Everyday Creativity – Community Gardens at Tempelhof Airport in Winter

A recent winter walk at the former airfieldof Tempelhof Airport in Berlin also took me to the Allmede-Kontorplot where community gardens are located between the former runways. At thesnow-covered airfield urban garding obviously has come to a halt. But thecreatively and tenderly assembled nests of the community gardeners wait to be re-cultivated in spring, which is hopefully soon to come.

Meanwhile I’d like to share these pictures asexamples of everyday creativity. These spaces ofvernacular creativity are examples that emphasise the role for non-economicand non-productive values and practices in shaping processes of urbancreativity. They foster a rethinking of the ‘Creative Class’, aterminology that usually does not encompass these kinds of spaces who arecreated by local residents of any classes. 

all images by SYNCHRONICITY

Urban Gardening in St Petersburg, Russia

Environmental activism in post-sovietRussia used to be the country’s most dynamic and effective forms of socialactivism. In contemporary Russia, however, activists face severe obstacles inpromoting green issues. The SaintPetersburg Urban Gardening Club, founded as early as 1993, is stillstruggling with the authorities’ acknowledgments of its important work.  

St Petersburg rooftop.Image source.

Philipp Brugner from the Austrian radio broadcasting dérive – Radio für Stadtforschung produced an interesting comment on the urban farming initiative in the second largest city in Russia:  Urban gardening in St Petersburg often is afight for survival. With 5 million inhabitants plus approximately anothermillion illegal inhabitants, St Petersburg is the northernmost megacity of theplanet. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, St Petersburg has been a boom townfor jobseekers mainly due to its numerous construction projects. Nowadays thecity is facing huge problems as a direct consequence to its boom. The citygovernment is focusing on its own prestige with building projects like the Othka Center instead oftackling its socials problems: half of the population is living below povertylevel, 6000 people are homeless and 1600 children are living on the streets ofthe tsar city. Furthermore the city is facing enormous ecological problems,where air pollution and insufficient garbage disposal are only the mostapparent.

This is the setting the Urban GardeningClub (UGC) has to face. The history of urban gardening in St Petersburg datesback to the late 19^th century when rural aristocrats moved to thecity maintaining their rural lifestyle. During the time of the Soviet Uniononly retired and disabled persons were allowed to fulfil agriculturaloccupation for their own use. Gradually the rules had been relaxed and at leastat the urban fringes gardens for personal use could have been maintained, adevelopment known as the Russian dachafarming. After the collapse of the USSR, cultivating land has been a directresult of the following years of crisis. Many could have only survived throughproducing their own food.

Raised-bed gardening for horticultural therapy. St. Petersburg's Prostheses Center during the summer of 1996. Source.

Rooftop garden on top of a  school in 1996. Source.

The UGC’s first project suggested using theroofs of buildings as croplands for socially deprived groups, due to the trickyclimate obviously a very challenging endeavour. The big advantage was that theroof grown fruits and vegetables were less polluted with heavy metals thancrops from the ground. Further projects involved cultivating the roofs of cityprison with involvements of the inmates, or cooperating with primary schools and the St Petersburg Prostheses Centre. 

Alla Sokol at one of the UGC's rooftop gardens against the backtrop ot the St Petersburg cityscape. Source.

Although the city government has recognizedthe value of the initiatives of the club, Alla Sokol, founder of the UGC,points out that the government frequently obstructs new rooftop gardenprojects, since it is very difficult to obtain the licence for using therooftop as farmland. Especially in Russia, rooftop gardening has a hugepotential, as many people in larger cities live in buildings with huge sturdyrooftops constructed to bear the heaviest snow load. But many apartment blocks stillbelong to the government. Moreover, in blocks with only homeowners, usually thestaircases and the roofs stay the property of the government. Therefore it isvital for the success of the movement that the government is highly involved.

Furthermore the controls of the produce andcomposting plants of the institute of hygiene hinder the proliferation of themovement. Often they attest polluted crops although, as Sokol explains, thetests the UGC has commissioned, attest that the vegetables from the roof gardensare much less polluted than those that are grown on the ground.  Within these controls, Sokol senses justanother administrative barrier.

Although low income, reduction ofpurchasing power, and high prices force people into subsistence agriculture inSt Petersburg, urban farming has not proliferated over the city yet. Many stillprefer the long way to the countryside, to cultivate their dacha. 

