Urban village reality?
by Trystan on Jan.02, 2009, under Politics/Economics
The notion of an urban village has existed for several decades. In contrast to traditional city planning, an urban village attempts to minimize the daily need for personal cars, long-haul transit for foodstuffs and general dependence on a ‘foreign’ source for daily necessities. Foreign in this context may be interpreted as non-local corporate entity. A casual glance at modern cities in the West on the whole reveals the opposite ideology where most goods are shipped anywhere from hundreds of miles away to the opposite side of the globe. Although this strategy protects some daily needs from the toll of a local disaster, the cost in terms of energy is incalculable. That is, one can not calculate the true cost of natural resources and arguably labor. Traditional city design also incurs social side effects. The consumer is not responsible for, and thus has no direct power, over the production and distribution of daily needs. This has its most obvious impact on the poor who are beholden to the aloof and invisible master that produces and distributes their food and energy.
Alternatively, an urban village design facilitates some local food production. Certainly, growers will still expect some form of compensation for their crop. However, when production is local, labor may be exchanged with an employer who has a direct interest in the well being of the community as opposed to quarterly profits. In addition, sound planning and policy may allow lower income individuals some direct control over their own necessities. The Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle Washington recently released the following proposition for the city of Seattle.
“…develop new standards or incentive programs that encourage incorporating food gardens into multi-family developments” and “Directing the Department of Neighborhoods to identify the most suitable City-owned properties for conversion to use for food production, asking for no less than two acres that could be developed in 2009-2010″
It remains to be seen if these propositions succeed and the scope at which they’re implemented. However, to see such ideas being seriously considered by a significant mass of the populous fills one with optimism. I will post updates as they unfold.
