Food for Thought by Cal Poly Pomona Landscape Architecture

FOODFORTHOUGHT

Whenever there are in any country uncultivated lands and unemployed poor, it is clear that the laws of property have been so far extended as to violate natural right. The earth is given as a common stock for man to labor and live on. The small landowners are the most precious part of a state. Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.

Thomas Jefferson

// Table of Contents // Site Design One // Site Design Two // Layer Diagrams // Food Lab Views // Level of Maintenance // Site Planting Plan

11 13 17 19 20 23

Background // Statement // Argument // Agrarian Urbanism // Emerging and Existing Trends // Not a Trend // Methods

25 27 28 31 32 33 34

Reading Analysis // The Town That Food Saved // Attack On The Front Lawn // Designing With Urban Agriculture // Permaculture // The Ecology Center // The Ecology Center (cont.) // The Ecology Center (cont.) // Commons And Community

37 38 41 42 45 46 48 50 52

Case Study Analysis // Nomad Garden // Farmscape

55 56 58

Performance Tool Analysis // I-Tree Landscape // Vegetable Value Calculator // Porous Pavement

65 67 68 70

Riverside and UCR Planning // Planting Development // Protocols

73 74 75

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Performance Measures // Sustainable Sites // Basic Measures of Site Capacity

77 78 81

Site Photo Essay // Site Photo Essay // Site Photo Essay (cont.) // Site Photo Essay (cont.)

8383 84 86 88 91

Ecology Mapping // Riverside Wind and Pollution Pattern // Water Resources For Riverside // Temperature and Precipitation

91 93 95 97

Nonprofit Organization Mapping // Local Nonprofit Organizations // Approach Capacity

99 100 102

School Mapping // Local Restaurants and Shops // Local Educational Institutions // Approach Capacity Food Market Food Market Mapping // Approach Mapping // Capacity

105105 106 108 110

Vision, Strategy, and Performance // Objective // Principles // Programs // Performance

121 122 125 126 131

// Contributions

133

113 113 116 119

and Performance

123

Table of Contents

TOP TO BOTTOM: Landscape Architects and Graphic Designers participate in a design charette with Matthew Geldin from Farmscape

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LEFT TO RIGHT: Matt Paragas, Miguel Veneracion, Ernesto Esquer, Alexis Luu, Tong Xue, Humberto Cardenas, Justin De Vesta, Ashley Mosqueda, Sean Winter, Paul Spittle, Lova Rakotomavonandrianina

// Team Bio Food for Thought is a multi-disciplinary team composed of students in graphic design and landscape architecture, and bridges the gap between undergraduate and graduate students. Through a collaborative effort, the project seeks to establish a design based on food production and present that design with visual appeal and professionalism. The team utilized all its resources to bring a comprehensive design to the transform the UCR Chancellorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residence into a place of food production and a model of sustainability.

Team Members

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// Site Design One Based off of a system of curves, this design intent was to contrast the structure with an asymmetrical and loose curve pattern. It divides up the space in to areas like a terraced planting area on the south side of the backyard. This area focuses on a gradual incline surrounded by edible plants that moves up to a private rest area. The north part of the backyard has an overhead structure and an outdoor grill that compliments the event space. In the front yard, the path wanders through the space, reconnecting with other paths and also interspersed with edible vegetation. This is the education area that allows people to meander and learn in an outdoor space. Finally, the south side of the residence is fully planted with fruit trees that provide shade and draw the eye uphill.

Site Design One

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// Site Design Two More of linear design, this site design extends the shape of the house into being more of straight pathways into spaces. The terraced area on the south side of the backyard has a geometric shape that also ends at the top of the area. The back yard event area contains large overhead structures that act as connections between the indoor and outdoor spaces. A path connecting the backyard event space and the parking area is intentional to draw people into the space. At the front yard is a food production and educational area with linear paths that have resting spaces in between. At the north part of the front yard is a more formal area that is near the private area of the residence. Parking is lessened, but still available for those who frequently visit the space.

Site Design Two

garden access food lab green compost hugelkultur orchard screening outdoor food prep. overhead structure guild terrancing

permable paving privacy wall gathing circle gathing circle parking border trees raised beds ground cover plant walk

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// Site Design Three

raised bed d.g path herb garden seating wall overhead structure overhead structure hearth colored concrete paving colored concrete paving bio pool extension table exsisting overhead roof building table gate

Drawn from a combination of the two previous designs, the third design has curvilinear paths based on circles and are pervasive throughout the site. These paths connect in both the front and backyard areas. The back yard event space has overhead structures that extend from the form of the house, connecting the indoor and outdoor spaces. Also in this area is an outdoor kitchen where guests can have fresh produce cooked in front of them. At the south side of the backyard is a food forest that has a focus on ecosystem-based design with edible plants that work well together. The paths meander through the space as it works its way uphill. In the front, the presentation space of an edible residence is evident. The curvilinear path moves through the space as there are overhead structures breaking up the path into three distinct rest areas. People can learn about food ecosystems, methods of planting and relationships between edible plants. The pool area in the backyard is for private use and acts as a biologically restorative space, complete with edible plants around the pool.

pool storage groundcover courtyard planting pool poolside planting gate wall raised beds planting area overhead structure colored concrete colored concrete groundcover

Site Design Three

Pedestrian Circulation

Vehicle Circulation

Productive Raised Beds and Planters

Softscape

Decomposed Granite Paving

Concrete and Permeable Paving

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// Layer Diagrams

Trees

Overhead Structure/ Fence/Wall

Food Lab

Outdoor Kitchen/Table/Water Feature/ Fireplace/Seating Wall

Layer Diagrams

Aerial View

Back View

Frontal View FOODFORTHOUGHT

// Food Lab Views

Roof View

Food Lab Views

// Level of Maintenance

High 4’

45 minutes per week of maintenance 12’

Low FOODFORTHOUGHT

Showcase Front is a combination of a variety

vegetables. The front would need more maintenance due to this.

Rear Beds

The back of the residence focuses more on mass production due to its high sun. exposure. This area would not have variety per bed.

Orchard

The orchards have a medium amount amount of maintenance required.

Guilds

The guilds require the least maintenance due to its naturalistic feel. It has more of a wild ambiance. Levels of Maintenance

Site Plan

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// Site Planting Plan Plant Palette Swiss Chard Chives Arugula Zucchini Corn Squash Egg Plant Celery Chamomile Lavender Aloe Vera Carrots Onions Bell Peppers Tomatoes Cucumber Mint Peas Artichoke Pumpkin Hot Peppers Garlic Watermelon Beans Asparagus Dill Cilantro Sage Radish Broccoli Parsley Spinach Blueberries CauliďŹ&#x201A;ower Basil Olive Brussels Sprouts Kale Cabbage Lettuce Grapes Nasturshims Beets Fennel Rosemary Pomegranate

Site Planting Plan

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Background My grandfather used to say that once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, and a preacher, but everyday, three times a day, you need a FARMER. Brenda Schoepp

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// Statement Appreciating the specific constraints of this ¾ acre property, this project intends to investigate the residence as a productive landscape utilizing principles of permaculture and local food production. As the property is owned by the University of California Riverside, and is also the private residence of the University’s Chancellor, it is difficult, if not impossible, to divorce the project from its academic roots. It is therefore suggested that education provide a primary driver for the intended design. That said, is it possible to investigate the property’s maximum productive potential not just from the perspective of how much food can be produced within the allotted square footage, but rather its productive potential within the rest of the community and beyond?

Despite a focus on productivity and public workshopping, the sought direction hopes to remain mindful of the property’s primary use as the Chancellor’s residence, both publicly and privately. Spatial organization needs to allow for regular functions of up to 300 guests, whilst affording some personal comfort and privacy. Also vital to this approach is to establish possible connectors within the college campus and community, as well as the impact this project might have on the local food shed? Growing a Community rather than just vegetables is Food For Thought.

