Urban Farming

A Place to Park Your Farm

A parking garage in downtown Vancouver is scheduled to be the first structure in North America to host a "paradigm shifting" 6,000-square-foot vertical farm.

May 11, 2012 - Designing Healthy Communities

Rooftop Farm Company Expands Into Brooklyn Industrial Park

Rich Calder reports on Brooklyn's newest urban-garden-in-an-industrial-park, and the environmental benefits it will offer.

March 25, 2012 - New York Post

Sweden's Cutting-Edge, 17-Story Greenhouse

Julie Ma investigates how one Swedish company is paving the way for a new urban food system that aims to increase one city's self-sufficiency.

March 14, 2012 - Good

Urban Farms Tax Breaks Bill Killed

Baltimore's City Council has voted to not approve a bill that would provide non-profit urban farmers tax breaks, leaving some officials steamed.

November 26, 2011 - The Baltimore Sun

Converting Vacant Lots to Farms Can Feed Cleveland Population, Study Finds

A recent study found that a city could completely live off food grown from urban agriculture. Sharanbir Grewal, the study's author, discovered in his analysis of Cleveland that the city could produce up to 48 percent of the city's fresh produce.

September 14, 2011 - Smart Planet

NYC Jumps on the Gravy (or, uh, Tomato) Train

Mayor Michael Bloomberg ramps up efforts to support NYC's growing urban food cluster via set up new legislation, signed yesterday.

August 19, 2011 - Initiative for a Competitive Inner City

Chicago Opens Doors and Land to Urban Gardening

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has proposed a change to local rules that would allow urban gardens to expand and sell produce within the city.

August 1, 2011 - Chicago Tribune

Crops, Greens on Hong Kong's High Rises

The personally rewarding and healthy activity of urban farming continues to solidify a foothold on Hong Kong high rises, in spite of the lack of support from the government.

June 30, 2011 - CNN

Which is Greener: Urban Farms or Urban Density?

Edward Glaeser adds "large-scale metropolitan farming" to a list -- which also includes historic preservation -- of barriers to densifying urban development patterns. His argument is that the latter is the greener of the two.

June 21, 2011 - Boston Globe

A New Year’s Resolution List for City Planners

 Be a better person; be a better planner. Musings from a planner who wants to improve our profession for 2011. Here’s how:

January 2, 2011 - Melissa Hege

Urban Agriculture Program Gets Boost in Oakland

A small-scale urban agriculture project in Oakland, California is set to receive a $4 million grant to expand its work.

November 14, 2010 - Grist

The Local Food Movement Goes Online

Online tools designed to connect local farmers with consumers are helping sustain the local food and urban agriculture movements.

September 16, 2010 - Next American City

Urban Farming Great for Refugees

A Catholic charity in Kansas City got a lot of requests from the immigrants they were assisting from Africa and Asia for a place to plant vegetables. The resulting hybrid of community farm/microbusiness is flourishing.

June 12, 2010 - Grist

Could 'Farming Pods' Be The Water Towers of the Future?

Artist Natalie Jeremijenko's farming pods could be perched atop skylines in the future as a sustainable method of rooftop farming. They will grow fruits and vegetables in hydroponic chambers, allowing sunlight through a clear plastic skin.

June 9, 2010 - Fast Company

Urban Gardens: Not Just For Hipsters and Yuppies

Hipsters and yuppies are the only people doing urban gardening, right? Grist says no, and gives examples of diversity in Denver throughout the community gardens there.

June 8, 2010 - Grist

Urban Farming Going Global

The move towards growing produce locally in urban areas is not just a U.S. phenomenon, says CNN. China, Japan and Cuba have had agriculture in cities for decades.

April 19, 2010 - CNN

The Urban Farms of New York

In the Bronx, Brooklyn, and even the Upper East Side, rooftop farming is making inroads. The City Greens profiles a handful of these urban pioneers.

March 19, 2010 - The City Greens

A Farm Grows in San Francisco, Where A Freeway Once Stood

A group of San Francisco farmers are turning a former freeway into a productive urban farm.

February 9, 2010 - Streetsblog San Francisco

A Garden in Motor City

Detroit revitalizes urban farming to replace dying industry.

February 6, 2010 - Chicago Tribune

Fish: the Future of Urban Farming

Cityscape Farms has developed a new technique for farming fish along with vegetables in combined urban food systems that allows them to farm in developed areas.

January 29, 2010 - Good

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.

Professor of Urban Planning

Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Transportation Planner I

KFH Group Inc.

Director, Strategy and Research

Greater Baltimore Committee

Top Books

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100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.