CO2 emissions from London’sy 2
transportation systems.
• They will make the city a greener, more pleasant place to live.
• They also aim to bring local communities together around a
common goal.
Helianthus by Topher Delaney
Images courtesy of Topher Delaney

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Farm City/Ravine City by Chris Hardwicke
Urban Agriculture Hub by Andy Guiry
SPIN farming (Small
Plot Intensive) is a
method developed to
exploit small sub acre
plots throughout a city.
Experienced farmers
lease parts of urban
Re-conceiving the community
lease parts of urban
gardens for intensive
food production that is
sold locally.

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Edible Campus at McGill University, Montreal Ryehomegrown, Ryerson University, Toronto
Community Greenhouse, Inuvik
www.inuvikgreenhouse.com
Edible Schoolyard NY, WORK Architecture Company
Image courtesy of Work AC City Farm, Leadenhall, London, Mitchell Taylor Workshop
Images courtesy of Mitchell Taylor Workshop

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Public Farm 1 at PS1 by Work Architecture Company
Re-defining the home and workplace
Maison Productive House, Montreal, Produktif Studio
Agrohousing, Wuchan, China - Knafo Klimor Architects

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Edible Estates, Fritz Haeg
Images courtesy of fritz Haeg, www.fritzhaeg.com
Salinas, Kansas Lakewood, Los Angeles
It is estimated that there is about 100 km2 of
flat roof space in London UK with the
potential to grow food across the capital
Growing on the roof
Brooklyn Grange, New York

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Uncommon Ground, Chicago
Photos courtesy of Michael Cameron
www.uncommonground.com
Lufa Farms, Montreal
https://lufa.com/en
Fairmont Hotels, Toronto and Vancouver
Courtesy of Fairmont Hotel
Gary Comer Community Centre, Chicago
Image courtesy of Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects

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Re-designing the components Vertically Integrated Greenhouse
Courtesy of New York Sun Works & BrightFarm Systems
http://nysunworks.org/ or www.brightfarmsystems.com/
Beehives for Detroit
Images courtesy of Erika Mayr and Stephane Orsolini
Vacant Lot, London by What-If Projects Ltd
Biotop Green Roof
images courtesy of Marc Valiquette, and Yves Perrier of Biotop
www.biotopcanada.com
Tower Gardens
www.towergardens.com

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Eglu
www.Omlet.us
Window Farms
www.Windowfarms.org
Balcony Garden, Yeang and Guerra, 2008
Amphorae
Images courtesy of Mark Bearak, Dora Kelle and Adam Mercier
Resilience
“Resilience is the capacity of a system to absorb
disturbances and reorganise while undergoing change,
so as still to retain essentially the same function,
structure, identity and feedbacks”
Walker et al (2004) Resilience, adaptability and transformability in social-ecological
systems

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www.carrotcity.org
Carrot City: Creating
places for Urban
Agriculture
Mark Gorgolewski,
June Komisar &
Joe Nasr
Monacelli Press, 2011
http://www.urbanagsummit.org/
“There is a quiet revolution stirring in our food system. It is not
happening so much on the distant farms that still provide us
with the majority of our food; it is happening in cities,
neighbourhoods, and towns. It has evolved out of the basic
need that every person has to know their food, and to have
some sense of control over its safety and security. It is a
revolution that is providing poor people with an important safety
net where they can grow some nourishment and income for
themselves and their families. And it is providing an oasis for
th h i it h b l ththe human spirit where urban people can gather, preserve
something of their culture through native seeds and foods, and
teach their children about food and the earth. The revolution is
taking place in small gardens, under railroad tracks and power
lines, on rooftops, at farmers’ markets, and in the most unlikely
of places. It is a movement that has the potential to address a
multitude of issues: economic, environmental, personal health,
and cultural.”
(Ableman, 2005)