(front) Garden growing
part of the ‘watch dalston grow’ series
Community growing plots AgrocitĂŠ - Paris
why grow in the city?
04
Traditional Food Production Contemporary Food Production
05 06
Food Poverty
08
what is terrace growing?
10
The Concept
12
The Potential
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how will it work?
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Policy and Ownership
16
Scaling the Project
18
what you need
20
how it is managed
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Small Scale Management
24
Self-Governance
24
Managing a Network
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visualising
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what can be grown?
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the instructions
insert
Growing plots at Camley Street Nature Reserve - London
(front) garden growing a ‘watch dalston grow’ prototype
This manual aims to provide the information required to facilitate a terrace growing project in the UK. This guidance has been formed in relation to ‘Watch Dalston Grow’, a wide reaching urban agriculture project in Hackney which aims to empower locals to reclaim their neighbourhoods alongside addressing the pressing issues such as deprivation and food poverty.
why grow in the city? When fully considered, the question why we don’t commonly grow food in urban areas is relatively unanwered. The precedents attached to this project (see Watch Dalston Grow Precedents) show there is an interest and numerous examples of where it has been done well both in the UK and all over of globe. The more direct question of why grow in the city is easily answered therefore. Growing in the city links supply to demand of food, however the modern food demand, expects all foods irregardless of season. Urban agriculture is a great use of dead spaces in our cities. As well as providing produce, they also brighten the grey address modern comsumption and aid community cohesion.
Traditional Food Production Traditionally, humans have always existed alongside food production. However industrialisation of the western world began to seperate this as food became transportable and able to retain freshness through new technology. The separation of people and production has led to expectations of exotic foods all year round. This project attempts to reintroduce the production within the people to unlock the benefits that this brings.
FOOD FOOD MILES MILES milesapproximated. approximated.based basedoff offproduce producefrom fromtesco tescostores stores- -sheffield sheffield **miles
300
miles miles
contemporary Food Production
MUSHROOMS MUSHROOMS
Only recently has a widespread interest appeared around the production of their food. Arguably this started with GM crops which boosted sales in organic foods. An increase in the fair trade movement could also be attributed to this. More recently, this concern focussed around food miles. Whilst the distance food has been transported is now vast, it is still often more energy efficient for this to occur rather than growing exotic foods in the UK. The issue therefore surrounds again the expectation of exotic and out of season produce. This modern day expectation could arguably be attributed to the separation of production and people.
ORANG ORAN TOMATO TOMATO GAR GAR AUBERGI AUBERG COURGET COURGE BROCCO BROCC LETTU LETTU
7500
BLUEBERRIES BLUEBERRIES
miles miles
NGES GES OES OES RLIC RLIC GINE INE ETTE TTE COLI OLI UCE UCE
PEPPERS PEPPERS
800
2300
miles miles
miles miles
PEACHES PEACHES GRAPES GRAPES
6000
miles miles
Food miles of a selection of winter produce of a Tesco supermarket
Food Poverty Whilst urban argiculture does not have to be a reactionary means (such as the victory gardens during the world wars), an important argument for projects such as this is to increase access to nutrious food. Those who lack access (either spatially or financially) to healthy food are described as being in food poverty. Areas of the UK with concentrations of deprivation and social housing (i.e. a high percentage of inner city areas) see large numbers of people in food poverty. Poor diet is now attributed to a third of premature deaths in the UK which the Faculty of Public Health blames on food poverty forcing lower income groups to eat processed foods. Growing healthy, nutrious food in the city can have a huge impact on these groups therefore. How this can be done through terrace growing will now be explained.
