Photo credits: Studio Shift

Studio Shift’s proposal, Milano Stadt Krone

By Bridgette Meinhold
Inhabitat
07/30/10

Excerpt:

A sponsored exhibition by the Architectural and Urban Forum (AUFO) of Milan asked 12 firms to imagine how increased density could be achieved while providing more public space and agriculture to support a growing Milan. Studio Shift’s proposal, Milano Stadt Krone, suggests that residences and an urban farm can be layered on top of each other, working in a harmonious pair to provide better quality of life for the people of Milan.

The Lombardy region of Italy contains one sixth of all the Italian population and is responsible for one third of the nation’s agricultural output, which makes it critical that the region continue to pump out food for the rest of the country without sacrificing land for residential, commercial or industrial uses.

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Jeff Jackson of the MGM Grand, left, walks with Rebecca Salminen Witt of The Greening of Detroit and Michigan State Rep. Bert Johnson. Photo by Max Ortiz, The Detroit News.

$1 million project – Partnership with nonprofit to educate area school kids

Tim Devaney
The Detroit News
July 31, 2010

Excerpt:

Detroit — MGM Grand Detroit casino and The Greening of Detroit said Friday that they plan a $1 million project to build and complete the downtown area’s first urban farm by late next year.

The Grand Garden — announced with the city’s skyscrapers as a backdrop — is crucial for the city’s development of a community-driven food system, organizers said.

Detroit is one of a growing number of metropolitan areas that is reintroducing agriculture. Detroit’s neighborhoods are already filled with more than 1,200 urban farms and gardens, Grand Garden organizers said.

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Shui Im, 88, waters the zucchini plants he’s cared for in the all-volunteer community garden in Poway as part of the Backyard Produce Project. Photo by Peggy Peattie

San Diego garden

By Vincent Rossi
The Union Tribune
July 30, 2010

Excerpt:

Early this year, Sunshine Care owner Sam Stelletello offered a vacant lot on his facility’s grounds for the Backyard Produce Project to use to develop its own garden. Stelletello’s offer included access to Sunshine Care’s water supply and help from his horticultural staff.

In March, Radatz and other volunteers went to work on transforming the weed-strewn field into a working garden.

“It’s really grass-roots,” said Radatz on a recent day at the garden. “We started out asking questions like, ‘Does anybody have a hoe?’?”

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