In considering the property as an educational example, a flagship of productive sustainability, the carry forward potential grows exponentially. A variety of agricultural systems will be developed in order to encourage ideas to be transposed on different scales and environments. Beyond food production, there is also the goal to establish a broader understanding of other tenants of Permaculture, such as Energy, Water, Shelter and Waste management.

Background

// Argument The roots of American cultural history run deep on the farm. Our dreams, ideals, songs and stories all trace their beginnings to time growing, preparing and sharing food. Over the last century, however, our Nation has lost sight of that foundation. It is time we began rebuilding bridges with the agriculturally ostracized. Specialization has created an intellectual vacuum outside our city limits, and a disconnect with the land and our food. In “Descent of Man”, remarking on Man’s evolutionary superiority, Darwin makes 2 references to “survival of the fittest” but over 90 references to “Love”. Sympathy, or empathy, have contributed the most to the overwhelming success of our species. Despite the last century’s exponential advances in technology, the race to get there has come at the expense of our communities. Profit and specialization have robbed us of the balance of which aboriginal societies were so keenly aware. Ancient wisdoms have been thrown out with the proverbial chlorinated, decalcified bathwater.

Could the butterfly effect of one small, well designed garden save the planet?

Unless we collaborate, not just as a species, but also externally with other species and our environment, the path we have chosen will inevitably result in the dystopian future we have predicted. Historically, in times of crisis, we have often returned to Urban Agriculture, such as the Liberty Gardens of World War I

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and the Victory Gardens of World War II. But as the crisis passes these temporary benefits are quickly forgotten. Now, as we have already toppled over the precipice of Global Climate Change, community farming measures offer a tremendous opportunity. Designing with the intent to solve or mitigate specific environmental global issues becomes problem centric. Instead, when focusing on building communities we become solution orientated. A well designed landscape would be as beautiful as it is edible. Water isn’t wasted because it is also growing our food which, of course, has been selected according to regional climate. The “greening” of our urban areas mitigates heat increase from climate change, and replenishing our soils to the extent that we reap from them limits our need for fossil fuel based fertilizers and other chemical additives and so also reduces pollution. As it is based on need rather that profit, an agro-centric economy is infinitely more stable and sustainable than our current model, and it can alleviate the stressors that cause ethnic aggression. In considering new directions in Landscape Design for the Chancellor’s Residence, the University of California Riverside, given its extensive existing relationship with the agricultural community regionally, and Agricultural Science educationally specifically, has a responsibility to the community of Riverside to provide a model of edible sustainability.

A proposed development scenario for the longstanding Clayhill Farms, a walkable, garden neighborhood based on the principles of agrarian urbanism.

FOODFORTHOUGHT

// Agrarian Urbanism Agrarian Urbanism is a method of design that incorporates and intensifies agricultural activity across the urban environment, promoting a variety of associated economic, environmental and social benefits from a neighborhoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s center to its rural edge. It provides the framework whereby a community might build its own local economy around food production, processing and sales, reducing food miles and possibly insuring a group of residents with a degree of food independence and survivability. Agrarian Urbanism involves food not as a means of making a living, but as a basis for making a life and structuring the places in which we live. Research is ongoing to develop techniques for assimilating agriculture into an urbanism acceptable to the expectations of modern life and meeting a broad choice of lifestyles. The ability to grow food has implications for communities on multiple levels: from food security and health issues, to ensuring a local economy, to the vast environmental benefits of local farming, and to the social benefits of a productive activity in which all members of a community can engage.

basic premise in Agrarian Urbanism is that one third will be urbanized while the production of the whole will be tripled. This trade-off is achieved by intensifying the agricultural activity at every level of the transect; from window boxes, balcony and roof gardens in the more urban transect zones, to the progressively larger community gardens, yard gardens, small farms, and ultimately large farms in the more suburban and rural zones. There is a very positive attitude towards agrarian urbanism on the part of those who are environmentally concerned, those who would enjoy the society of a shared endeavor (front gardens can be introduced for the purpose of social discourseâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a role not unlike that of a porch) and for those who wish to take precautions with their health and welfare. The urban must be cohesively designed. By concentrating development, land is liberated for agricultural use. As we move further into this century, growing populations and climate change are making us increasingly aware of the need for more direct involvement in our own food security.

The dominance of large lot, low-density housing has become typical in many American suburbs. While appearing idyllic, when these spaces are not incorporated into a larger urban and regional plan, the repetition and redundancy of a single slice of the environment can be the most detrimental type of sprawl. When carefully incorporated into a larger plan arranged according a holistic model, it can have quite a different effect. When farmland is built upon, a

Background

// Emerging and Existing Trends Urban Agriculture is not a trend, as such. It is more a returning to past wisdoms and models of productive sustainability. The agricultural pendulum swings back and both, in and out of our communities, depending on levels of crisis. The current rapid growth in interest is not any different. Although Climate Change has

spurred some of that, it is economic factors, pushed on by the recession in 2008 that has become the primary driver. The Urban Land Institute suggests that whilst approximately 12% of American households were practicing some type of agriculture in 2005, by 2015 that number had risen to almost 37%.

JEFFERSON’S MONTICELLO

LIBERTY AND VICTORY GARDENS

The roots of American cultural history run deep on the farm. Our Founders were quick to promote the kind of good gardening “which might naturally be expected from an intelligent, happy, independent people, possessed so universally of landed property, unoppressed by taxation or tithes, and blest with consequent comfort and affluence.”

Historically, in times of crisis, Americans have often returned to Urban Agriculture, such as the Liberty Gardens of World War I and the Victory Gardens of World War II. As the infrastructure of food supply, like trucking and canning, were diverted for the war effort, those not on the front lines reverted to local garden plots to make up for where their ration books couldn’t provide.

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// Not a Trend

RAISED BEDS IN PARIS 1800S

POLITICS OF POVERTY

In nineteenth-century Paris, gardeners found an excellent way to turn unwanted horse manure from all over the city into valuable salad greens that were available year-round. Every year they turned over one million tons of stable horse manure (the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s transportation service) into 100,000 tons of out-ofseason salad, harvested 3 to 6 times a year. So much salad was produced that every person in Paris could eat over 120 lbs. per year. The production was at its height in the last third of the 1800â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Today the Marais district is all that is left of the market gardens. (UN Urban Ag book)

In many developing nations, access to fresh food is often only made available through self relliance, and farming your own back yard. Without adequate refrigeration and transport urban farmers manage through subsistence farming to feed their families, like Harriet Nakabaale (right) who shares her agricultural knowledge at Camp Green, in Kampala, Uganda.

Background

// Methods

SPIN FARMING

VERTICAL FARMING

SPIN stands for s-mall p-lot in-tensive, and the SPIN-Farming learning series teaches you how to take a backyard, front lawn or neighborhood lot to new levels of productivity and profitability that go far beyond traditional home gardening practices. Production based Sub-acre in scale Low capital intensive Entrepreneurially driven Environmentally friendly Close to markets.

The practice of producing food in vertically stacked layers, vertically inclined surfaces and/or integrated in other structures. The modern idea of vertical farming uses Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) technology, where all environmental factors can be controlled. These facilities utilize artificial control of light, environmental control (humidity, temperature, gases,..) and fertigation. Some vertical farms use techniques similar to glass houses, where natural sunlight can be augmented with artificial lighting and metal reflectors.

FOODFORTHOUGHT

FERTIGATION

GREEN ROOF

The application of nutrients through irrigation systems is referred to as Fertigation. The incorporation of soluble fertilizers into the irrigation water is facilitated the integration and harmonization between the application of water and plant nutrients. Using Fertigation, an adequate supply of nutrients and water can be directed towards the plant root zone to satisfy plant demands during the various growth stages.

