June 15, 2010

GrowingCities Heads to Milwaukee

As part of a grant awarded to this project by the Green Builders at Columbia and GSAPP, Columbia University - we'll be off to work with Growing Power and Sweet Water Organics in Milwaukee.

We'll be spending a week in Milwaukee - a city that has become a national center for the development of new agricultural technologies. We plan to visit and document experimental farming practices at the Growing Power institute (run by MacArthur Foundation fellow Will Allen) and Sweet Water Organics.

Through a cross-disciplinary approach, we will investigate the role that architects might play in future systems of urban food production. At Will Allen’s organization Growing Power, we intend to participate in workshops about construction techniques for greenhouses, and hydroponic and aquaponic growing methods. We also will speak with project staff about their experiences of community-building through urban agriculture.

By visiting Sweet Water Organics, a non-profit/profit hybrid organization, we hope to better understand commercial models of urban agriculture.

A big thank-you is due to Emmanuel Pratt, PhD candidate at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University for his help in organizing this trip.

Stay tuned - we'll soon be posting updates of how it goes!

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