SU_2009
grey studio : Robert Shepherd / Yukiko Bowman / Gassia Salibian / Jeremy Harris
recognition : First Place, Urban Design Category
format : 2-sided poster mailer
FOOD = UTILITY acknowledges that FOOD IS A PUBLIC GOOD. This opens the doors for government incentivizing (tax-breaks, lease-holds, etc.) which ensures more distributed access. Current urban agricultural efforts, while broad in vision and scope, lack both the will and the infrastructure necessary for permanent and meaningful change. An interconnected organizational model which uses existing land and resource infrastructures (ex. utilities, schools, easements, existing stores, etc.) to create a network of radial Food Utility Districts would allow available public land to become arable, private land to be capitalized, and just-in-time processing methods that promote local and regional food access.
The groundwork has already been laid for the implementation of a proposal that begins to generate a networked and localized FRESH-FOOD UTILITY SYSTEM. Cities such as Portland, OR. and Oakland, CA. have taken the first steps by conducting thorough urban land inventories that document existing public plots that show potential for urban agriculture. Moreover, Oakland and Toronto have also developed Food Policy Councils whose task is to work towards a secure and local comprehensive food system. However, while existing policy recommendations all acknowledge the need to reconsider existing zoning strategies, none to our knowledge has yet developed a prototype zoning map based on proximity and proliferation of food-system related programs, nor have they included processing and distribution as part of necessary land-allocations. By RECONCEPTUALIZING FOOD AS A UTILITY we reduce the market advantage which favors large-scale chains, corporations and distributors. This shift would return food security to communities which are currently detached from the means of food production. Equalizing distribution and providing important support infrastructure for local food systems would create production that is in tune with demand, distribution that is efficient and evenly available, and consumption that creates a sustainable supply.
