Broken Inner-City Freeway Reborn as Garden

Activists have turned the site of a former inner-city freeway in San Francisco into a community garden.

1 minute read

March 21, 2010, 7:00 AM PDT

By Nate Berg


One former stretch of freeway is now teeming with life, with more than 150 fruit trees and plans to build a greenhouse and vegetable garden.

"San Francisco plans to develop this lot eventually, probably with mixed housing and greenspace. But a clever new project has been conceived for the interim years: an urban agriculture cooperative called the Hayes Valley Farm. 'The Hayes Valley Neighborhood association contacted the Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development to 'activate' the lots,' says Chris Burley, now the project's director. Agriculture was the idea that moved everyone. 'We've all seen the power of gardens to transform a space,' he says."

Thursday, March 18, 2010 in Good

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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