Lack of available gardening areas in cities is the key impetus for many roof gardens. The garden may be on the roof of an autonomous building which takes care of its own water and waste. Hydroponics and other alternative methods can expand the possibilities of roof top gardening by reducing, for example, the need for soil or its tremendous weight. Plantings in containers are used extensively in roof top gardens. Planting in containers prevents added stress to the roofâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waterproofing.

Background

Reading Analysis Recently, Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s food system has become increasingly industrialized and centralized. Because of the industrial revolution, the cost of food has been e rea i a we a e relie e our el e o a lo o ar ar i wor e ea oo oo allow u o i e u ar i e o or a l a e e living burdens to the corporations. We all have full faith in their ability to keep us u ai e e e o e ul era le a e e o a u l ai a i e irel beyond our control. But the big problem is the centralized food system is vulnerable, and is increasingly obviously becoming more fragile. How can we survive when the centralized food system fails, and how can we feed ourselves? The answer is to re-scale into a regional food economy and decentralized food system. We need to reinvent the way we grow, distribute, and consume food by means of physical, structural, and communal vigor and pride.

// The Town That Food Saved ar wi rea i

er o i a ow r i ira io a a o el o a

o e a e a le a e ur oo e

OFFER ECONOMIC VIABILITY TO SMALL SCALE FOOD PRODUCERS The increase in US food production is a result of increase in the carrying capacity of an acre of farmland and centralizing farmland. Big food corporation pushed small-scale, local producer out of the business. Hardwick’s success mainly relied on a value-added model: produce high-end food. Instead of quantity, focus on quality. They turned commodity into specialty, and found a route to economic viability.

FOODFORTHOUGHT

BASED ON SUNSHINE Since the beginning of agriculture, sunshine has provided the energy to grow food. However, mechanization and commercial fertilizer start to play a bigger role in our agriculture practice. The advanced technology allows us to ignore the sun, and still be efficiently produce more than enough food. But an agricultural system depending on the chemicals and petroleum is vulnerable. They are not resilient in the face of rapid, disruptive change. But the sun is reliable. They take a step back from the purely industrialized agriculture system, and take a step forward from the ancient farming techniques, the middle path will be the new resilient strategy.

Complete a simple cycle: Seed - Farmer - Vegetables Food - Fertilizer - Repeat

- Break the centralized food system. - Use local resources to feed locals.

FEED THE LOCALS The main problem is still the cost. How can we find a way around the cost issue? The prediction from local food activists indicated that in the future as the energy and fertilizer prices rise, the industrial foods price will rise. Follow that path, the cost of local food will be cheaper. We need to think further and act now.

CIRCULAR In our current food system, when we run into a problem, we create another problem to solve it. This is a one way direction, single-line system. It will eventually end. We need to have a circular system that is renewable. They set the example of roundness in food production. The articulates circular agriculture is a long term plan, which means we should start to contribute to the cycle now.

Reading Analysis

// Attack On The Front Lawn Landscape builds upon what has been done before it, such as when Americans began to adopt concepts from England into their own country. Certain mentalities and social values also came along with it and influenced people like Thomas Jefferson to have his own private food garden, which is still hidden away from the main grounds that is full of grass turf. This mentality turned from gardens being food producing to just being a symbol as a part of our culture. As a result, they are a waste of resources, labor, and cause too many pollutants with the use of machinery like lawn mowers. While food gardens are a growing trend, they are still largely hidden and are in backyards. Bringing food gardens into the front yard replaces lawns, reduces the waste involved and creates a productive space of home-grown crops, not only for economic value, but also as a way to connect people with each other. A whole neighborhood working in their front yards breeds community. We can naturally begin to present the local ecology growing products that are actually native or adaptive to the environment by creating a diverse design aesthetic design appropriate to the location. This bolsters the living systems around us which helps support us even more. Food gardens are the way we will implement sustainability because of a focus on using natural means instead of industrial means. Productivity will encourage more efficient practices which will further enhance productivity and community.

Ideal: Bring gardens to the front drive community connections, along with unique aesthetic per region, backyard private garden or personal usage.

Current: Front and backyards provide little and produce waste, maintenance costs. Largely symbolic a holdover from past generation.

Trending: Backyard gardens address productivity introduces people with nature but still provides a wasteful front lawn.

Reading Analysis

// Designing With Urban Agriculture For too long, the production of food has been massproduced with high costs and low quality. With this momentum, valuable resources like land and water are being used at exorbitant rates that threaten their future existence. This reading explains how food supply should be local and practiced sustainability. People know their gardener by name but not where their food came from. By people becoming their own gardeners, they save resources like fuel, water, and landâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;all which help the environment. With urban farming, there are also fewer fertilizers that are aversive to wildlife. The waste produced by these fertilizers is enormous and just one of the pollutants affecting the planet. Global warming is causing harm to the production of food in countries where farmers grow a certain product that is their only source of income.

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This chain event is directly related to the mass production of food. The problem is not producing enough food but by providing food at a lower cost. High food prices make it even harder for developing countries to be able to purchase food. In addition to the cost of food, the age of farmers is significant. Most urban farmers are over 60 years old. When those last urban farmers retire there will be less food produced through sustainable methods. What is interesting is that simplest way of producing food is also the most sustainable for the environment. Bringing this method to the city is exactly what the urban culture needs to create community and protect the environment.

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// Permaculture

Combining the best of the natural landscape and edible gardening, permaculture systems sustain both themselves and those that look after them. The ultimate purpose of permaculture—a word coined in the mid-1970s by two Australians, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren—is to develop a site until it meets all the needs of its inhabitants, from food and shelter to fuel and entertainment - a permanent culture. While it’s the rare home gardener who can follow permaculture principles to the ultimate degree, most can borrow ideas from the permaculture ethos with landscaping techniques based on production and usefulness. Permaculture emphasizes the use of native plants or those that are well adapted to your locale. The goal here is to plant things you like, while making sure they have a purpose and benefit the landscape in some way. Plants such as fruit trees provide food as well as shade; a patch of bamboo could provide stakes for supporting pole beans and other vining plants. Permaculture also focuses particularly on perennial food

plants in addition to standard garden vegetables. Like all gardeners, permaculture enthusiasts love plants for their beauty and fragrance, but they seek out plants that offer practical benefits along with aesthetic satisfaction. Instead of a border of flowering shrubs, for instance, a permaculture site would make use of a raspberry or blackberry border. Disease-prone plants, such as hybrid tea roses, and plants requiring a lot of water or pampering are not good permaculture candidates. Choose a native persimmon tree that doesn’t need spraying and pruning, for example, instead of a highupkeep peach tree. Consider the natural inclinations of your site, along with the needs of its inhabitants, and put as much of your site as possible to use. Work with the materials already available rather than trucking in topsoil or stone. And remember that a permaculture design is never finished because the plants within a site are always changing. Rather than a closed loop system, it can be seen more as an open-ended spiral.

Reading Analysis

// The Ecology Center The Ecology Center was the brain child of Evan Marks. After completing his degree at UC Santa Cruz in Environmental Studies, Evan had spent a number of years working and teaching on sustainability projects around the globe, from Hawaii and Costa Rica to China and West Africa. Returning home to Southern California after his last trip to Africa in 2007, Evan was looking for a project that would keep him close to his family in San Juan Capistrano. When the last existing farm in San Juan Capistrano was up for sale, in 2006, the city decided to step in and

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buy themselves. In that way, preventing the only last remaining green space being sold off to developers. The city created a charter requiring that the property would always remain farmland, and looked for a tenant who farmed organically. At present, it is the only USDA certified organic farm in Orange County. Evan managed to convince the city to let have the use of the original farm house and adjacent property for the purpose of sustainable education. And so, the Ecology Center was born. The Ecology Center is a non-profit educational center, that engages individuals, families,

and students in fun, hands-on activities that teach practical, environmental solutions at the household and community level. The Ecology Center seeks to bring all members of the community together in a solutionsbased educational setting to inspire and create a healthy and abundant future for all of Southern California. They believe, overall, that the world we live in is at a crucial moment in our history. And it is going to require some radical steps to get in shape, if we are going to be able to pass the test of the future we have inadvertently created. The Ecology Center is founded on the principle that each person can make a difference toward a sustainable

future. Individual actions do transform the community, elevating the health of our environment and ecosystems. Through basic action, we can create a diverse, safe, and healthy world with clean air, water, and power for ours and future generations. Built on a Permaculture model that suggests our living environment needs to be built on self-supporting and connecting systems, the Ecology Center focuses on 5 main areas of engagement; shelter, energy, water, food and waste.

