The University of Arizona

From vacant land to urban fallows: a permacultural approach to wasted land in cities and suburbs

Alex Korsunsky

Abstract


While vacant land in cities has long been considered a sign of decline, a growing literature now suggests that such land can serve valuable social and ecological functions. In this article, I argue that such approaches advocated to date, while beneficial, operate within a New Urbanist framework that is essentially concerned with filling in vacant land with new 'green' projects. Unfortunately, such approaches are limited by a conceptualization of the city that treats inner city vacant lots as paradigmatic and makes invisible the systematic creation of functionally vacant land through zoning and building practices in low-density residential areas. Inspired by degrowth scholarship, I suggest that permaculture may provide the basis for an alternative approach based in the concept of fallowing more suited to the full range of vacant land present in American cities and suburbs. I explore the implications of such an approach through the practice of two permaculture-inspired intentional communities in the Pacific Northwest.

Key words: vacant land, permaculture, New Urbanism, intentional communities, commons, degrowth

Full Text:

PDF

References


Accordino, J. and G.T. Johnson. 2000. Addressing the vacant and abandoned properties problem. Journal of Urban Affairs 22(3): 301-315.

Anderson, B. 1994. Imagined communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. Revised. New York: Verso.

Asafu-Adjaye, J., L. Blomqvist, S. Brand, B. Brook, R. Defries, E. Ellis, C. Foreman, D. Keith, M. Lewis, M. Lynas, T. Nordhaus, R. Pielke, Jr., R.Pritzker, J. Roy, M. Sagoff, M. Schellenberger, R. Stone and P. Teague. 2015. An ecomodernist manifesto. Ecomodernism.org.

Baird, C.T. 2003. Sacred ground: must sustainable landscapes mimic the form and spatial organization of nature? In E. Deming, M. (ed.) CELA 2002: Groundwork. Selected conference papers, Annual Meeting of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, September 25-28, 2002. Syracuse: Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture.

Beauregard, R.A. 2002. New urbanism: ambiguous certainties. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 19(3): 181–194.

Bishop, P. and L. Williams. 2012. The temporary city. New York: Routledge.

Bohl, C.C. 2000. New urbanism and the city: potential applications and implications for distressed inner-city neighborhoods. Housing Policy Debate 11(4): 761–801.

Bonin, S. 2016. Lessons in participatory democracy. Communities 173 (Winter): 40–41.

Bowman, A.O. and M.O. Pagano. 2004. Terra incognita: vacant land and urban strategies. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.

Brawner, A.J. 2015. Permaculture in the margins: realizing central European regeneration. Journal of Political Ecology 22: 357–465.

Brown, S.L. 2002a. Community as cultural critique. In Love Brown, S. (ed.) Intentional community: an anthropological perspective. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Pp 153-180.

Brown, S.L. 2002b. Introduction. In Love Brown, S. (ed.) Intentional community: an anthropological perspective. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Pp. 1-16.

Brunt, L. 2001. Into the community. In Atkinson, P., A. Coffey, S. Delamont, J. Lofland and L. Lofland (eds.) Handbook of ethnography. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Pp. 80-91.

Cole, R.J. 2012. Regenerative design and development: current theory and practice. Building Research & Information 40(1): 1–6.

Cranz, G. and M. Boland. 2004. Defining the sustainable park: a fifth model for urban parks. Landscape Journal 23(2): 102–120.

Cronon, W. 1991. Nature's metropolis: Chicago and the great west. New York: W.W. Norton.

Cronon, W. 1996. The trouble with wilderness: or, getting back to the wrong nature. Environmental History 1(1): 7-28.

Dana, E.D., S. Vivas and J.F. Mota. 2002. Urban vegetation of Almerıa City—a contribution to urban ecology in Spain. Landscape and Urban Planning 59(4): 203–216.

Dear, M. and N. Dahmann. 2011. Urban politics and the Los Angeles school of urbanism. In Judd, D.R. and D. Simpson (eds.). The city, revisited: urban theory from Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Pp. 65-78.

Kailash Ecovillage. 2017. Depave 2015. http://www.kailashecovillage.org/depave-2015/ Accessed 5/31/2019.

Kailash Ecovillage. 2017. Gardens. http://www.kailashecovillage.org/gardens/ Accessed 5/31/2019.

Kailash Ecovillage. 2017. Kailash Ecovillage. https://www.kailashecovillage.org/ Accessed 5/31/2019.

