As cities and towns offer more incentives and planning support for local agriculture, there is still plenty of education and learning to be done to create and sustain local food systems. Enter the Agricultural Urbanism Toolkit.
"A new Agricultural Urbanism Toolkit produced by the Iowa State University’s Community Design Lab offers communities the planning tools necessary to prioritize and ignite urban farming projects," reports Trish Popovitch, "the Toolkit includes process, practice and case studies to help jump-start local urban agriculture programs."
The article quotes Courtney Long, fellow for the Community Design Lab and facilitator of the urbanism toolkit program, in describing the toolkit further: "The toolkit is actually twofold. It’s a process that we go through with communities, and it’s also a research booklet on tactics of agricultural urbanism…"
The toolkit has been beta-tested in three communities of varying size and scale, and includes details for building facilities on both the retail and the production side of urban agriculture systems. The article includes a lot more detail about the toolkits and their application so far.
Legislation to Ban Traffic Cameras Creates Odd Political Alliances
Republicans and the American Civil Liberties Union back bills to ban red light and speed cameras in Iowa, while Democrats and law enforcement want to allow cities and counties to retain automated traffic-enforcement tools.
Urban Farming Addressing Hunger (and More) in Pittsburgh
Urban farming provides opportunities to increase food security in addition to other benefits.
Urban Ag Activists Up In Arms About New Study
Researchers looked at the carbon footprint of urban farming versus conventional, and the results were surprising.
Florida Considers Legalizing ADUs
Current state law allows — but doesn’t require — cities to permit accessory dwelling units in single-family residential neighborhoods.
San Diego to Rescind Multi-Unit ADU Rule
The city wants to close a loophole that allowed developers to build apartment buildings on single-family lots as ADUs.
HUD Announces Plan to Build Housing on Public Lands
The agency will identify federally owned parcels appropriate for housing development and streamline the regulatory process to lease or transfer land to housing authorities and nonprofit developers.
Surf’s Upcycling: Hawai‘i’s Latest Green Building Material is Recycled Surf Boards
“Surf Blocks” are fire-resistant, termite-proof, and close the loop on mountains of waste from the state’s beloved sport.
Building Age-Friendly Homes
Designing for the unique needs of elderly people can help them maintain social connections and mental acuity.
Nightlife and the 15-Minute City
Plans for compact, walkable cities often don’t address nighttime concerns like transportation and lighting, which can make neighborhoods more vibrant and safe around the clock.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Florida Atlantic University
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service