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Community food production AgrocitĂŠ - Paris
what is (front) garden growing? Urban areas, however dense, almost always contain ‘dead’ or underutilised spaces. Front garden spaces especially are one of these spaces, and are especially effective for communal growing if they exist along a terrace. This manual explains how an efficient growing space can be established at a number of scales along front garden terraces, as a form of active urban agriculture.
the concept (Front) garden growing is based around the concept that front gardens are generally under-utilised which are highly visable to the passing public, therefore potentially inspiring others to do the same. Gardening private land including front gardens is perfectly within individuals development rights, as is gardening communally. This idea explores how communal growing can be facilitated through the use of party wall agreements, to create efficient and more robust growing spaces. All of these ideas can be replacated in back gardens, however it is the visual impact of front garden growing that has been used to explore this idea in busy urban areas. Growing projects such as these benefit from a network of similar projects around it to provide knowledge, skills, volunteers as well as the physical resources to maintain function.
How will it work? In the UK, residents do not have a right to development, hence the need for planning permission. However agriculture does not constitute development, therefore gardening of any sort, can be carried out without permission. To garden communally does require consideration of other policy. Party wall acts would need to be agreed for any and every wall removed between boundaries in order to transverse from the private to the communal threshold. These would need to be agreed with the landlords if the space is privately rented. Along a terrace, access from the road exists to every front door. However if the space has become communal, a number of accesses reduces the amount of growing space available. Creating joint accesses is therefore a solution to allow more growing space, however this must comply with Building Regulations, especially H6 concerning waste removal. Planning and conservation area policy also controls the removal of a front wall onto a highway. This may become relevant if you are considering scaling up the project and introducing it into the public realm (see page 18).
In a conservat requires perm remove wall gre 1m in height ad
Policy Threshold
tion area, mission to eater than djacent to a highway Building Regulation H6 requires bins to be stored within 30m of collection point
Party Wall Act 1996. Joint agreement required to remove party fence wall
Private - Communal Threshold
Governance between flats Public - Private Threshold
the potential
How is it managed? landlord permisson
gardening agreement
01
02 tenant decides to garden in an individual space
03 tenant agrees with their neighbour to collectively manage a small number of plants in the shared front garden
tenants persue permission from the landlord for more intensive gardening in the front garden
now governance of the space is needed to ensure effective management 06
governance of the space is bounded by top down pressure, the council inforces rules onto the landlords, which themselves enforce more rules on the tenants
prototype #03
conservation officer prototype #02 NETWORK trustee
NETWORK trustee
NETWORK trustee
planning officer
dalston eastern curve garden
party partywall wall agreement agreement
gardening gardening agreement agreement
05 05
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NETWORK NETWORKtrustee trustee
NETWORK NETWORKtrustee trustee
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planning planning officer officer
dalston dalstoneastern eastern curve curvegarden garden
Here we see a typical ‘Actor Network’ of how growing projects such as these start to grow
front garden space
Scaling the Project
what needs to occur?
DISUED space
COLLECTIVE gardening space
COMMUNAL gardening space PARTY FENCE WALL AGREEMENTs
PLA
landlord agreement
collective agreement from all landlords and tenants
leg
tenant agreement
governance of use Flat A Flat b Flat c Flat D Flat E
communal meeting space
individual residents
collective residents
collec
landlord
landlord
landlo
neighbouring residents
neighb
neighbouring landlords
neighb
who is involved?
landlord
collective residents
local
highw
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what is it challenging?
conser
challening reliance on supermarket food taking control of food production
removing barriers preventing community engagement
blur
challenging privatisation of modern lives
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testing flexibility of planning policies
ROAD
ROAD
PATH
PATH
PUBLIC gardening space
sprawling gardening space
ANNING PERMISSIon
activism
gal change in ownership of land?