Drake, L. and L.J. Lawson. 2014. Validating verdancy or vacancy? The relationship of community gardens and vacant lands in the U.S. Cities 40 (October): 133–142.

Duany, A., E. Plater-Zyberk and J. Speck. 2000. Suburban nation: the rise of sprawl and the decline of the American dream. New York: North Point Press.

E. Amitai. 1996. The new golden rule. New York: Basic Books.

E. Amitai. 2000. Creating good communities and good societies. Contemporary Sociology 29(1): 188-195.

Fellowship for Intentional Community. N.D. About the Fellowship for Intentional Community.

Foo, K., D. Martin, C. Wool and C. Polsky. 2013. The production of urban vacant land: relational placemaking in Boston, MA neighborhoods. Cities 35 (December): 156–163.

Foster, J. 2014. Hiding in plain view: vacancy and prospect in Paris' Petite Ceinture. Cities 40 (October): 124–132.

From garden to table. n.d. Songaia Cohousing Community. Accessed 12/11/2017.

Fuller, R.A., K.N. Irvine, P. Devine-Wright, P.H. Warren and K.J. Gaston. 2007. Psychological benefits of greenspace increase with biodiversity. Biology Letters 3(4): 390–394.

Gandy, M. 2003. Concrete and clay: reworking nature in New York City. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Garde, A.M. 1999. Marginal spaces in the urban landscape: regulated margins or incidental open spaces? Journal of Planning Education and Research 18(3): 200–210.

Garde, A.M. 2004. New Urbanism as sustainable growth?: a supply side story and its implications for public policy. Journal of Planning Education and Research 24(2): 154–170.

Garvin, E.C., C.C. Cannuscio and C.C. Branas. 2013. Greening vacant lots to reduce violent crime: a randomised controlled trial. Injury Prevention 19(3): 198–203.

Gillham, O. 2002. The limitless city: a primer on the urban sprawl debate. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.

Girardet, H. 2014. Creating regenerative cities. New York: Routledge.

Google Maps. 2017. https://www.google.com/maps/place/22525+39th+Ave+SE,+Bothell,+WA+98021/@47.7930368,-122.1810077,526m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x54900ee00866b9e5:0xa661d10c10363fc7!8m2!3d47.7930368!4d-122.178819.

Grant, J. and K. Perrott. 2009. Producing diversity in a New Urbanism community: policy and practice. Town Planning Review 80(3): 267–289.

Gray-O'Connor, J. 2009. Solutions in search of problems: the construction of urban inequality in 'smart growth' discourse. Berkeley Journal of Sociology 53: 89–123.

Haglund, N. 2016a. Bothell village residents concerned about new developments. Everett Herald, July 21.

Haglund, N. 2016b. County affirms development near eco-friendly community. Everett Herald, September 1.

Haglund, N. 2017. Sustainable Bothell community compromises with developers. Everett Herald, June 4.

Haluza-DeLay, R. and R. Berezan. 2013. Permaculture in the city: ecological habitus and the distributed ecovillage. In Lockyer, J. and J.R. Veteto (eds.). Environmental anthropology engaging Ecotopia: bioregionalism, permaculture, and ecovillages. New York: Berghahn.

Harcourt, B.E. 2001. Illusion of order: the false promise of broken windows policing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Hemenway, T. 2015. The permaculture city: regenerative design for urban, suburban, and town resilience. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing.

Henfrey, T. and L. Ford 2018. Permacultures of transformation: steps to a cultural ecology of environmental action. Journal of Political Ecology 25: 104-119.

Heynen, N. 2006. The political ecology of uneven urban green space: the impact of political economy on race and ethnicity in producing environmental inequality in Milwaukee. Urban Affairs Review 42(1): 3–25.

Hillsdon, M., J. Panter, C. Foster and A. Jones. 2006. The relationship between access and quality of urban green space with population physical activity. Public Health 120(12): 1127–1132.

Hollander, J.B., K. Pallagst, T. Schwarz and F.J. Popper. 2009. Planning shrinking cities. Progress in Planning 7(4): 223–232.

Jacke, D. and E. Toensmeier. 2005. Edible forest gardens. vol. 1: ecological vision and theory for temperate climate permaculture. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing.

Jackson, K.T. 1985. Crabgrass frontier: the suburbanization of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press.

Jacobs, J. 1992. The death and life of great American cities. New York: Vintage Books.