// The Ecology Center (cont.) Not all of the engagement areas are successful. Built as a long walk-thru environment, showcasing information and strategies for healthier living, more in harmony with the health of the planet, some of the areas appear simply underdeveloped.

FOOD LAB

NOT SO GOOD

The best of the 5 Lab â&#x20AC;&#x153;walk-thrusâ&#x20AC;? is certainly the Food Lab. The combination of very practical real-life examples together with info booths (as pictured left) make the information very presentable and readable.

With so much of the Ecology Lab property being under utilized, one would have thought that greater atttention might have been given real examples of growing food. The area often set aside for community gatherings, there are a few garden beds and pots in assorted sizes. All of them, however, appear mingy or even dilapidated. If this is first possible contact with an idea, this area certainly fall short.

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WATER

COMMUNITY TABLE

Water has perhaps the greatest focus. The Lab consumes more than it’s fair share of realesate, but is not as carefully develped as the Food Lab. Where Water is successful, is in the attention given to rain barrels, a roof water catchment system that helps offset home garden water use. As an idea that can be transposed directly into someone’s life, this is very practical advice.

One of the Ecology Center’s greatest strengths is their Community Table. People appaently turn out in droves to hear talks from renowned chefs, like Alice Waters from Chez Panisse in Berkeley, and eat a mealprepared from various locally locally sourced, natural growers. The numbers that show up to these events are impressive, given the rather hefty $125 per plate price tag. It is encouraging that there is so much interest in a movement that is by all accounts still in its infancy, particularly in Orange County.

Reading Analysis

// The Ecology Center (cont.)

WASTE The first thing anyone might look for in a Permaculture system are the chickens. And sure enough, in the very back corner of the Ecology Center property you can find a small, rickety shedlike coop with 3 hens and a rooster, with a second rooster in an adjacent box. The woodshavings on the coop floor are added to the compost bins, along with the chicken manure, as prescribed, and it is also understood that they are even allow to wander for a few minutes now and then.

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FINAL REMARKS The overall impression on first visiting the Ecology Center is â&#x20AC;&#x153;What a great idea!â&#x20AC;?. Even from pulling into the parking lot, with the simple info-graphics, one is transported from one area to the next in a seemingly logical fashion. But as one starts to digest the material presented, it becomes quicly apparent that the fluidity of information is only achieved graphically, and not from the content itself. Real life practical examples of how one might mitigate home water use are side-stepped in favor of comaprative water content of a hamburger over an apple, or other such eco-trivia. It is unfortunate that well conceived graphic style of the educational content becomes just freshly painted make-up on the tired face of dilapidated vegetable beds. The fact that the Ecology Center has weathered its eight year tenure through the recession is perhaps a testament to the Evan Markâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s smile.

Reading Analysis

// Commons And Community

Community is a feat to strive for, but often it is more difficult to concoct than most may think. In this article, Karl, Linn discusses the creation of common areas and the degrees to which they are successful. He approaches this from a grassroots effort, seeking to start with the people involved and including those who may have been left out. Linn describes efforts like getting help from the city, the reuse of recycled materials and recruiting volunteer professionals. Linn highlights three levels of common building: instant commons, temporary commons, and lasting commons.

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Linn gives some examples of these kinds of lasting commons that have been initiated by the local community. These communities employed the techniques Linn discussed like professional artists creating beautiful works of art to display in a community garden or a man offering his truck to move soil. Creating commons takes a level of organization and a level of freedom. It must include and respect those involved, and allow people to have a hand in the creation of it. Community gardens are a perfect example of this kind of commons, and seek to unite and involve entire communities over food and fellowship.

Case Study Analysis

// Nomad Garden The Nomad Garden is a community garden located at Mission Bay San Francisco. The goal of the program is to provide the local residents with a place they can grow their own food. After joining the garden, the members will learn about healthy lifestyles and urban agriculture. The

community workshops will help the first time gardeners get started. The 2’x4’ raised beds are all movable. The gardens are nomadic and can be relocated to any new available space that becomes available. The community garden is also available for private events. The

design principles are focused on establishing community through agriculture. Another principle is the spread of healthy eating habits.

GARDEN MEMBERSHIP $320/YR

COMMUNITY MEMBERSHIP $60/YR

GROW MEMBERSHIP $1500/YR

By becoming a garden member you get a 2’x4’ garden trough that includes soil, water and seeds.

The community membership offers additional discounts from local businesses.

In additional to the garden member, this option provides you a personal farmer to take care of the crops for you.

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Case Study Analysis

// Farmscape

SUCCESS: Farmscape because surplus of food is not thrown away; it can be also donated to a family member or neighbor.

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PROJECTS: Farmscape has had successful projects since its beginning. One project is located at the San Francisco Giantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; stadium: a vegetable garden with multiple uses. First, produce is sold during games in the salad bar Also, it is often used as a field trip for students to learn about organic, home-grown produce. The Jonathan Club in downtown Los Angeles is also a successful project because it has broken all boundaries and yielded terrific results, despite its location. It has even produced revenue and has given the Jonathan Club a great variety in their menu.

// OCGP Food Lab

The Orange County Great Park Food Lab, located on the borders of the Great Park, is an educational initiative for the community. It contains creative and innovative elements like themed raised bed gardens, fruit trees, vertical gardens, a chicken coop and a worm compost bin. The chicken coop provides compost to the garden while feeding the chicken worms, thus enhancing the systemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sustainability.

The OCGP Food Lab has a hydroponic farm in which they use resources in the most sustainable way. First, it uses coconut fibers instead of soil, which causes problems with pests. Also, the vertically stacked pots reduce the need for land, and the drip irrigation system conserves water, using 90 percent less than traditional garden watering methods.

Case Study Analysis

// A Tasteful Place

The Tasteful Place is a work based on interdisciplinary design working with architecture, landscape architecture, professional gardening, and urban agricultural. Designed to address the growing trend of urban farming, as a public space it is designed to inspire the general public and showcase the ability of a garden to both be productive and beautiful. Following the design principle of Ferme orneeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; or ornamented farms, an aesthetic of 18th century American formal gardens inspired by English estate gardens. Designed to be aesthetically pleasing, a perfected form of manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interaction with nature it uses colors, smells, lighting and flow to create

FOODFORTHOUGHT

a unique atmosphere designed to inspire and allow one to reflect. The other half of The Tasteful Place is to function as a productive food garden and be a beacon of sustainable design within urban agriculture. The garden is to be a center where people can explore and learn more of the possibilities of urban food growing. As such the garden plans for a year around program driven towards education with regular hands on workshops professional lead courses and demonstrations. Along with the plans of a 12-month food garden showing the ability to be productive year around.

