- Brock

I was reminded of just how rarely we tend to think about the underpriveliged. We are always designing for the wealthy, our clients, the people who can afford to pay. We are not thinking about those who can’t pay for our services, for those whom a huge architecturally signifigant home is not possible. But we could be, and we should be designing for these people, because everyone deserves a basic quality of life, and who better than designers to lead us towards this goal?

- Beth

This states exactly what I was talking about in my last post.  (http://www.canada.com)

It’s easy to be cynical about companies that suddenly announce they’re green. The suspicion is their products aren’t as environmentally friendly as they should be and the motives are more capitalistic than altruistic. Particularly when PR types chase you with potential green stories, you’re on guard.

A story that’s been brought to my attention is about an initiative by Hellmann’s (as in Real Mayonnaise). It has made 94 garden plots available across Canada this year to gardeners who wouldn’t otherwise have an opportunity to plant vegetables. It calls the program Hellmann’s Urban Gardens.

Each of Hellmann’s urban gardens has about 10 plots, 8×4-feet in size, located on larger existing sites run by local community gardening organizations in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. Wannabe gardeners submit explanations of why they should receive a free plot, the winners get one along with a gift bag of seeds and other garden-useful supplies. In Toronto, plots can be found at the Emmett Avenue Community Garden (at Jane and Eglinton) and Fort York Community Garden (Lake Shore and Bathurst).

Each of Hellmann’s urban gardens has about 10 plots, 8×4-feet in size, located on larger existing sites run by local community gardening organizations in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax.

For the second year of this program, Hellmann’s is collaborating with Evergreen, a not-for-profit organization that makes cities more livable and is making thousands of similar plots available across Canada. Hellmann’s says, “Evergreen’s 17 years of experience in urban

the program to another level by providing plot winners across the country with increased access to gardening experts and centrally located plots.” Access to gardening expertise is a good idea. If you haven’t grown vegetables before, and don’t have parents or grandparents close at hand who have, you need help. Reading the instructions on seed packages is not enough.

Everyone I spoke with about the project said it was wonderful, from the project co-ordinators to people enjoying the plots. However, when naturalization projects is taking I complimented Jon Affleck, marketing director, Unilever Canada (Hellmann’s parent company) on the company’s clever promotional idea, he seemed to bristle at the suggestion Hellmann’s was doing it for any other reason than, as he said, “because we’re doing well by doing good.”

Then he stayed on message: It wasn’t merely promotion but rather giving Canadians, or at least 94 of them and the people that eat the produce from the plots, the opportunity to shorten the distance from field to table and introduce more locally grown fresh vegetables into their diets. I didn’t say, take a hint from your mayonnaise and get real. It’s a good program that benefits many and it’s a nice fit with a product that is about as genuine as you’ll find at the grocery store but — it’s still a marketing program. I was almost provoked to say how easy it is to make your own mayo. (Besides I never do, I buy Hellmann’s.)

Ian Busch, brand building manager, Hellmann’s Canada, was more real. We joked about learning to plant lettuce so you didn’t end up with a truckload all at once. He mentioned that urban garden plots are a significant community building opportunity. The plot gardeners I spoke with told me about the camaraderie of those on-site and how it appeared also to strengthen the communities where the garden patches were located. “When I harvest tomatoes, I have my neighbours over to share, and we might make spaghetti sauce together on a weekend,” says one plot gardener. I recall growing up that most people on the street had a vegetable patch and would trade the surpluses of various varieties.

Bravo to Hellmann’s and Evergreen. One shouldn’t be cynical about something that’s helping re-establish the benefits of local produce, especially when it takes people off their cellphones and couches and gets them digging in the soil.

It’s still exceptional to have home-grown vegetables and it used to be the norm. For decades, veggies have been trucked in, conveniently wrapped in plastic, in tins or frozen. Now the tide is turning. At fancy dinners, the hostess will say she grew the lettuce herself or got it at the farmers’ market. Perhaps a fad but at least one with more substance than most of what we do because it’s cool. The best is yet to come. I can’t wait to drive down the streets of Rosedale when there will be neat rows of vegetables where there are now exotic hybrids blooming. I look forward to cows grazing on the greens of the Bridle Path/Post Road area. Finally, these immense lawns are put to good use.

© National Post 2008

In the final project for Ecology class, my group did a project of this nature.  There is a lot of great stuff out there both historically and modern.  Floating gardens is something I really find intriguing.  They started out in Babylon for agricultural purpose and extending space.  Floating gardens can also be coupled with flood architecture.  The class about green roof was great.  In fact I’ve found this course to be very useful for knowledge and inspiration!

The info we got about green roofs and weight is definitely useful.  I also looked up root depths of different vegetables to see how much soil would be needed to provide urban agriculture on roof tops which varies from 1 - 2 feet.

I would definitely like to see a law passed that encouraged urban agriculture in the city.  It would reduce sprawl, cut transportation costs, and thus our carbon footprint, potentially boost the economy by providing local products, and be empowering to those individuals who would produce their own food.  The benefits are endless.

- Amanda

when utilized this can create a walkable atmosphere, or just melt snow off of the ground.

Those seem alright, but there are also electric ones, and also portable electric heating mats

one interesting site I found was this one where a school has reused it’s chimneys waste heat to warm the front walk, and clear it of snow.

I’m still not sold on the idea, although i do like that it might bring people outside more, and to the streets. One thing that I asked Jae was the impact on weather conditions. I assumed that a created warm area meeting with the cool air could create atmospheric changes. He said that yes, there would be a bit. So I guess it’s a choice, warmth vs clear air.

-Megan

This lecture was about the benefits of green roofs and how they are classified.  Green roofs have many benefits ecological, economical and social.  They create biodiversity, and reduce air pollution when placed in urban areas.  Green roofs help insulate a building and increase the overall lifetime of a roof.  They also collect water.  Green roofs provide a place for people to socialize with one and other.  A green roof can be transformed into a cafe or be a peaceful place to relax during the day.   There are three types of green roofs; a basic green roof, a hybrid and a Roof top garden.  The basic green roof is low maintenance, low cost, and does not require gardening.  A hybrid roof has some maintenance, the amount of soil used creates a little more weight and watering is necessary to support the plants growing.  The Roof top garden is high maintenance, high in cost, and the soil usually means the roof has to be specially designed.  The green roof usually only grows things like moss or short grass where as a roof top garden can grow a large variety of vegetation.    

Devan

- Beth

- Brock

Devan

-Megan