Kelman, A. 2003. A river and its city: the nature of landscape in New Orleans. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Kennedy, S.H. 2008. The garden. Oscilloscope.

Kim, G., P.A. Miller and D.J. Nowak. 2015. Assessing urban vacant land ecosystem services: urban vacant land as green infrastructure in the city of Roanoke, Virginia. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 14(3): 519–526.

Kim, J. and R. Kaplan. 2004. Physical and psychological factors in sense of community: New Urbanist Kentlands and nearby Orchard Village. Environment and Behavior 36(3): 313–340.

Knaap, G. and E. Talen. 2005. New Urbanism and smart growth: a few words from the academy. International Regional Science Review 28(2): 107–118.

Kolko, J. 2015. How suburban are big American cities? FiveThirtyEight, May 21, 2015.

Kopp, J.J. 2009. Eden within Eden: Oregon's utopian heritage. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press.

Kunstler, J.H. 1993. The geography of nowhere: the rise and decline of America's man-made landscape. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Kushner, J.A. 2002. Smart growth, New Urbanism and diversity: progressive planning movements in America and their impact on poor and minority ethnic populations. UCLA Journal of Environmental Law and Policy 21: 45-74.

Land. n.d. Songaia Cohousing Community. Accessed December 11, 2017. http://www.songaia.com/land.html

Langegger, S. 2013. Emergent public space: sustaining Chicano culture in North Denver. Cities 35 (December): 26–32.

Lanphear, F. 2001. The 'stuff of community' - economics, culture and governance. Communities 113 (Winter): 15–18.

Lanphear, F. 2014. Songaia, an unfolding dream: the story of a community's journey into being. Bothell, WA: Songaia Press.

Lanphear, N. 2002. Simple gifts and good food: how the fabulous food folks save money at Songaia. Communities 116 (Fall): 50.

Lanphear, N. 2003. Song and story at Songaia. Communities 121 (Winter): 44–46.

Lawson, L. 2009. The precarious nature of semi-public space: community garden appeal, complacency and implications for sustaining user-initiated places. In Orvelli, M. and J.L. Meikle (eds.). Public space and the ideology of place in American culture New York: Rodopi. Pp. 199-218.

LeBlanc, R.M. 2017. Designing a beautifully poor public: postgrowth community in Italy and Japan. Journal of Political Ecology 24: 449–461.

Levitt, L. 2017. An expansive vision of place: lessons from a small urban garden. Senior Comprehensive Exercise, Northfield, MN: Carleton College.

Lockyer, J. 2017. Community, commons, and degrowth at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. Journal of Political Ecology 24: 519–542.

Lockyer, J. and J.R. Veteto (eds.). 2013. Environmental anthropology engaging Ecotopia: bioregionalism, permaculture, and ecovillages. New York: Berghahn.

Mäkinen, K. and L. Tyrväinen. 2008. Teenage experiences of public green spaces in suburban Helsinki. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening 7(4): 277–289.

Manzella, J.C. 2010. Common purse, uncommon future: the long, strange trip of communes and other intentional communities. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.

McClintock, N. 2008. From industrial garden to food desert: unearthing the root structure of urban agriculture in Oakland, California. ISSC Working Paper 32. UC Berkeley: Institute for the Study of Social Change.

McDonough, W. and M. Braungart. 2002. Buildings like trees, cities like forests.

Mollison, B. and D. Holmgren. 1982. Permaculture one: a perennial agriculture for human settlements. 2nd ed. Maryborough, Australia: Tagari.

Moore, S. 2006. Forgotten roots of the green city: subsistence gardening in Columbus, Ohio, 1900-1940. Urban Geography 27(2): 174–192.

Morris, F.A. 2012. When science goes feral. NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences 59(1–2): 7–9.

Nash, R.F. 2001. Wilderness and the American mind. 4th ed. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Nassauer, J.I., Z. Wang and E. Dayrell. 2009. What will the neighbors think? cultural norms and ecological design. Landscape and Urban Planning 92(3–4): 282–292.

Nations, J.D. 2006. The Maya tropical forest: people, parks, and ancient cities. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Németh, J. and J. Langhorst. 2014. Rethinking urban transformation: temporary uses for vacant land. Cities 40 (October): 143–150.

Parkview Ridge. 2017. D.R. Horton: America's Builder.

Paulson, S. 2017. Degrowth: culture, power and change. Journal of Political Ecology 24: 425–448.

