What have we done? The answer lies in the zoning ordinance

The biggest catastrophe we humans have put on ourselves is how we have developed. From traditional neighborhood developments where one could walk to work, the grocery store, and a local pub, we now live in a massive metro apocalypse (LA is a great example of where we went wrong). Soldiers that came back from World War II were in search for housing and attaining the ‘American dream’. The main component of this clouded vision was a single-family home on an acre lot. This home is surrounded by a white picket fence, in a neighborhood that is solely residential.

Ill equipped to deal with sewage and pollution of the industrial age, the American upper middle class fled to the countryside to seclude themselves in a private family life, but ended up adding more stress to the nuclear family. Soon enough, our workplaces, are just that: office parks. Our industries are located in an industrial park with no signs of commercial or residential exchange. Taking single-use zoning to an extreme, we have become dependent on transportation. With no viable regional mode of mass-transit, the automobile is a highly sought after amenity. 

We have based success off of land ownership. What we have done to this land is not natural. From bringing in outside architecture to planting exotic species, what we have developed is not sustainable without human maintenance. With owning private land in suburbia, one is succumbed to more services and expenses, such as gas. Highways have essentially cut through our rich farmland and real estate developers have found value in undeveloped land, putting up strip malls and continuing enhancing sprawl.

It has been the attempt to blend country and the city through the suburban movement. There is no point to dwell on past farmland because once developed it is near impossible to provide the nutrients back into the same soil. We now must develop other ways to grow our own agriculture at a local level. We must re-zone our neighborhoods and create a comprehensive plan to re-design the cookie-cutter suburban nation into neighborhoods of mix-use. The towns must have a defined edge, making the distinction between the countryside and town. Portland, Oregon is a perfect example of how a city instituted a boundary that construction is not allowed to exceed, in effort to conserve the natural environment.

The city of Boston, Massachusetts is the perfect example of a community that re-zoned for urban agriculture. The current zoning code details for land uses is usually divided into three categories:

-Allowed by right use: a land use permitted as a matter of right.

-Conditional use: a land use permitted by the Zoning code provided that it is not harmful to present conditions.

-Forbidden use: A use that is not permitted because of harmful impacts, such as pollution.

Zoning applies to agricultural uses because if a particular use is not mentioned in the zoning code, it is forbidden. In order for urban agriculture to thrive the code must be revised. Bethlehem is moving in the right direction with the Ullman garden, MLK garden, Maze garden and most recently the Greenway.

As urban environments seek to become more sustainable, food and agriculture will play a critical role. If one is able to walk to the local farmers market to trade locally grown food (hopefully organic too!), then we are on our way to re-designing and re-zoning suburbia into traditional neighborhood developments. The desire and commitment to engage in one's local surroundings through any means, but especially food develops a place worth caring about and a healthy community.