Middlesbrough Urban Farming Project
Exhibit Category / Catégorie de l'expo: City
Location/Emplacement: Middlesbrough, UK
Dates: 2007
Designers/Concepteurs: John Thackara & David Barrie, David Barrie & Associates; Nina Belk, Zest Innovation; Debra Solomon;
Clients: The Citizens of Middlesbrough, DOTT 07 (Design Council/One North East), Council of Middlesbrough
More Information/Plus d'informations:
Image Credits/Crédits d'images: Mavis Arnold, David Barrie, Katrin Bohn, Catherine Early, John Thackara, Andre Viljoen
Project Description: (version française ci-dessous)
The urban landscape of Middlesbrough, a former industrial town in the UK, was radically transformed through the Middlesbrough Urban Farming Project. This design initiative was part of Designs of the Time (DOTT 07), a yearlong series of community projects in the North East of England that âexplored how design can improve our lives in meaningful ways.â (http://dott07.com) DOTT 07 focused on sustainable alternatives for living, exploring several themes (called zones): energy; schools and schooling; health; and finally food, which was called the âultimate design challenge.â Middlesbrough became a living lab for the food zone, an example of how, through design interventions, urban agriculture can be integrated into cities, and healthy food can become woven into the basic fabric of cities and towns.
Architects Katrin Bohn and Andre Viljoen, who had developed a plan of Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes for London that creatively uses available urban land for food production, were called upon to map the design that ultimately showed eighty locations for productive growing across town. The mapping project, called âOpportunities for a green and edible Middlesbroughâ was a comprehensive record of places for urban food production, revealing where residents wanted to grow food, identifying existing allotment gardens as well as potential locations for producing food in Middlesbrough, and connecting these spaces of opportunity together to show the emerging green network within the town.
In May 2007, gardening began all over the city; in addition, two kitchen gardens were created, one at the art gallery and one that transformed the cityâs main park. Community groups, volunteer organizations, youth and school groups, public health organizations and even preschools organized to grow food in leftover and adaptable spaces, enacting the design ideas shown on the map. Support networks that were put in place as part of Middlesbroughâs âHealthy Town Initiativeâ enabled the implementation of designs for continuing the cultivation of productive landscapes. Design strategies implemented in Middlesbrough included:
- involving many community members and organizations in spreading food production in a variety of city spaces,
- providing a variety of plots and containers for different conditions, and
- using mapping as an analytical tool for revealing strategies and opportunities for urban food production.
These are examples other cities and towns can use as they incorporate gardening initiatives into their own urban fabric.
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Description du Projet:
Le paysage urbain de Middlesbrough, une ancienne ville industrielle de Grande-Bretagne, a Ă©tĂ© radicalement transformĂ© par un projet dâagriculture urbaine. Cette initiative faisait partie de Designs of the Time (DOTT 07), une sĂ©rie de projets communautaires au nord-est de lâAngleterre qui exploraient «comment le design peut amĂ©liorer nos vies de façon significative. » (http://dott07.com) DOTT 07 Ă©tait axĂ© sur lâĂ©tude de modes de vie alternatifs durables Ă travers plusieurs thĂšmes (appelĂ©s zones) : lâĂ©nergie, les Ă©coles et lâĂ©ducation, la santĂ©, et lâalimentation, qui a Ă©tĂ© qualifiĂ©e dâ « ultime dĂ©fi du design ».
Middlesbrough est devenu un laboratoire vivant pour la « zone de lâalimentation » - un exemple dâintĂ©gration de lâagriculture dans les villes et de la production dâaliments sains au cĆur mĂȘme du tissu urbain.
Les architectes Katrin Bohn et Andre Viljoen ont Ă©laborĂ© un Plan de « Paysages urbains de production continue » (Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes) pour Londres. Lâobjectif est dâexploiter de maniĂšre crĂ©ative des terrains disponibles pour la production alimentaire. InvitĂ©s Ă cartographier la conception de 80 lieux de production agricole Ă travers la ville, ils ont ainsi dĂ©veloppĂ© le projet nommĂ© « Espaces possibles pour un Middlesbrough vert et comestible », qui recense de maniĂšre dĂ©taillĂ©e tous les espaces oĂč peut ĂȘtre dĂ©velopper la production agricole urbaine â les zones oĂč les habitants dĂ©sirent cultiver, les jardins potagers existants, les emplacements potentiels de production alimentaire. Ces espaces sont reliĂ©s pour crĂ©er un rĂ©seau vert dans la ville.
La culture maraĂźchĂšre urbaine a commencĂ© en mai 2007 dans toute la ville. Deux jardins potagers ont Ă©galement Ă©tĂ© crĂ©Ă©s, lâun prĂšs de la galerie dâart et un autre qui a transformĂ© le principal parc de la ville. Des associations de quartier, des organisations de bĂ©nĂ©voles, des groupes de jeunes et dâĂ©tudiants, des institutions de santĂ© publique et mĂȘme des Ă©coles maternelles ont commencĂ© Ă cultiver des espaces dĂ©laissĂ©s et adaptables, mettant en application les idĂ©es reprĂ©sentĂ©es sur la carte. Des rĂ©seaux dâentraide mis en place dans le cadre de lâinitiative « ville saine » ont permis lâapplication de projets de paysages productifs pour une culture continue. Plusieurs stratĂ©gies ont Ă©tĂ© mises en Ćuvre Ă Middlesbrough, oĂč il sâagissait
- dâengager des communautĂ©s et associations Ă dĂ©velopper la production alimentaire dans des espaces diffĂ©rents;
- de mettre à disposition des parcelles et des contenants adaptés à des conditions diverses;
- dâutiliser la cartographie comme outil dâanalyse permettant de rĂ©vĂ©ler des plans et possibilitĂ©s de production alimentaire urbaine.
Autant dâexemples dont dâautres villes peuvent sâinspirer quand elles entreprennent dâintĂ©grer des initiatives de production maraĂźchĂšre adaptĂ©es Ă leur propre tissu urbain.
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