I participated in a workshop a week or so ago with Tom Low and Guy Pearlman of the architectural and planning group, DPZ. Any workshop about place-making gets me worked up, and I especially looked forward to this one with Tom Low.
Low has been advocating for form-based development codes for many years, in particular transect based planning, which looks at the entire span of development from city core to rural and wild areas. The standards are based not so much on the particular activity on a piece of land, and encourages mixed uses, scattering housing and stores and restaurants and offices, parks and schools in patterns that encourage walking and biking. The design of the buildings, and the number of buildings allowed changes as you get farther from the city center. Buildings in different contexts--urban to rural--should look different, as row houses differ from single-family homes. Low and Pearlman used the metaphor that the transect begins in the urban core and feathers outward. The codes allow for great place-making, as communities can decide what areas will be densest and what areas will be protected open space.
But even the transect, Low said, has become somewhat outdated. These days, folks want more local food; farmers markets have proliferated significantly in the past few years. So in addition to design standards, green space designation, and density regulation, the new transect should include areas for growing food.
What does a garden look like in the city core? How about in the first ring of suburbs? Some communities now allow residents to grow gardens in the right of way between the sidewalk and the street, which is often prohibited to allow for utility work. New community designs, new infill developments, indeed all developments, should include plans for community gardens, for example, and the zoning regulations should allow for them by right. Cities like Detroit already allow community gardening on city-owned vacant lots.
I like to plant food, and have for most of my adult life. I’m not an expert, and my favorite plants are those that don’t require a lot of tending, but I like picking lettuce, or Swiss chard, or tomatoes, or herbs from my yard for dinner. I tried a garden in my current home’s back yard, but it proved to be far too shady. So I dug up some more grass in the much sunnier front yard, and I plant there. I’ve had reasonable success, with two plantings last growing season, and have managed to have fresh produce over a period of quite a few months.
I try to keep my garden neat, and it’s small, and many of the plants are pretty. Tomatoes can get out of control, though, and I try not to let that worry me. I left the hot peppers on the plant the past two years, after Quinn and I tried a couple, and they turned orange and red, dangling like ornaments.
I don’t plant there to be rebellious, though in this neighborhood there aren’t a lot of front-yard gardens. I plant there because growing some of my own food has always been comforting, and rewarding. I’ve had a number of conversations about the garden with passers-by (this is a very walkable neighborhood). I’m not quite sure what the others think.
Earlier this spring, a couple walked by with their dog. They stopped to chat as I weeded or otherwise puttered about the unplanted garden. “What are you planting this year?” they asked. My wife works in retail, and one day someone she was helping said, “I know you, you have a garden in your front yard.”
