Program

Taja Sevelle, the founder and executive director of Urban Farming, a Detroit-based nonprofit dedicated to eradicating hunger, had just such a query for architect Robin Osler when the two met last year for the first time: If sedum and other non-edible plants thrive on green roofs and walls, why not tomatoes, peppers, and onions? If so, she reckoned, these gardens could supply free, healthy food for economically distressed neighborhoods.

Each 30-foot-long-by-6-foot-high wall contains 4,000 plants growing in 180 square panels made of stainless steel; the panels, in turn, are divided into 4-inch-by-6-inch dirt-filled cells. Drip lines irrigate the crops from above and water drains through X-shaped slits on the underside of each cell. A fully loaded wall weighs roughly 15 pounds per square foot and can attach to an adjacent building or a freestanding metal framework.

Irwin adds that the green walls are about “more than just crops.” Projects like this can help create a sense of community among disadvantaged residents. “Sitting down to dinner,” he says, “always seems to bring people together.”

 The brief called for a more holistic and thoughtful strategy, which would integrate well with the urban environment and have a more longterm approach than immediate survival and comfort.

This project explores a long-term solution to housing and rehabilitating homeless individuals & families. Homeless people often congregate in cities because of the infrastructure & resources available. They tend to appropriate under-used & empty spaces for living. To link in with this concept, it seemed logical to design a long-term solution to homelessness using vacant plots of land in cities. There is a lot of neglected land in & around cities throughout the world, so… let’s use these sites to re-integrate the homeless!!
The site explored in this project is...

The project will create a new ‘neighbourhood’ with a mixed demographic: 30-40% residents will be ‘formerly homeless,’ the rest will not. The idea here is to further encourage integration with others and develop a sense of community.

The neighbourhood will have a series of public programs as well as being partially residential. These programs will activate the neighbourhood and provide activities & jobs for the homeless,  enabling them to develop a sense of responsibility & self-worth within their new community.

There are innumerable vacant strips of land created by train and tram lines – obstacles that can be readily ‘bridged’ to form vibrant neighbourhoods that re-integrate the homeless. So take a look around your city… how many sites would be suitable for a project like this?

Most homeless have none of those things.  Without a car they are stuck walking and that in turn reduces the range of where they can get help or a job.  Without a phone, they have to rely on stores and the goodness of a clerk to make a call.  When was the last time you saw a payphone?   Many times the homeless can’t even pay to use one if they could find one.

Without a phone and a fixed address, most people could not get a job as those things are at the top of any application.  No way to get a callback for another appointment – opportunity lost.  No fixed address – no job.   Some libraries deny a card to anyone without a fixed address.  No library card, no Internet access.   No clean clothes, poorly nourished, unshaven.

Why? For one, weather.

Two, security.

Three—most pressing and predominant—personal crisis.

I have also heard mention of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (see the above image) as the impetus of this approach.   Basically, each human need requires a foundation of other needs already met, starting with physical needs, achieving those, and then moving up the list, one level at a time.   A feeling of security cannot be achieved if the physical needs have not been met.   A sense of belonging cannot occur until one has achieved a level of security, etc.