2. Using The Plant Guild Model From Permaculture, This Landscape Design Thesis Will Employ Agriculture As A Formative Element To Farm Rights-of-Way And The Public Realm In An Existing Recently Developed Suburban Neighbourhood. The Proposition Brings Together The Frames Of Urbanism, Forestry, And Agriculture, And Positions Them As A Synergistic And Resilient Reform Matrix For Existing And Future Conurban Open Space Development.
3. The Greater Toronto Area is predicted to urbanize by 3.7 million additional people and 1.8 million more jobs by 2031. At the current rates of 55% intensification and 45% greenfield development, all of the remaining Class 1 (highest arability) farmland in the whitebelt (area between existing urban and provincial greenbelt boundary) will likely be developed in the usual low-density and car-dependent morphology of suburbia. By that time, filling up a car with gas could cost $350 (at projected rates of $7/litre by 2025). A highway commute (even with a hybrid) to Toronto from Vaughan will cost $56; a trip to Wal-Mart to get milk will cost $7; driving to Montreal will cost $1400 round-trip. In the interim, we have edge neighbourhoods where the public realm experience is an afterthought; where any surface ecology has been removed and replaced with artificial ecosystems of vegetation indicative of decoration only; and where an inflexible housing typology means you must drive to get milk. There is a regenerative, smart, and eco-logical solution: This design thesis utilizes an organic approach to the management of public and private open spaces. Recovering the productive landscape memory, it creates a vibrant, self-sustaining soil biology that will substantially reduce the costs of maintaining both large and small properties.
