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Detroit, 3:53 AM
Mon Nov 16
16 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/10/09
The New York Times is reporting on New Geography's ideas. That talks about other kinds of urban renewal, you should read it sometime.
Ben, what's your bright idea to deal with the many areas of Detroit with only a few houses standing per block? Do you object to Flint's plan to demolish 6,000 abandoned houses? What happens next? #detroit
11/09/09
Also, here's an idea, why don't you farm where there's actually, you know, land? #detroit
11/09/09
11/09/09
1-this is not a Times editorial, or even a Times reporter's idea-it's basically a link to an article in something called 'New Geography' [www.newgeography.com]
Even so, the term "failed city" is disparaging to those who live in Detroit, past and present, and should have been addressed.
2-reading that article, it's author reflects much more on urban gardening plots than any type
of large scale farming, and these vegetable gardens on vacant lots are common in any city. However, the article does contain a certain level of hippie/commune/Whole Earth Catalog-type aphorisms ("...open land, fertile soil, ample water, willing labor..." etc.) that seem like possible wishful thinking, though it does contain instances of people actually doing this stuff-in Detroit. Would be interesting for someone living there to ferret out these (supposed) urban "farmers" and get the straight scoop.
3. I recently read an article (L.A. Times I believe) about people who knock on doors in urban SoCal areas that have fruit trees in their yards, and set up a collective to share the produce that otherwise just goes to waste (how many lemons can one family use?) So, good stuff can happen if someone's willing to work at putting it into action. #detroit
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11/09/09
Gardening is a "productive hobby". I am all for "productive hobbies"
Farming is a "profitable profession."
And you're not gonna make a very profitable profession farming in Detroit, even on free/stolen land. #detroit
11/09/09
You're right that the article is off base. But there's more to the story, and to the idea than what you present.
Urban 'farming' isn't and shouldn't look like large scale US agriculture. It can't be done on large tracts, with large machinery and industrial chemicals - as you point out. And there are issues of preexisting infrastructure and contamination that have to be considered and dealt with responsibly.
However, land can be farmed or gardened successfully in large and small plots, from community gardens up to about an acre or so, in a scattered site patchwork approach.
Well tended smaller gardens can have values and productivity far in excess of typical large farms. People can intensively tend higher value crops, more closely planted, with multiple yearly harvest by hand, and outstrip what a typical farm can do, mainly by growing vegetables, rather than grains, corn and soy.
Maybe this is a hobby for folks, and they don't have to worry about the economics of getting paid. And there's certainly a large gap between what farmers get paid, and what the same items costs in a local market. Plus, you can grow food that tastes better and requires less energy inputs when you're doing it for yourself locally.
Detroit and many other cities and towns do have real issue of declining populations to deal with. Uses for all of the vacant buildings, homes, factories and lots have to be found. Maintaining vacant properties in perpetuity is not a solution. If Detroit cannot attract more industry, and find ways to put people to work, people will continue leaving.
It is better for there to be a strategy for how best to contend with declining populations and economies, than simply to wade about in the wreckage. Part of that solution may well include transforming some previously developed areas into agricultural, open space or forested places. #detroit
11/09/09
Hey, there's always Gary, Indiana to exercise your post-apocalyptic fantasies in. #detroit
11/09/09
As for the "Urban Farming" idea, it is different than just farming. It's something in between large scale gardening and small scale farming, and it makes a lot of sense. They're not talking about bulldozing the entire city of Detroit, they're talking about zoning it so that people can garden for profit on land that they work themselves. And what else are you going to do with the land? You could turn it into parks I guess, or just let it lie fallow, but if people want to work it and it could provide a source of income and sustenance, that seems like a better use to me. #detroit
11/09/09
Renn is not advocating the complete razing of the city of Detroit. It's pointed out that San Francisco, Boston and Manhattan can all fit
within the limits of city. Since the mass exodus of people in the 60s, large parts of Detroit are no longer being utilized to their full capacity.
The general idea would follow the "shrinking cities" theory. A central urban core surrounded by smaller urban villages and agricultural land. In turn, Detroit could potentially become a city that produces a majority of the food it consumes.
Obviously there are practical issues such as polluted land, removal of infrastructure etc. But I hope that people would've read the complete article before making comments and rash generalizations about the ideas put forth. #detroit
11/09/09
On another note, I've heard the idea of tearing down the NYT headquarters after they go bankrupt and turn it into a free-range chicken farm. This will be doubly beneficial as it will provide cheap, healthy chickens for the poor and serve as gainful employment for the laid off staff of the old Times.
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11/09/09
I met a guy this weekend that brought this up. I had no idea it was even being talked about. But his friend is involved with this idea. He owns something like 250 acres of empty land in Detroit. He said that the soil samples not only came out good but BETTER than expected.
Right now the only thing keeping him from moving forward is the city won't change the tax zoning to make it worth developing the land into farmland.
I totally see this as a good idea. Not only would it put some use to the vast tracts of empty wasteland in Detroit, but it might actually bring some kind of community to Detroit that is not part of the Gangs and Homelessness that is currently filling the outlying neighborhoods. #detroit
11/09/09
Still, having land and farming it are two different things. #detroit
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11/09/09
The guy i talked to said his friends stuff is in North East Detroit. I have not seen that stuff personally but the stuff along Jefferson i have personally seen.
It feels like the area i live in now. North of 26 Mile Road along I-94. Lots of 5-20+ acre fields with a few houses in between. #detroit
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By my house 80% of the farms do 2-10 acre plots at a time. Usually rented from the real land owner.
I think it could work. And i am by no means a tree hugger! #detroit
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