Austin Contrarian posted about it when it first came out and my comments then revolved around rebuilding the commercial spaces rather than attempting to actually get around the NIMBY's to do weird things to the neighborhoods themselves. The Dwell submissions has some of that - but I also found things pointing to how we can add on/rebuild large lot suburbia and McMansions into higher density.
The winner - Frog's Dream: McMansions turned into biofilter water treatment plants.
AKA - turn a wasteful use of space into a suburban swamp. Not bad in theory - until you think about what it's going to actually look like. I hope you've got plenty of mosquitofish and flowers to keep that from being just the fenced in lot at the end of the block where we dump our shower water. I can just imagine this stinking to high heaven, looking like a mud pit and providing the local kids a place to get really dirty. It's why when I've proposed bio-remediation for the Gaiaship; I've enclosed it; tied it to bio-gas harvesting and algae growth for bio-fuels. At least even the judges think the idea is "poetic, not practical".
Second place is the suburban farm. Again - neat idea; I've even thought about building the empty lot at the end of my street into something like this but as my green thumb is more than a little brown, I'd need the right team and I don't know many farmers personally. Other aspects of this idea are re-building a couple of the suburban lots into walk-up lounges/restaurants. That would be excellent if the density around them would support it. But without the density to start with - you're having to pull outside the 1/2 mile walk limits usually cited by urban designers and you defeat the purpose of having it on a cul-de-sac. You have to provide for parking and all of a sudden you're back to the common strip mall.
Third place brings a real smile to my face. Turning the big-box building back into the farm it likely built over. This is a take-off of the vertical urban farm concept as some of the commenter's have noted. Using the large in-door spaces and parking lots to grow local produce & food. Good idea all around and one of the most viable options for actual use today.
Other notables are neat; some totally wonky; but most are interesting takes on small aspects of the larger sustainability problem. The Big-Box Biofuel generator; Hyper Localized water purification in old swimming pools; Farming in the wasted spaces next to the road (pollution!?)
I note that any of the ones that strike me as viable are already incorporated into the GaiaShip Design. That's possibly a bias on my part. I can't help but wonder if once we start advertising the design of the Gaiaship to the world how many front page articles will it generate? How many design magazines will have full page spreads? How many people will sign up to own?
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The idea of farming wasted space by roads, etc, is intriguing. Here in California you see so much space that's not being used, which seems like such a waste b/c it's so ridiculously easy to grow food (just add water!). There is the pollution aspect, but then again that's kind of a problem no matter where you are in a city...
ReplyDeleteAnd the suburban farm idea also sounds pretty cool. Sort of like a community garden, except you don't even have to do the work, right, just pick the ripe produce? I wonder if underground parking structures would help solve the parking problem, without taking up surface space or becoming eye sores.
BTW just found this link in a magazine, where you can find farms near you to go pick your own produce (like apples, etc). http://pickyourown.org/ Pretty neat. =)
You're spot on regarding the suburban farm. It's a community garden without the work or risk of someone stealing your produce. I admit I'm leaning more towards converting the big-box into an indoor hydroponic farm where you can pick your own - or have an expert (aka migrant worker) do so for a tip. Pipe in the sunlight and you get all the benefits of farming outside... and all the benefits of climate control too. You also get better water management because plant transpiration can be captured and recycled for drinking water and irrigation.
ReplyDeleteUnderground parking is a key component of the GaiaShip design. :) Eyesores & space-hogs are two of the big reasons. Heat island effect, wasted space and summer car-ovens help round out my justifications.
A friend of mine has talked about doing a pick-your-own for a while. My problem is I don't know what to look for though I hear they train you.