Russian dacha. Source.

Article and interview with Alla Sokol via dérive – Radio für Stadtforschung, an Austrianradio broadcasting.

URBAN OMNIBUS

... is online finally.

Urban Omnibus is an online project of the Architectural League that explores the relationship between design and New York City's physical environment: revealing the choices shaping the city, encouraging conversation, inspiring innovation.

It already features a walk through nyc with Richard Sennet or has some articles in the 'act local' section about urban farming.

URBAN FOOD PRODUCTION

Benedetta Garguilo :: Fish Faming

Here are two projects of last year's AA inter3 studio. Students were asked: Can extremes of programmatic effectiveness blend with the fragility of human habitat? Can food production be integrated into the fabric of the City?
Benedetta Garguilo dealt with fish farming in central london while Soonil Kim designed the King's Vineyard London
Soonil Kim :: Vineyard


Thanks to pruned for the hint


related posts:
on urban agriculture here, here and here and on aqua-culture here and here

JUST ANOTHER HYDRO VISION

near-shore aqua-culture, Image by N.E.E.D

The winning entry from the South Street Seaport - Re-envisioning the Urban Edge competition is "an aquaculture-driven floating park, inlaid with combinational modules of public indoor programs." by N.E.E.D.
Imagesby N.E.E.D
"South Street Seaport," writes N.E.E.D., "has always been closely connected with infrastructural industry of the city. Being a port and a market for fish, it actively switched its urban structure according to development of transportation modes and storing methods of goods. To continue this historical trajectory of being a highly responsive urban district, the project proposes a fish farm(works), where the future of aquaculture actuates the next transformation phase of the area."Imagesby N.E.E.D
Thanks to pruned and Bustler for the images.

related posts:
on urban agriculture here, here and here and recently on aqua-culture

postscript URBAN FLORA

subtle subversive urban seeding. Have a look at: Bloom: Peddling Green

The Bloom device is meant to be a subversive and inspirational tool for our concrete jungles. Similar to the tuft of a dandelion as the wind carries the seedling, we propose a way of dispersing seedlings with bubbles and bicycling.

related: Urban Flora's High Speed Evolution, Urban Agriculture

COW URBANISM

Do you recognize these images from previous posts on synchronicity?
Just found another cow-this time in Liverpool. The Udder Way is a project back from 2005 also featured at the shrinking cities interventions exhibition.
On the 18th July 2005, in the early hours of the morning, 5cows, 5 calves, 3 stockmen and a milking parlour arrived in Toxteth, Liverpool and remained for 9 days.
What do you think you can gain out of a piece of cow dung? Go for the Udder Way's product site.
There you'll find this:

Cow dung - BBQ briquettes for all exterior cooking
Anti wrinkle agent - Skin care- 100%organic cow manureFor strong teeth and fresh breath - Udder tooth polish - 100%organic cow manure ash

FARMADELPHIA

Front Studio's FARMADELPHIA proposes to transform the urban environment by introducing bucolic farmlands into
the city's urban fabric. Farmadelphia adopts the extensive sprawl of overgrown lots and vacant buildings as a source of inspiration while it fortifies and reinforces the ongoing green legacy of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia would become an 'edible landscape', with vast crop fields, and free roaming farm animals.The project would also address – or is intended to address – "the rehabilitation of the existing city fabric by proposing ideas for vacant buildings that would allow the present-day character to remain while creating new uses."Whole sections of the city would be deliberately cultivated. Or, from a slightly different perspective, it's the controlled re-wilding of the city.Some appropriate crops for the proposed agricultural stabilization of the city might include the following, the architects suggest:

—start with low maintenance, easy to grow, and profiting crops; consider perennial crops such as asparagus, shallots, garlic and herb varieties
—other crops include shade tolerant, easy to grow kale, sweet potatoes, lettuce
—other crops that do well in Philadelphia climate: collard greens, broccoli, mustard greens, corn, raspberry bushes
Those plants, in particular, would form a biosystem that could help push the city onto a seven year agricultural plan – after which this newly implanted ecosystem would level off, forming something like a cultivated permaculture.
find out more on Front Studio's website or see the panels here

Related posts: Urban Agriculture