Previous: « Food delivery futures | Next: Udipi: Lost Tradition, Cherished Heritage »
Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes (CPULS)
Andre Viljoen compares global examples of how food and urban development are intertwined. He is editor of the book ‘Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes’, (CPULs) which describes how spaces can be created for local people to grow food in a communal way drawing inspiration from places such as Cuba. The CPUL concept developed by Bohn & Viljoen Architects proposes a coherent and sustainable urban design strategy capable of reducing a city's ecological footprint while at the same introducing qualitative improvements to urban environment.
This negative environmental impact of remote non-organic food production is highlighted in a study commissioned by the Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs, DEFRA, on Food Miles. (ED56254, Issue 7, The Validity of Food Miles as an Indicator of Sustainable Development, Final Report for DEFRA, July 2005). An article titled “Food miles report suggests cost of food transport is £9bn”
in Farmers Weekly on the 15th July 2005, summarised its conclusions as follows:
-“The total economic, environmental and social costs of food transport is estimated at £9bn”.
-“Food transport has a significant and growing impact on road congestion, road accidents, climate change, noise and air pollution”.
-“The quantity of food transported by Heavy Goods Vehicles in the UK has doubled since 1974 and food transport currently accounts for 25% of the distance covered by HGVs”.
-“Consumers travel an average of 898 miles a year by car to shop for food”.
-“In total, food transport produced 19mt of carbon dioxide in 2002 of which 10mt were emitted in the UK”
Project details
About the authors
Andre Viljoen
School of Architecture and Design, University of Brighton, UK.
Posted by John Thackara at February 4, 2007 08:02 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.doorsofperception.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/49
