Agriculture
A Place For Sustainable Food in Obama Administration?
This column looks at President-elect Barack Obama's food politics and wonders just how sustainable his administration's food policies will be.
Cuba Serves As Model For Urban Farming
With urban farms sprinkled throughout the island, Cuba is proving to be one of the world's most successful models of how to integrate agriculture into urban areas.
Financial Turmoil Leads to Reverse Migration in China
As more and more of China's "floating population" return from their city jobs to their farms, officials brace for backlash from the recently unemployed.
China's Historic Land Reform
China's Communist ruling party has agreed to allow farmers to transfer land use rights for farming. The plan is designed to consolidate landholdings, discourage uneconomic farmers, and boost rural incomes for 750 million people.
Getting Food and Farming on the Next President's Mind
The next president should take farming seriously and personally, according to Neal Pierce, who writes that rethinking the scale of food production is smart for regions, the environment and the economy.
Is Farmland Preservation Worthwhile?
Preserving farmland has always been a major issue in the U.S. But as Bill Fulton discusses, the local economic results don't quite justify the efforts.
Urban Gardens Taking Root in Post-Industrial City
The non-profit group Nuestras Raíces in Holyoke, Mass. has found urban agriculture a powerful community glue, providing increased food security and economic opportunity to the Puerto Rican population there.
Amid High Food Prices, USDA Considers Un-Conserving Land
The USDA is considering a plan to put conservation land back into agricultural production -- a move farmers are trumpeting, but environmentalists are opposing.
A Community Built Around Food
Vancouver's South East False Creek community is making the production of food one of the major aspects of its preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Its emphasis on local food production is a model other cities may look to follow.
Wal-Mart To Cut Costs, Selling Local Fruits and Veggies
In an effort to reduce shipping costs, Wal-Mart is cutting its food miles and passing the savings on to customer by selling locally grown produce.
Protests, Riots Go Global as Fuel Costs Soar
Protests both peaceful and violent are breaking out across Europe and Asia as people's livelihoods begin to suffer from soaring fuel costs, and some stores are running out of food as truck drivers go on strike.
High Gas Prices Making Rural Life Difficult
Both farmers and the rural poor are hurting because gas prices are not only higher in Canada's rural areas, but the distances required to obtain food and other necessities are so great.
Brownfield Becomes Urban Farm in Philly
"Honey from the Hood" is one of the home-grown prodcuts from a Kensington neighborhood garden. To avoid soil contamination from this former industrial site, plants are grown in raised beds or hydroponically.
Pro-Environment Urbanites Go Rural For Real
For years, hipsters have sported trucker hats and rootsy fashion with a back-to-the-earth vibe. Now, some young professionals are heading back to the farm for real -- and taking their organic, pro-environment values with them.
Duany Plans For 'Urban Agriculture' in B.C.
Andres Duany led a recent charrette in Tsawwassen, B.C., resulting in a unique plan focused on walkability and local agriculture.
Tapped Out
America is reaching the limits of its water supply, signaling a need to change urban development, energy and agricultural practices, writes Shiney Varghese of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.
Put up a Park in the Lot
Ruben Anderson suggests that if automobile parking could be kept to properties, that could free up the former on-street parking to become Garden Streets, so that cities could grow much more of their own produce.
Drought Hurts Global Wheat Supplies
A severe drought in Australia has cut into the country's wheat production -- and pushed prices up all over the world.
Developed Agricultural Land May Become 'The Next L.A.'
Farmland in Central California's San Joaquin County is replaced with development more than any other county in the state -- a wasteful pattern that could create the "next L.A.", according to a new report.
Government Programs Stifle Local Farmers
Government subsidy programs designed to support the production of the four major food crops are limiting - even penalizing - small farmers' ability to meet regional demand for local fruits and vegetables.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority
