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Re: community gardens, city planning



75554.631@compuserve.com (jack rowe) wrote:

>Re: the request for ideas concerning city planning for community gardens from E.
>J. Gelsi of  Australia [s100962@student.uq.edu.au], repeated below for those on
>the NCSU pc mailing list...

>>> I am currently doing a masters in social planning and development at the
>University of Queensland. I am reviewing whatever literature I can get my hands
>on concerning community gardening/city farms. Originally I hoped to provide a
>social profile of the participants in community gardens in Brisbane; this
>however seems a little simple. I was hoping for any different ideas from this
>list, for instance any policy issues that practitioners of community gardening
>would be concerned about. If you have any ideas please let me know!<<

>	Good ideas are one thing, fortunately and wisely Mr. Gelsi just asks for
>different ideas. My pet idea involves retrofitting of existing suburbs, since we
>have so many of them already. Anyway, actually planning our cities ahead of time
>-- like before they are built -- is just a little bit too radical, by the looks
>of things.

>	The average suburban block is two rows of houses back-to-back, with yards
>backing onto city-easement alleyways in between. What a nice, park-like
>atmosphere our 'burbs would have if each of these alleyways were [perhaps
>widened just a bit] and then developed into parkways and/or gardens, complete
>with bicycle paths, swales and community fruit trees, basketball courts, swards
>and thickets (birds love thickets), wildflower meadows, etc. 

>	At an extreme of planning, different blocks could be developed along
>different themes. There could be blocks of houses for folks with kids, with
>grass and some play equipment between, fenced from streets for a small measure
>of security, parents rotating duties watching the kiddies. Alleys in blocks of
>homes for elderly could have a quieter setup, with benches, tables, a gazebo or
>two, fruit trees, and the bird-attracting thickets. Blocks of kids and quieter
>folks could alternate for the convenience of older people who actually like kids
>(I love kids, myself. Read some great parenting advice recently, from Robert
>Orben -- "Never raise your hand to your children; it leaves your midsection
>unprotected"). Alleys not used to corral kiddies could have bike paths wending
>through and connecting different blocks (crossing streets with bike paths would
>need thought, beyond my preferred method of speeding up and keeping my head
>down). Small community gardens would be easy to locate every couple of blocks.
>Many cities are starting to compost yard wastes, and the local towns doing this
>here in Texas have difficulty giving the resulting compost away free (it's not
>trash, just yard wastes -- mostly just leaves and grass clippings with the odd
>can of roach spray -- perfectly harmless). 

>	Anyway, just the bare bones of an idea. Probably most alley right-of-ways
>would have to be widened by 10' - 15' on either side (they are typically 12' in
>my town, 35' would do fine for many purposes). People might actually get to know
>their neighbors again, but there would be good points, too. If setups like this
>were actually planned before the cities in question were built (nah!),
>cul-de-sacs could be generously used, and the bike paths and parkways thereby
>made much more continuous. Every several blocks could be given over to small
>market strips with bread shops, farmers'/gardeners' market days, etc. Cities
>built to facilitate the growth of humans instead of dollars.  Oh, well, Jack.

 Great ideas Jack,  but  what happens when the garbage truck comes and
takes  everthing.   Or when the power co. truck tries to fix your line
Then  the water co. puts in a new line  and when their gone,  the
sewer lines clog and  they come and dig it all up once more?
The  old systems are virtually un fixable,  I have designed civil eng.
for years and it's an almost hopeless cluster of  rules and reality.  
I saw a great sight in Australia,  Crystal Waters  at:
http://www.gaia.org/crystalwaters/cw_land.html#land
Based on converting/designing one full square mile.
Steve




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