[P2P-F] does urban farming make sense?

Tue Apr 19 18:13:33 CEST 2011

On Tue, Apr 19, 2011 at 3:56 AM, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com> wrote:
> this is from our companion list on urbanism, and seems to me, a too
> simplistic take on the issue,
>
> what kind of arguments can be brought to bear on such a hostile attitude to
> urban farming?
>
> my own intuitive sense  is that, though certainly by no means a panacea,
> regrowing food is part of regreening of the city, sustainability, autonomous
> production, community formation, and the like, and therefore, overall, a
> positive development, certain in the context of possible future food
> shortages,
>
> Michel
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Jan Wiklund <jan.wiklund at srf.nu>
> Date: Tue, Apr 19, 2011 at 2:00 PM
> Subject: SV: [P2P-URBANISM WA] a debate on country-city (dis)urbanism,
> moscow 1930
> To: "p2p-urbanism-world-atlas at googlegroups.com"
> <p2p-urbanism-world-atlas at googlegroups.com>
>
>
> And for my part, I don’t se the point of all this talk about food production
> in towns.

Well...while this person is busy not seeing the point, there are many
that are actively doing urban Agriculture, not just talking about it.

> The point of towns is to keep down the distances between people
> and all the millions of activities you need in a complicated economy.
> Preferably, people should be able to communicate mostly by foot. Bulky kinds
> of production should be kept out of towns. Von Thünen’s scheme, constructed
> before the fossil age, still holds good. People in the middle, gardening
> just outside, and even more spacy activities even farther away.
>

Ok, but in collapsed cities, with miles and miles and miles of
sprawling vancant land long abandoned, sorry, but we are going to put
it to use and grow food. Most of the people left in these cities are
happy with that.

>
>
> Keeping spaces in towns to grow vegetables on means longer distances, means
> more fuel.

What?!?! Longer distances for whom? if I grow food here where I live,
it is less distance and fuel than food grown thousands of miles away
(which is what is sold in my grocery store now. I can buy grow apples
here in Michigan or buy apples from New Zealand, which should I do?).
I am sorry but this is just so utterly wrong I don't know where to
begin...

> We can’t afford that, except, of course, in small towns where the
> distances are small anyhow.
>

But we can afford to truck everything in, refigerate it and throw out
heaps of waste when people won't buy all of it? Sounds like a great
plan!

>
>
> Jan
>
>
>

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