PROGRAM • • • •

Spring

Summer

Fall

Spring

PLANTS GROWN FOR EACH SEASON

Showcase sustainable design Educational Workshops Inspire Public Display Beauty in Food

Winter

Summer

Fall

Winter

Broccoli

Beats

Cauliflower

Kale

Artichoke

Lima Beans

Turnips

Leeks

Corn

Tomatoes

Sweet Potatoes

Collard Greens

Peas

Bell Peppers

Ginger

Brussels Sprouts

Spinach

Eggplant

Jalapeño

Buttercup Squash

Chayote Squash

Garlic

Butter Lettuce

Belgian Endive

Asparagus

Zucchini

Pumpkin

Winter Squash

Solar Panels

Case Study Analysis

Performance Tool Analysis

// I-Tree Landscape

I-Tree Streets is an free software suite that was an adaptation of the Street Tree Resource Assessment Tool for STRATUM. This tool allows users to calculate treesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; environmental, economic, and aesthetic benefits. The tool can calculate only one tree or a whole city tree population, either new or existing. I-Tree data is based on tree inventory data, and can analyze the energy conservation, air quality improvement, CO2 reduction, storm water control, and property value increases related to trees.

The i-Tree applications including many tools for analysis, including: i-Tree Eco, i-Tree Landscape, i-tree Hydro, i-Tree design, i-Tree Canopy, i-Tree streets, i-Tree Vue, and i-Tree System Requirements. Also, there are three utility programs included, i-Tree Species, i-Tree Pest Detection Module, and i-Tree Storm. Together, these can help analyze and accurately assess the value of trees in the neighborhood. Our project can benefit from this type of data in order to determine the value of our own trees.

Performance Tool Analysis

// Vegetable Value Calculator Vegetables

Space Used Sq Ft

Tomato

Carrot

Pound Per Sq Ft

Vegetables Grown lb

As a tool for those interested in urban agriculture the Vegetables Value Calculator is a very simple and easy tool to estimate the potential yield of crops in a small garden. In terms of our project it will be a useful tool to easily calculate what our design intervention is capable of. Since most crop yield analysis is done per acre it can be difficult to estimate the potential of a much small garden as well as plan for space. From the point of view of a common household the information it provides is easy to understand and process to allow for those interested in urban agriculture to understand the basic needs and capabilities of a backyard garden as well as estimate a potential return in investment if crops were sold to market.

Value

Broccoli

80 sq ft Plot

8â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

o al o e ial alue

FOODFORTHOUGHT

// Porous Pavement

The Chancellorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s resident has a good amount of concrete paving on his residence, parking is a necessity due to their large number of events a year. Since his home wants to become an example of sustainability it would be a great addition to install porous pavement. Porous pavement filters runoff from streets such as oil from cars and other debris, having this type of paving would decrease the amount of water runoff into the ocean. With the addition of porous pavement this leads also to

FOODFORTHOUGHT

installing swales in the center to filter overflow of water runoff in case of a high amount of rain. The massive pavement is a perfect example of how a large space can be turned into a large filtration system that replenishes water back into its aqueduct. With this open space we can commit to not running water into the ocean.

3” Top Course 16% - 18% air void 21” Stone Reservoir Layer 40% air void

6” Base Course 20% - 25% air void 2” - 3” Stone

6” Stabilization and Filter Layer

Subsoil Grade

Statistics 1 acre foot= 325,851 gallons Riverside annual rainfall: 10.32” 2,711 square feet of pavement at chancellor’s residence. 16,873 gallons of water can be filtered with current parking space with porous pavement. Materials 3” top course-16%-185 air voids 6” base course-20%-25% air voids 21” stone reservoir layer-40% air void-2”-3” stone 6”stabilization & filter layer Subsoil grade

Performance Tool Analysis

Riverside and UCR Planning

// Planning Development

UNIVERSITY NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN • • • •

More multi-use houses Revitalization of underutilized spaces Community participation Treatment of Watkins driveway

IMPLEMENTATIONS • UNP 3.3.1 involves the implementation of changing the land to facilitate best use of retail, office and limited home ownership to serve local residents as well as students

FOODFORTHOUGHT

IMPLEMENTATIONS • UNP 6.2.1 involves making opportunities to increase minimum parking requirements

IMPLEMENTATIONS • UNP 7.5.1 involves the creation program to educate students and residents about the natural and man-made components of the Public Realm and how they may be enhanced

// Protocols

LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE • • • • •

Must maintain landscaping No overgrown vegetation Irrigation systems kept in proper working Must comply with Western Riverside County Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan

WATER REDUCTION • • • • •

Must maintain landscaping No overgrown vegetation Irrigation systems kept in proper working Must comply with Western Riverside County Multi- Species Habitat Conservation Plan

PLANTING VEGETATION • Soil test must be conducted • Grading must allow for free movement of water • No permit needed to cut trees, but there are rebates on trees

POOLS • Cannot have algae • Needs to have some kind of chlorine • Needs an underwater light

Riverside and UCR Planning

Performance Measures

// Sustainable Sites

HEAT ISLAND EFFECT

SITE DEVELOPMENT

STORM WATER MANAGEMENT

Our Approach to turn the UCR chandlers residence into an active and productive food garden will address certain key categories within LEED and SITE requirements. the first is site development, to increase our potential output within the site, our approach will be taking steps to maximize our open space and minimize lost space within our site as well as take steps to control the footprint of any new construction. Managing Stormwater has always been key in evaluating sustainability. our approach will look to catch as much on site water as possible though roof interventions as well as grading to limit dependency on outside water sources. As an approach to urban agriculture managing our water usage is a large step in providing a productive garden. Removing many of the trees to allow for planting as well as the large surface area of the food creates concerns for increasing the already high heat island effect of the site. over head structures on exposed

FOODFORTHOUGHT

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

UNIVERSITY PLAN

areas and high destiny of planting will scale down along with interventions to the roof to control stormwater will address any concerns over raising the heat island effect on site. one of the key factors of our approach is to connect to the community in offering a showcase that will allow for educating the general public to promote urban agriculture and the benefits of backyard food gardens, along with demonstrating key sustainable practices. These four concepts will drive our project moving forward to design a garden that is productive but still maintains a standard of sustainability.

1269 SQ FT

235 SQ FT

CHANCELLORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S HOME POOL

2711 SQ FT

82 SQ FT

919 SQ FT

441 SQ FT

1065 SQ FT

WATKI

NS DR

IVE

PAVEMENT LAWN ROOF 0

500

FOODFORTHOUGHT

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

// Basic Measures of Site Capacity Based on the square footage of the chancellorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residence there is a possibility of water catchment with the large amount of roof square footage. Since a 3/4 acre lot can produce a large amount of food it is necessary to consider the amount of water we would need. But with water catchment and a pool that is hardly used in rainy season there is resources that can push our capabilities through sustainability. The pool can be used as a cistern that can hold water for irrigation uses and that would work because of the high cost to maintain would be saved. The cost to remove a pool is very high and with this we can save pool maintenance cost and

our most valuable resource. Running all the rain water through a series of rain gutters into the pool/cistern will gather thousands of gallons of water that can be used in irrigation. The amount of water we can capture with square footage amounts to 11,250, a typical pools is about 25,000 gallons. We can fill a pool twice with the annual rainfall of Riverside which is 10.32 inches. The amount of water currently being used is about 150,000 gallons that means it was as if they drained there pool 6 times a month. The city of Riverside depends on the annual snow and wells located in the Riverside area.

Roof square footage: 1504 allo o wa er a e captured on annual rainfall in the city of Riverside.

Site Photo Essay

// Site Photo Essay

FRONT YARD: DRIVEWAY

FRONT YARD: ENTRY COURTYARD

At the front of the Chancellorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house is a driveway that allows up to ten cars to be parked. Large events are hosted here in which the parking lot is maxed out and guests need to be shuttled from down the street. There is a turnout that allows service vehicles to efficiently bring tables and chairs to events. The diversity of the existing trees provides shade for the cars parked as well as a diverse palette.

This entry courtyard, located at the front of the house, is quaint. It contains a random selection of plants like various citrus trees and various shrubs.

FOODFORTHOUGHT

The sycamore tree is weak and poses a threat to the house because of its proximity. The flooring is in a grid pattern and appears old and worn. There is a cement bench for seating, though it seems superfluous since this courtyard is underutilized.

