Urban Agriculture: Past, Present, Future

Catalog description

The city of Milwaukee has emerged as a global leader in the urban agriculture movement. Urban agriculture pioneers like Will Allen - founder of the Growing Power Urban farm and winner of a MacArthur “genius” grant (2008) - have highlighted how technologies such as aquaponics systems (which allow one to grow fish and produce symbiotically) and such resources as vacant lots and abandoned buildings can be employed to transform large swaths of the city’s built environment into sites of agricultural production. These spatial transformations have profound implications for the future development of Milwaukee and other cities across the globe. This class will work to uncover the individuals, organizations, history that informs this current moment. It will place Milwaukee within a broader narrative of urban agriculture, one that examines similar developments both across the United States and around the world. Close attention will be paid to the technologies and engineering strategies that undergird urban agricultural endeavors, along with the people who develop and employ such strategies. Such emphases will inform the course’s commitment to experiential learning. We will be getting out of the classroom and working with a number of urban agriculture practitioners on real-world projects. Through such experiential learning projects, students will come to see how the present is truly shaped by the past.