willingness to squat/occupy land
ctive residents
collective residents
lord
landlord
bouring residents
neighbouring residents
bouring landlords
neighbouring landlords
l community
local community
ways agency
highways agency
ning authority
planning authority
ervation officers
conservation officers wider activists
rring ideas of public and private space
challenging boundaries of occupying public space
llenging concepts of ownership
challenging rigidity of ‘high quality public space’ actively taking control of the community
what you need As the project grows, you will start to discifer the best way in which to work. One way which is particularly resilient is by using reusable and recycled materials and share these in a network of other gardening spaces nearby. Elements such as seeds and compost as well as invaluable knowledge are easily shared amongst gardening groups/projects which exist almost everywhere. In the early stages, this network can quickly help the project become self sustaining once compost and seeds are being generated. Only minimal inputs such as recycled palettes to create planters will then need to be inputting into the system, while your project becomes a catalyst in the network to help newer ones. As projects start to develop, new techniques will undoubtably form such as seed ‘upcycling’, a free way to introduce new seeds into the system using wasted food. Sharing these skills and knowledge is imperitive for the network to grow and adapt to remain function into the future.
1 Attracted to start a gardening project in Dalston area
2
new individual gard
recycled wood
compost
network local collection external source
network
new project new project
new project
4 ‘growth’ of garden
dening project
front garden collective project
3
guidance
5
seeds
contributing back into the network
compost skills
knowledge
external source
seeds
supermarket upcycling
LOCALLY CLOSED LOOPS OF PROTOTYPE 01
Small scale management Starting a project and managing it whilst it is small requires simple agreements between the gardener, the landlord and potentially other tenants (assuming the building is privately rented). It is important that a good relationship between these groups are maintained as these projects are visual, they attract attention and if they were to grow, it is only these individuals who can allow it.
self-governance The management of these projects exist in a self-governing form. This is important to be inclusive and it allow those involved to use the gardening spaces how they wish. Strong dialogue between gardeners as projects grow and reaching collective decisions is important to allow a communal growing space to involve, and not a series of individual spaces. Communal growing prevents neglection, allows greater yeilds as well as a range of expertise for decisions such as crop rotation.
managing a network A successful project which has grown in size and which has applied the ideas of creating a network outside the project, also needs to consider a network within it. Diagram 06 shows how a growing association may be managed. With a space for the association to meet, a collective decision making process can occur which is a benefit of the self-governing process.
visualising a front garden growing project
1pm
bin shed
N 1:2500
tools shed
compost
bin shed tools shed
communal communal space space
bin binsheds sheds
kingsland road sunrise sunrise
PROTOTYPE #01 COMMUNAL GROWING SPACE Party wall agreements alongside informal easements between landlords and tenants allow a communal growing space to emerge between gardens. Large planters could be shared and gardened communally in this new space. A communal space for conservations is needed to allow self-governance to occur, alongside shared tool sheds and composting facilities.
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what can be grown? Try anything! If it can be grown in the UK, there’s no reason why it can’t be grown in an urban garden. Considering the exposure to shade and wind is important, as is the soil type/compost and drainage used in planters. Beyond this however, the sky is the limit. A list of relatively simple and commonly grown crops are listed below: • Aubergine • Beetroot • Broad Beans • Brocolli • Brussel Sprouts • Carrots • Courgettes • Cucumbers • Garlic • Green beans • Leeks • Peas • Potatoes • Raspberries • Rhuburb • Spinach • Strawberries • Tomatoes • Winter Salad
tHE INSTRUCTIONS The insert provides instructions towards the physical aspects of creating a ‘Watch Dalston Grow’ garden. This includes building garden infrastructure from recycled palettes and sourcing seeds. Sharing, updating and adding new knowledge and information is essential for this manual and the attached instructions to retain relevance moving forward. Below is a link to the Facilitating Resilience blog (for which this project belongs to), where information can be shared in a discussion board, which allows this guidance material to stay as relevant as possibly. Any information you feel is relevant for others to know, whether it concerns technical set up, gardening knowledge or anything else, please feel free to share this information using the link below. Thank you!
www.facilitatingresilience.wordpress. com/student-projects-christopherhall
Produced by Chris Hall in relation to MA Urban Design Project ‘Watch Dalston Grow’ for studio Facilitating Resilience Sheffield School of Architecture
www.facilitatingresilience.wordpress.com