FRONT YARD: GRASS AND TREES

BACK YARD: FENCE

The front yard has a thick canopy of trees that acts as a barrier to the street. Also roots of the trees emerge onto the grass, causing a potential tripping hazard and a decrease in aesthetic value. There is also a reoccurring light fixture throughout the residence. One is placed here to bring a minimal amount of lighting to the area.

The back fence leads directly to the UCR Campus orange groves and entomology center. This fence is not very attractive and in need of some enhancement. It can also be moved back a little more, thus increasing the space of the Chancellorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residence if need be. The fence does have some value as a security measure and keeps out trespassers.

Site Photo Essay

// Site Photo Essay (cont.)

FRONT YARD: GRASS AND TREES

BACK YARD: FENCE

FOODFORTHOUGHT

BACK YARD: GRASS AND FENCE

BACKYARD: POWER LINES

West of the patio is grass that contains some lighting fixtures and more vegetation. The Chancellor and his wife wanted this space to contain more electricity and be utilized to fit more guests. In addition to the functional improvements, they did not like the vegetation that covered the west fence since it was unsightly and caused too much leaf litter. They wanted more of a view of the UCR campus.

Nearby power lines pose a threat to the safety of the residents. The height of the trees and the proximity of the telephone lines is problematic, posing a potential electrical hazard. Foliage and branches from the nearby trees may also be a hazard since the strength of trees like the Eucalyptus is weak.

Site Photo Essay

// Site Photo Essay (cont.)

BACK YARD: STORAGE SHED

BACK YARD: TRAIL

These sheds in the backyard store tools and event supplies. Event services initially had to send chairs and tables from UCR to the Chancellorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residence during events, but this shed nullifies that need. The other shed is used by the maintenance crew, allowing easy access to tools for landscape maintenance. They are concealed behind the tall trees.

In the center of the garden, there is some seating and a small amount of flagstone paving. The seating appears to be made from concrete and formed to match the curve of the path. The Chancellorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wife said that she enjoys the space and is a source of scape for her.

FOODFORTHOUGHT

BACK YARD: GARDEN

BACKYARD: GARDEN SEATING

The garden to the south of the backyard is meant to be a peaceful, contemplative space. It has three intersecting walkways that are bordered with short hedges. At the end of this walkway is a rose garden that slopes uphill. The roses use drip irrigation, thus mitigating the water needed on site.

Behind the backyard garden is a trail that leads westward toward UCR. Adjacent to the trail is dense vegetation that leads into a ravine. This area is messy and filled with various types of trees and shrubs. It is also unprotected against trespassers since the gate is broken and the path can be a place to people to hide.

Site Photo Essay

Ecology Mapping

Wind Pattern from NW, WNW Causes Dust Storms

Pollution Pattern From Highways

FOODFORTHOUGHT

// Riverside Wind and Pollution

215

Lower Canyon Basin Devil Canyon Basin

Lytle Basin Rialto Basin

Riverside North Basin

Riverside South Basin Arlington Basin

FOODFORTHOUGHT

// Water Resources For Riverside

Bunker Hill Basin Yucaipa Basin

San Timoteo Basin

Beaumont Basin

riverside temperatures and preciptation // Temperature and Precipitation

http://www.city-data.com/city/Riverside-California.html

Ecology Mapping

Nonprofit Organization Mapping

// Local Nonprofit Organizations The Refuge Bible Fellowship

Path of Life Ministries Access

Refreshing Spring Community Church Riverside St Georgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Episcopal Church County Workforce The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter

Gethsemane Lutheran Church Universal Nutrition

Fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s House Christian Fellowship Evangelic Free Church

Bridges Church

University Women Homeless Center God Holy Temple Ministry Inc.

Crest Community Church

Grace United Methodist Church

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter

Shalom Ministries St Andrews Newman Center

Fitness United With Nutrition

Nutrition News UCR Bontanic Gardens 0.

Art n Kids Riverside

al 1 0 m i n u te s w

wa lk

tes

ile

US Agricultural Research

St.Andrew Orthodox Church u

Canyon Crest Child Care

Answer Lumber Canyon Crest Kindercare

FOODFORTHOUGHT

il e

UCR CAMPUS HIGHWAY GAGE CANAL GREEN AREA UCR CHANCELLORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S RESIDENCE CHURCHES

OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

hurch

1. 5

les rad ius

30 min u

tes

walk

u te sw alk

ter

Box Springs Mountain Park 215

Nonprofit Organizations Mapping

101

// Approach Capacity The Refuge Fellowship Refreshing Spring Community Church

- Host lunch every Thursday

Path of Life Ministries Access -Non-profit organization -Cure homelessness -Dollar a month program with churches

Riverside City Mission -Provides hot meals and sack lunch for poor families -Distributes food boxes

Riverside County Workforce

St Georgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Episcopal Church -Karma Ministry -Project Food

Bridges Church

Gethsemane Lutheran Church

Crest Community Church St Andrews Newman Center

University Women Homeless Center -Non-profit organization -Provide for free hot meals for homeless -Provide furniture, baby supplies, food boxes -One-dollar donation events

-Child and youth protection

Fitness United With Nutrition

Nutrition News UCR Bontanic Gardens

-Creates fitness and nutrition after-school programs

1 0 m i n u t e s w al k

Art nKkids Riverside St Andrew Orthodox Church -Serve food at homeless shelter twice a month

-Bring art back to kids

FOODFORTHOUGHT

Canyon Crest Kindercare -Provides healthy food for children

e mil

rad

UCR CAMPUS HIGHWAY GAGE CANAL GREEN AREA UCR CHANCELLORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S RESIDENCE CHURCHES OTHER ORGANIZATIONS SPHERE OF INFLUENCE

mmunity

CONNECTIONS

ews n Center

d and youth protection

on News

ad ius

30 m

ius

rad

il e

e mil

inu tes

wal k

mi nu tes wal k

c Gardens

1. 5

Box Springs Mountain Park

Nonprofit Organizations Mapping

103

School Mapping

105

Farmer Boys Marcello’s Pizza and Pasta

Boba Tea

Baguette Bakery Experienced Vemma David Soto Tractor Parts University Juice It Herbalife Village Goodwin’s Organic Distributors Market Foods and Drinks Jamba Juice The Coffee Bean Far East and Tea Leaf University Market 0.

UCR Bontanic Gardens

ile 1 0 m in utes

use

// Local Restaurants and Shops

Crusty Gourmet FOODFORTHOUGHT

Subs and Spuds Gardener’s

Cottage

Marisa’s Italian Deli

le mi

UCR CAMPUS HIGHWAY GAGE CANAL GREEN AREA UCR CHANCELLORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S RESIDENCE SHOP FOOD

Organic Drinks

30 min utes

ardens

iu s

1.5

s il e

Box Springs

Mountain Park

School Mapping

107

// Local Educational Institutions Riverside City College Culinary Academy Vineyard Christian

University Heights Middle School

Highland Elementary School Brandman University Longfellow Elementary School

John W North High School Southern Illinois University 0.5

Lincoln HIgh School

il e

Our Lady Guadalupe Academy

UCR Botanic Gardens Rive

ra d 1 0 iu s m i n u te s walk

Emerson Elementary School

FOODFORTHOUGHT

UCR CAMPUS HIGHWAY

istian

GAGE CANAL GREEN AREA UCR CHANCELLORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S RESIDENCE SCHOOLS

anic

d iu

Riverside STEM

le s

rad ius

1. 5

Box Springs Mountain Park

School Mapping

109

// Approach Capacity Mapping out the current dining areas on campus will allow us to move forward in understanding the demands and requirements of UC Riverside. UCR offers a wide range of on campus dining for it 22,000 students. 2 residential dining halls, 11 retail restaurants/cafes, 4 stores, and varies food trucks at serve on average 9,500 meals a day and over 2 million meals in a year. Along with varies programs to promote sustainability within its dining, UCR is moving towards a goal of 20% sustainable

17% 83%

food procurement by the year 2020. With increasing amounts of food coming from localized agriculture and nearly $900,000 worth of food purchases coming from sustainable sources a total of 13% of its food costs. All this information will assist in promoting urban agriculture as another addition to promote sustainable food practices on campus.

