An Early Look At Some Interesting Ideas To Come Out Of Our Participatory Design Process

Have a sneak peek at some of the ideas which have been generated during our Agrihood Design Series. These ideas are rough and not final but still worth sharing!

HOA funds CSA

We can make a commitment to the future of the farm by utilizing a portion of the HOA fees to go towards a CSA share for residents. CSA = Community Supported Agriculture which is like a weekly subscription box to fresh produce grown at a local farm.

This ensures farm profitability while reducing food miles, removing complexity and creating engagement with the local food system.

Sweat Equity Home Affordability Program

A community as I've been describing will no doubt be expensive. We can combat affordability in many ways but the one way that could drive a sense of belonging the most would be creating a sweat equity program

to allow low-moderate income residents to get their hands dirty by not only participating the construction of their own home but potentially even in some of the other aspects of construction of their particular pocket neighborhood.

Now, imagine if these houses were affordable and eco friendly hyperadobe homes utilizing onsite dirt. Yes, H4H is one of the organizations we want to partner with.

Shared Parking Structures

To reduce impervious surfaces - water runoff issues and the amount of space dedicated to the automobile, we can have a shared parking garage for each pocket neighborhood or two, replacing individual garages.

We can take a page from the book of one of the agrihoods on the bleeding edge, The Farm at Okefenokee, and have shared parking structures stocked with alternative forms of transportation such as golf carts, bikes, etc to reduce CO2 emissions within the community.

Arboretum Designation

The requirements to be certified as a Level 1 Arboretum are quite low. You only need 25 different types of trees/woody plants with ID placards and a few other easy-to-do requirements. If this community has edible landscaping, it would be well on its way to becoming a Level 1 arboretum

This concept is great for biodiversity as well as marketing this community to prospective homebuyers.

Community Biodigester

A community which produces so much food will also be producing a lot of food scraps and could implement a circular approach by utilizing a community biodigester to break down food scraps into gas that can then be used for neighborhood cookouts to further reinforce bonds within the community.

Hobbit Hole Greenhouse

The community biodigester would likely be too full to accept new food waste from time to time but that's no problem if you design a hobbit greenhouse - a greenhouse heated by compost mounds on all sides except the entrance.

Greenhouse as Home

It’s not the most practical idea to come about during the Agrihood Design Series but what it lacks in practicality it makes up for with being interesting. If the living space and greenhouse space were the same space wouldn’t that allow people to live closer to nature while being able to grow year round and use the same heating/cooling for personal comfort and towards keeping plants alive? Obviously, there are a lot of hurdles to clear but there are many examples of greenhouse living - so it’s possible!

Work Play Cafe

In response to a prompt about ideas to make the agrihood a desirable place to raise a family, we received an interesting idea for a cafe where parents could work on their laptops while still being able to supervise their children.

N.E.A.T. Neighborhood

This proposal seeks to design the agrihood in such a manner that would require residents to walk to access services most people typically access within their home or property.

The acronym N.E.A.T refers to Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis which basically includes all of the ways people burn calories without setting out to do intentional exercise. Things like chores, having to walk from place to place and having to do things without mechanical assistance leads to calories burned via N.E.A.T. The idea is to improve resident life and health by designing a N.E.A.T Neighborhood. The goal is to generate possible design ideas and choose the most practical among them.

Examples include:

Shared, distributed mail boxes

Shared, distributed trash collection sites

Shared compost station

Shared glass recycling station

Shared, distributed water stations

Shared, distributed parking solutions rather than home garages

Shared package delivery station

Stairs instead of elevators where possible

Design maximizes walkability

Public, active seating options such as rocking chairs

This benefits resident health and healthy weight by giving them reasons to burn calories via Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis

This enhances social connectivity within the agrihood by increasing the number of opportunities for people to randomly run into one another