Pearsall, H. and S. Lucas. 2014. Vacant land: the new urban green? Cities 40 (October): 121–123.

Permaculture ethics. n.d. Permacultureprinciples.Com. Accessed December 9, 2017.

Pickerill, J.M. 2015. Building the commons in eco-communities. In Kirwan, S., L. Dawney and J. Brigstocke (eds.). Space, power, and the commons: the struggle for alternative futures. London: Routledge. Pp. 31-54.

Pickerill, J.M. 2013. Permaculture in practice: low impact development in Britain. In Lockyer, J. and J.R. Veteto (eds.). Environmental anthropology engaging Ecotopia: bioregionalism, permaculture, and ecovillages. New York: Berghahn. Pp. 180-194.

Przybylinski, S. 2015. The right to dream: assessing the spatiality of a homeless rest site in Portland, Oregon. MA in Geography. Portland: Portland State University.

Pyatok, M. 2000. Comment on Charles C. Bohl's "New Urbanism and the city: potential applications and implications for distressed inner‐city neighborhoods—the politics of design: the New Urbanists vs. the grass roots." Housing Policy Debate 11(4): 803–814.

Pyle, R.M. 2002. Eden in a vacant lot: special places, species, and kids in the neighborhood of life. In P.H. Kahn Jr. and S.R. Kellert (eds.). Children and nature: psychological, sociocultural, and evolutionary investigations. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Pp. 305-328.

Randall, B. 2013. Culture, permaculture, and experimental anthropology in the Houston foodshed. In Lockyer, J. and J.R. Veteto (eds.). Environmental Anthropology engaging Ecotopia: bioregionalism, permaculture, and ecovillages. New York: Berghahn.

Redfield, R. 1960. The little community and peasant, society, and culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Robbins, P. 2007. Lawn people: how grasses, weeds, and chemicals make us who we are. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Rome, A. 2001. The bulldozer in the countryside: suburban sprawl and the rise of American environmentalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rosen, M. and J.A. Tarr. 1994. The importance of an urban perspective in environmental history. Journal of Urban History 20(3): 299–310.

Saldivar-Tanaka, L. and M.E. Krasny. 2004. Culturing community development, neighborhood open space, and civic agriculture: the case of Latino community gardens in New York City. Agriculture and Human Values 21(4): 399–412.

Scott, J.C. 2008. Seeing like a state : how certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Southworth, M. 2001. Wastelands in the evolving metropolis. ISSC Working Paper 1. UC Berkeley: Institute for the Study of Social Change.

Spirn, A.W. 1996. Constructing nature: the legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted. In Cronon, W. (ed.). Uncommon ground: rethinking the human place in nature. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Squires, G. 2002. Urban sprawl: causes, consequences, and policy responses. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute Press.

Talen, E. 1999. Sense of community and neighbourhood form: an assessment of the social doctrine of New Urbanism. Urban Studies 36(8): 1361–1379.

The Charter of the New Urbanism. n.d. Congress for the New Urbanism. https://www.cnu.org/who-we-are/charter-new-urbanism

Till, K.E. 2001. New Urbanism and nature: green marketing and the neotraditional community. Urban Geography 22(3): 220–248.

Tsing, A.L. 2011. Friction: an ethnography of global connection. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Tsing, A.L. 2012. On nonscalability: the living world is not amenable to precision-nested scales. Common Knowledge 18(3): 505–524.

Tsing, A.L. 2015. The mushroom at the end of the world: on the possibilities of life in capitalist ruins. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Vessel, M.F. and H.H. Wong. 1987. Natural history of vacant lots. California Natural History Guide 50. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Ward, J.D., P.C. Sutton, A.D. Werner, R. Costanza, S.H. Mohr and C.T. Simmons. 2016. Is decoupling GDP growth from environmental impact possible? PLoS ONE 11(10): 1-14.

Wilk, R. and M.B. Schiffer. 1979. The archaeology of vacant lots in Tucson, Arizona. American Antiquity 44(3): 530-536.

Williams, R. 1975. The country and the city. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Williams, R. 1983. Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society. Revised. New York: Oxford University Press.

Wolch, J.R., J. Byrne and J.P. Newell. 2014. Urban green space, public health, and environmental justice: the challenge of making cities 'just green enough.' Landscape and Urban Planning 125 (May): 234–244.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.2458/v26i1.22949