UCR FOOD SERVICE EMPLOYEE Student Employee Career Employee

9,500 MEALS PER DAY

22,000 STUDENT BODY

FOODFORTHOUGHT

$7,000,000 ANNUAL FOOD COST

$900,000

SUSTAINABLE FOOD

Sustainable Food Sources Locally Grown Locally Raised, Handled and Distributed Fair Trade Certified Domestic Fair Trade Certified Shade Grown or Bird Friendly Coffee Rainforest Alliance Certified Food Alliance Certified USDA Organic AGA GrassFed Pasture Raised Grass Finished/ 100% GrassFed Certified Humane Raised & Handled Cage Free Protected Harvested Certified Marine Stewardship Council

FACTS: • Athens Services compost more than 239 tons of food waste • 19,000 pounds of surplus food donated to Inland Harvest • 27% of all food on campus is vegan or vegetarian • Goal of 20% sustainable food procurement by 2020, 30% within 10 years

School Mapping

111

Food Market Mapping

113

Coffee Bean Bytes Honor Roll Del Sol Cantina Exchange

Ivanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

ABERDEEN-INVERNESS My Gourmet The Grill World’s Fare Dele Station Salad Bar Sweets & Treats

LOTHIAN RESIDENTIAL Neighborhood Grill Vegetarial Bar Global Sizzle Urban Kitchen Comfort Table Village Garden Craving Market at Glen Mor

Chancellor’s House

// Approach Mapping One of our main goals within this approach is the spread and adoption of food gardens within the general public. We can accomplish this by spreading out into the community though education institutes as well as raising public awareness of the benefits and possibilities of urban agriculture. Based on research collected through Farmscape, Landscape Architecture Foundation, and the city of Riverside we have estimated that the immediate area around UCR would be capable of growing 2.3 million pounds of produce each year. These calculations are based on 10x10 plots, an established size that is manageable by the average household spread across 7,600 homes located around UCR, while averaging 3 pounds per square foot. these numbers are based on the current infrastructure and realistically as the means to maintain these gardens grows with demand the average household will be able to grow and maintain larger private gardens along with spreading out into the public sphere with communal gardens in public parks or other open spaces. When applied city wide that has nearly 100,000 homes the potential of urban

FOODFORTHOUGHT

gardens can yield 30 million pounds per year of home grown food. With the average person eating close to 400 pounds of vegetables per year and a population of 316,000 Riverside has the potential to grow 25% of its total vegetable consumption in its own backyard. This again could be considered a minimum, as the potential

UNIVERSITY NEIGHBORHOOD DISTRICT 4.7 square miles 7,600 Homes Maintainable Single Home Garden: 100 sq ft Average 3lb per sq per year Potential yield per year: illio ou

Low Density Housing Medium Density Housing High Density Housing Very High Density Housing Public Park/ Green Space

RIVERSIDE

78 square miles 98,000 Homes 51 Public Parks 100 sq ft backyard gardens 2000 sq ft communal gardens Potential yield per year: 30 Million pounds

Food Market Mapping

117

// Capacity The conversion of the chancellor’s house into a sustainable example of urban agriculture is multi-faceted. After extensive research and mapping of the city of riverside, we became aware of the elements affecting our site. The Chancellor’s residence can be an example to the surrounding communities of what a sustainable residence looks like. The surrounding areas can benefit from this residence as it produces food for the purpose of MAXIMUM PRODUCTION, EDUCATION, and COMMUNITY OUTREACH. These approaches utilize the local food markets, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations. With the approach of maximum food production, high quantities of food can be produced as an organic supplier to local food systems. But food needs water, and water has been a hot topic in southern California. The mountains in Riverside contain snow packs which give water to the surrounding areas. To contain this water, there are 54 wells that hold the water until distributed to the community. As a way to aid in the use of water, the Chancellor’s residence’s 1,504 square foot roof is able to capture 11,250 gallons of water. This water can be kept on site and reused. In addition, there is 2,711 square feet of pavement that can capture 16,873 gallons of water. This pavement can be turned into porous pavement and replenish underground aquifers. The collected water prevents runoff into the ocean and instead recycles the water for better uses. Edible gardens

are more than just possible today; they are the ideal. They require 75% less water than lawns, all the while producing something valuable like food. Educational institutions and UCR donors can participate in tours of the residence and learn what is possible for a residential space. Child obesity rates are too high when there is a surplus of resources to eat healthily. Educating children and adults on healthy eating habits will create healthy, more vivacious people. Also, educating the public on what healthy food actually is will deter them from the fuel-infested, pesticide-ridden “food” that appears in grocery stores today. Finally, the nonprofit organizations can be the recipients of excess food as a way to bolster the community. Gardening is not at its best when it simply supports the family, but when a community is involved. People socialize around food; it is the great leveler of social classes. The homeless shelters and food banks receive lots of canned food and boxed food but they lack access to fresh produce. This initiative is the answer to that problem, and provides more diversity in a diet. These systems offer allow the production of food, education of the public, and contribution to the community. They allow this this residence to be involved in not only on a small, private scale, but as a front-runner of sustainable urban agriculture.

Food Market Mapping

119

Title Vision, Strategy of and Performance Section

121

// Objective In redesigning of the Chancellor’s Residence at UC Riverside, the supervising CPP Faculty have described the project as a “showcase of inspired sustainability, responsible environmental and aesthetic leadership and a regional example of vison and stewardship”. Working within the confines of very narrowly delineated approaches, the FOOD FOR THOUGHT team is charged with investigating the Chancellor’s Residence as a productive landscape utilizing principles of permaculture and local food production. It is then possible to measure the project’s performance value in that context. All programs added (or removed) should be addressed by measures of production as they relate to sustainability, permaculture and local food. PRODUCTIVE - relating to or engaged in the production of goods, crops, or other commodities. i.e. “the country’s productive capacity”

FOODFORTHOUGHT

The team has chosen, as a design approach, to broaden the understanding of productive to include measures of EDUCATION and COMMUNITY growth. A blueprint of suburban, edible sustainability, Food for Thought brings a contemporary design aesthetic to a naturally balanced agricultural practice that reconnects people not just with their food, but with each other. It is an educational resource with a focus on growing communities over just vegetables.

// Principles Given the specificity of the above parameters, the measure of success becomes fairly straight forward. The intended outcome of Education and Community growth can be measured by the yardstick of SUSTAINABILITY, PERMACULTURE and LOCAL FOOD PRODUCTION. SUSTAINABILITY – a capacity by which a system can endure. Ecologically, this is measured by a system’s ability to remain diverse and self-sufficient. In terms of production, a system becomes sustainable when its outputs outweigh its inputs. In traditional natural agriculture, inputs can be measured in units of energy. One calorie, a unit of food crop energy, from the sun produces almost three calories of fruit and vegetables. Seen in contrast to modern conventional agriculture, over ten calories of petrochemical fertilizers and other additives are required to produce the same yield. Such a system produces a negative return on its investment, and can only artificially maintain itself. Compound the accumulative cost caused by air pollution, chemical runoff in our water supply, and the negative impact on human health, the measured yield return is reduced even further.

the best simple description to this approach. Nature provides a finely tuned model which is quickly upset by human intervention. Recognizing that, Permaculture sees work energy as an input alien to the natural model and seeks to minimize it where possible. This is no easy task, but some basic principles and practices can be emulated. LOCAL FOOD PRODUCTION – an attempt at an alternative to the conventional “Big Ag” cash crop/ trade commodity model, which is replaced by a local relationship system. Relationship is the key word here, and is best personified in the “Know Your Farmer” movement. This system strives to minimize, absolutely, the “grow – value additive processing – consumer” triangle. The strength of this system, apart from the obvious reduction of carbon producing petromiles, relies on direct consumer participation and understanding of where their food comes from. Sociocultural food relationships form the basis for community health. It is perhaps the best measure of Community Growth intent.

