Designing Urban Agriculture: A Complete Guide to the Planning, Design, Construction, Maintenance and Management of Edible Landscapes

A comprehensive overview of edible landscapes complete with more than 300 full-color photos and illustrations

Designing Urban Agriculture is about the intersection of ecology, design, and community. Showcasing projects and designers from around the world who are forging new paths to the sustainable city through urban agriculture landscapes, it creates a dialogue on the ways to invite food back into the city and pave a path to healthier communities and environments.

This full-color guide begins with a foundation of ecological principles and the idea that the food shed is part of a city’s urban systems network. It outlines a design process based on systems thinking and developed for a lifecycle or regenerative-based approach. It also presents strategies, tools, and guidelines that enable informed decisions on planning, designing, budgeting, constructing, maintaining, marketing, and increasing the sustainability of this re-invented cityscape. Case studies demonstrate the environmental, economic, and social value of these landscapes and reveal paths to a greener and healthier urban environment.

This unique and indispensable guide:

• Details how to plan, design, fund, construct, and leverage the sustainability aspects of the edible landscape typology
• Covers over a dozen typologies including community gardens, urban farms, edible estates, green roofs and vertical walls, edible school yards, seed to table, food landscapes within parks, plazas, streetscapes and green infrastructure systems and more
• Explains how to design regenerative edible landscapes that benefit both community and ecology and explores the connections between food, policy, and planning that promote viable food shed systems for more resilient communities
• Examines the integration of management, maintenance, and operations issues
• Reveals how to create a business model enterprise that addresses a lifecycle approach

APRIL PHILIPS, RLA, FASLA, is founder and principal of April Philips Design Works, an award-winning Bay Area firm that specializes in landscape architecture and urban ecology. Her notable projects include Union Square, Santana Row, Peet’s Coffee and Tea Roasting Facility, 2001 Market Street, VF Outdoor Campus, and Oakland Memorial Park. Her recent work includes the incorporation of urban edibles and increasing habitat in the urban realm.