I was reading Chapter 9: The Inner City from Suburban Nation book by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Jeff Speck. The chapter was about how to improve city centers to attract more people by perhaps offering similar amenities as suburbs offer. The chapter is really not even related to urban farming, but it made me think about the scale and location of the farm. Even though a model community sounds like a great idea, I do not want to encourage suburban sprawl even more. I though to myself, what is the point of growing your vegetables if you still need to drive someplace in the city to the market to sell them (in case you grown more than you need for your own use) or even if you have market within walking distance, people from elsewhere would have to get there. Even more, how do they know where to go?
Previously, I also mentioned that I would not want a typical hotel/ casino setting (scale) since people would not experience farming firsthand, and therefore locals would not benefit from it. Therefore, I am almost certain that the scale I am going to go with is going to be something in the middle, something in between the residential neighborhood (which is for locals) and something that is in form of a typical Las Vegas hotel/ casino (which is for visitors, although one will always find locals there).
The medium/ middle between the two would provide the best of the opposite worlds. It would be the area where locals live and work, close to the city center, yet enjoy the amenities that a suburb house could provide, the yard. Visitors on the other hand would be welcome to stay at the farm ( thinking about living units that could be rented). The farm could easily become visitors' attraction, like attractions that typical casino such as fountain show at the Bellagio, the volcano at the Mirage or gardens at the MGM Grand. Locals end up at the strip for those attractions as well. The setting would definitely be known.
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Hey Simona!
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting idea of how to convert Las Vegas into something a little more rural. I have to admit what you are proposing seems a bit daunting but it has a lot of merit for the bringing the locals back to downtown. You know, back in our classes when these ideas kind of surfaced but really didn't get deeply discussed I thought that there could be something to it but now seeing your city study it seems a little bit more frustrating because of the focus of the tourist attractions of the strip. But saying this, I still think there can be a marriage between the rural, the urban, and the tourist themes. It made me wonder if there could be a way to do it like a Peter Calthorpe strategy of mixing it all up but allowing for a defining line where it shifts from one group to another (like a row of business buildings lined up on one side of the block and a farmers market lined up at the back side of the block), or if there needs to have a shared area with defined, separate functions (kind of like different food groups sharing the same dinner plate but not touching)... You get the idea. But it sounds like a fun project to consider. Good job. Talk to ya later!
Shane