BIG SUSTAINABLE LIFE

It’s been quite a while since I posted anything to the blog and my hopes are that this summary of what has happened since the last post will be the first of much more to come.

The last time I wrote I was grieving about Detroit; the misuse of space, the unemployment, the over shopped and under privileged and at this very moment I am back in Detroit having similar feelings.  Except this time I’ve taken the opportunity to seek out the city’s developments in sustainable agriculture and community gardens.  There has been a lot of talk about Detroit’s future as an agricultural mecca.  There have been articles such as these 1 2 3 4 5 that describe the potential for this new green landscape over the industrial city.  But, while there have been proposals to makeover Detroit has there been any real activity?  I wondered this myself and decided to look into this.  As is turns out there are several farms in downtown Detroit that are doing great work as well as organizations designed to assist these farms and make community connections.  Take a look at Earthworks Urban Farm , a chemical free farm that serves a soup kitchen and educates its community about sustainable agriculture.

Here are some more links to organizations doing work around urban agriculture.

Urban Farming

Greening of Detroit

Hantz farms Detroit

Detroit Black Community Food Security Network

So there’s a start.  But what about the suburbs of he greater Detroit metropolitan area? What was once vast farmland and orchards, Detroit’s original breadbasket, has now been converted to strip mall after condo after four-lane highway.  The suburbs of Detroit are a sustainability- minded urban planner’s nightmare.  There are no sidewalks; you must drive to get anywhere, even to cross the street for a gallon of milk. There is very little food production, but ample lawn space.  It’s also not very aesthetically pleasing, as the land is flat and the architecture obtrusive and monotonous, making it rather depressing.   However, despite all its challenges these suburbs have potential.  Much of the housing is arranged in communal, condo-type settings.  Many people are living close to one another as well as to stores that house their needs and places of work too.  I’ll even go on to suggest that there are all the ingredients for sustainable communal living space save for a few key elements which are: sidewalks, bike paths, pedestrian walks and lights, community gardens (and lots of them), community centers (within each condo community) and public space that does not involve shopping, redirecting future development upward rather than outward.