PERMACULTURE – If old growth, arboreal forests can be considered the best example of a sustainable system, Permaculture strives to mimic that system in an enduring agricultural practice. Supportive efficiency is perhaps

Vision, Strategy, and Performance

125

// Programs Using the principles above, we can consider the various programs included in the Food For Thought design plan. SPIRAL – the use of a spiral as a permaculture design mechanism for an agricultural model is an often misappropriated conceptual idea. In an effort to reduce work energy, activities in permaculture that require more frequent inputs are kept close at hand, whereas less frequent activities can be placed further afield. In an agricultural model where the farm house is at the center, such a relationship of activities does resemble a spiral. Alternately though, where the farm house is placed at the end of a long, narrow property, the design becomes much more linear, and it is in this regard we should see the permacultural design plan – a series of linear projections form a home base. The ever-changing and adapting nature of forest ecology can also be conceptualized in the spirals open end. Away from permaculture, the use of spirals does have a design theory precedent. Many cultures, dating back to the Paleolithic period, have made regular use of spirals in decorative arts, and with a variety of culturally specific contexts. The best examples of early formal use in design geometry come from the Greeks. The Golden

FOODFORTHOUGHT

Spiral, used to describe formal geometry in architecture finds its inspiration in the arms of spiral galaxies or the phyllotaxis of leaves. This natural geometry is most perfectly realized by Descartes in Logarithmic Spiral theory which describes the growth rate of consecutive spiral rings to be approximately b = 0.1759. It is in the Cartesian period that we also find solid examples of an “unfurled” spiral geometry in the meter of classical music, where the proportional undulations of musical measures ground compositional structure. This is similar to the spacing of trees in a forest, leaves of a plant, or in this case, perhaps, the curvilinear geometry of a garden path. A simpler reference for ease of use is provided in the Fibonacci number series, where the continued spiral growth is reduced to a series of consecutive arc radii (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13…) This then becomes a simple formula by which to ground a naturally refined design plan. EDIBLE TERRACE – intended, apparently, to continue the curvilinear theme into an agricultural program, the terrace offers opportunity for spatial organization on multiple levels. Used traditionally to maximize productivity of steep available hillsides, a terrace has

very practical value and provides easy egress for farmers to manage their crops. An oft seen example can be found in wine growing. At a shallower incline, the benefit of a terrace becomes less obvious, giving way to the more common practice of planting in the direction of the grade. It does provide, though, the possibility for a backdrop of diverse color and texture. FOOD FOREST – an agricultural system that models itself directly on the synergy and companion relationships found in old growth forests. Tree “guilds” or families form the support structure for layers of companion plantings. The layers formed by the staggered canopy of tall trees, low/medium trees, shrubbery, ground cover, root systems, and vines all work in harmony with one another within a specific guild. An apple guild, for example, might include red currant, Siberian pea shrub, red and white clover, borage, garlic, fava bean, dill, native wildflowers, mint and basil. COMPANION PLANTING – a practice of planting supportive vegetation adjacent to, or consecutively, for mutual benefit. Similar in many respects to the synergy found in the food forest model, plants like nitrogen fixing pole beans add nutrients to soil of nitrogen hungry corn.

Other considerations for companion planting might include pollinator attractors or medicinal plants like stinging nettles to encourage soil life, but a simple sun/ shade relationship can also work well. RAISED BEDS – an extremely high yield productive method, relies on almost exclusively organic material as a growth medium. Unlike, the mineral rich, native soil environment of the food forest that has little organic matter, a raised bed creates a very controlled environment for an intensive growth plan. In this method consecutive crop harvests are not only possible, but also beneficial to the health of the bed. Farmscape, the agricultural design firm with whom Food for Thought has been associated, grow a mixed variety of seasonal crops in a blend of potting mix/compost. At present (early February) they are growing mostly brassicas, lettuce, peas, and root crops. In a couple months they will transition to nightshades, beans, and cucurbits. The soil mix is almost entirely organic matter, with limited mineral content. They use a relatively balanced organic mixed-veggie granular fertilizer from Kellogg, as well as some of their liquid fertilizer products:

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// Programs (cont.) high growth and high bloom, depending on what point we are in the season. This system, with sufficient sun exposure, forms the back bone of many urban and peri-urban farming models that produces the highest yield, with the most diversity, in return for a very finite, concentrated input. Although an organic/natural growing practice would require less water use than the use of conventional chemical additions, a raised bed still uses significantly more water than a food forest. WATER CATCHMENT – a primary consideration in a drought stricken environment, any practice that can mitigate the waste of water has a tremendously positive sustainable impact. PERMEABLE HARDSCAPING, like decomposed granite or Porous Concrete (as used in the Food for Thought plan) can be hugely beneficial to the ground water supply. To minimize the impact of expected increase in water consumption from the intended agricultural practice, a RAIN WATER CATCHMENT system can capture roof water run-off (up to 33,000 gals. annually) into a storage cistern, or even a BIO-POOL. NATURAL BIO-POOL – a great example of sustainable agricultural initiative, the private pool can be converted into a natural bio-environment where the existing chemical filtration system is replaced by a bio-regeneration zone that uses plants like taro and water-lilies as toxin scrubbers. As upsetting the water’s chemical balance is no longer an issue, the pool can also act as a rain water catchment system, which can

FOODFORTHOUGHT

be drawn from for the use in the gardens, and offset the likely increase in water consumption. The bio-pool can also become an excellent source of green leafy vegetables like lettuces and spinach. Alternately, should the pool not be used for swimming, natural balanced can be achieved through aquaponic fish farming. STRUCTURAL PROGRAMS, such as wooden pergolas for shade, and an outdoor kitchen have also been intended. Hopefully built from less toxic materials than PT dimensional lumber (cedar, perhaps), a pergola provides welcome shade and helps fix the design within the common architectural vernacular of the region. An outdoor kitchen, also provides added value to the suburban back yard gathering area.

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// Performance How do the above programs rate in respect to growth of COMMUNITY and EDUCATION?

arrear of food processing and sharing, a COMMUNITY or FIELD TABLE proving a possible growth factor.

The design plan has certainly increased the residence’s capacity to grow food crops. But the programs outlined above, lacking specific additions, such as educational structures, processing facilities, waste management development, programming for animal contributors like chickens and bees, tool sheds, irrigation systems, tree guilds and a sustainable, organizational strategy, can at best be described as “INSPIRATIONAL” rather than EDUCATIONAL. Perhaps in that regard it adds value to the community, through tours and general curb appeal. But the COMMUNITY impact could also be dramatically increased with the above additions, particularly in the

As the culinary needs of the regular large functions in the back yard patio area can be addressed with the existing facilities, the addition of outdoor kitchen program is maybe best shifted elsewhere for specific EDUCTION or COMMUNITY development. At present, the intended programming appears much more focused on CHANGE, and as such, despite much hard work, falls short of the intended OBJECTIVES of the design approach. In that regard, The FOOD FOR THOUGHT plan can only be seen as moderately successful.

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// Contributions PROFESSORS Anthony Acock Ray Senes Andy Wilcox IN COLLABORATION WITH Matthew Geldin Farmscape LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS Humberto Cardenas Justin De Vesta Ernesto Esquer Paul SPittle Tong Xue GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Alexis Luu Ashley Mosqueda Matt Paragas Lova Rakotomavonandrianina Miguel Veneracion Sean Winter

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