Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes

subtitle: Designing Urban Agriculture for Sustainable Cities

This book on urban design extends and develops the widely accepted 'compact city' solution. It provides a design proposal for a new kind of sustainable urban landscape: Urban Agriculture. By growing food within an urban rather than exclusively rural environment, urban agriculture would reduce the need for industrialized production, packaging and transportation of foodstuffs to the city dwelling consumers. The revolutionary and innovative concepts put forth in this book have potential to shape the future of our cities quality of life within them. Urban design is shown in practice through international case studies and the arguments presented are supported by quantified economic, environmental and social justifications.

Reviews: 'This is an important book that both challenges and contributes to current urban thinking. It is both inspiring and practical, reminding of us that sophisticated high density urban life can benefit from looking to examples from such places as the traditional Chinese city or current practice in Cuba to ways in which we can develop a more ecological and healthy way forward. If we are to be serious about sustainable urban development then these questions of greening the city and of local food production and distribution, are of immense importance. This is not a grand plan, but one that can be applied to both old and new areas in an incremental manner. It is now up to all of us to apply the lessons learnt with a sense of urgency wherever we may live.' George Ferguson, President of RIBA

pb 304pp