Food Urbanism: A Sutstainable Design Option for Urban Communities

Jason Grimm – food system planner – will demonstrate through documented research of his from London and Ames, IA that dynamic designed urban food systems can transform the quality of life in our cities. The workshop will help paint a picture of the potential of urban agriculture and how food lies at the heart of many of our current societal struggles. The workshop will help define the definition and theory of Food Urbanism: how food relates to the organization of a city and how it becomes infrastructure that transforms the urban experience. The primary objective of the workshop will be to demonstrate to attendees that food both has a tremendous impact on how our cities are designed and how it could also help make them resilient from future global events.

Jason will explain how he came to define his theory of food urbanism and precisely how he defines an urban food system. During the workshop he will present his typology of a urban food system as a toolkit that communities can use to implement a resilient urban food system. Conceptual designs of existing sites will help demonstrate his typology in a way that will paint a picture of sites in other’s communities.

Food – its production, movement, marketing, and consumption is urban infrastructure and can both organize and transform the urban experience through thoughtful sensitive design and planning of this infrastructure. Food production in the form of urban infrastructure would be in the form of market boulevards and food boulevards. Similar to how major arterials and utilities guide development, market boulevards would be the backbone of growth. Public transportation and bicycle routes would be overlaid with food production reducing CO2 emissions in the city. In addition to reducing emissions, walkable neighborhoods and safer routes to school would be developed.  

Click here for Jason Grimm's Bio.