growing industry mid review

THOUGHTFOOD FOR

Team Bio

Intro to Vernon

ReadingsAgainst SustainabilityCan biodiversity be accommodated in today’s urban environment?Ecology and Landscape as Agents of CreativityThe Concrete JungleThe Word Shrinks, The World ExpandsShifting Sites

MappingLand UseIndustryOwnershipSynthesization

The Vernon ArgumentExisting ConditionsWhy Now?Why Here?

Urban FrameworkGrowing SystemsIntegrated Systems Diagram Algaeculture Aquaponics Mycoculture Entofarming VermicultureNew OverlayRiver RelationNew Food FlowsPhasesConceptual Imagery

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Team BioTeam MembersKristen FritzRoy GuillenJeremy JarinKathy Reyes

Team ManifestoFor centuries, in an attempt to cleanse our cities of the inconveniences of “nature” and the toils associated with an agrarian livelihood, we have collectively built for ourselves urban places as refuges for people. Indeed, we also nearly collectively abandoned many of these urban refuges over the years, and nearly every urban place has had to struggle with what it now means to be a city. In the midst of it all, we have lost a great deal of communal knowledge regarding the very systems that sustain our urban places, and we have forgotten why it is that we decided to organize into cities in the first place. Despite thissense of loss, most of us believe that cities are still the best formula we have for organizing people.

What has become ever more clear is that people are continuing to migrate to cities, that this trend will continue into the future, and that our cities are, by and large, still stuck and struggling with the “urban condition.” We believe that our urban places can, indeed, still be refuges, and that the urban fabric is knitted to a complex set of interconnected systems that can reveal that nearly forgotten communal knowledge. We believe too, that cities can be a refuge for the formerly cast off “nature,” and that we must recognize

this changing role of our cities. Armed with this awareness, our cities must adapt and explore new-old ways of energizing these systems so as to reveal opportunities to make our cities refuges for all.

When we begin to incorporate food systems back into our urban places, we start to reveal the supporting ecological and social systems that make the system work, as well as the myriad phenomena that make it fail to work. Food systems offer a framework for design that encourages the synthesizing of social, ecological and environmentaljustice ideals, because food is something we all care deeply about at some level. The trading of food is the very reason we first began to organize into villages and later cities. If there is a problem with food, there is ultimately a problem with the city.

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Intro toVernon

The City of Vernon is located five miles from downtown Los Angeles and is in close proximity to major transportation and distribution corridors. These corridors are the 710 freeway, the 5 freeway, the Alameda corridor, as well as the BNSF rail yard. The city was shaped by early industry in 1905 when ranchers James Furlong, John B. Leonis, and James J decided to incorporate industrial development along the railroads. The establishment of these unincorporated developments convinced Miguel Leonis to persuade railroad companies BNSF and Union Pacific to build more railroad infrastructure throughout the area. From the proliferation of rail spurs the city of Vernon came into fruition.

Leonis from there on claimed this city as “exclusively industrial” and encouraged the founding fathers of the city to endorse attractions for visitors near and far. Amongst these attractions, some include a baseball stadium, a boxing arena, and the world’s longest bar. In

1953, Miguel Leonis died and left $8 million worth of parcels to his grandson, Leonis. Though the age of Vernon as a Sporting Town became a time of nostalgia, industry began to manifest as a strong entity. By 1960, two main industries were the main benefactors to the city of Vernon. These benefactors were the stockyard industry and the meat packing industry. In that duration, twenty seven slaughterhouses lined the streets of Vernon Avenue to Downey road and Soto.

Today, the industrial landscape of Vernon quickly transformed from two main industries to over twenty consolidated industries. The meat packing industry quickly expanded into food processing, manufacturing, distribution, and storage. The stockyard industry expanded into switching yards. In addition, the textile industry, paper manufacturing, metal fabrication and manufacturing, and a whole range of others began to root their business in Vernon. Other unique industries that are endemic to Vernon is the slaughtering and rendering districts located in adjunct to the LA River. With all these industries an employment number of 50,000 works commute in and out of Vernon on a daily basis.

The city of Vernon is a major player in the overall economic prosperity of

the Southern California region and is a crucial part in the distribution of goods all over the nation. The estimated revenue that Vernon produces is $18 million annually. It is likely that if you’re in the Los Angeles region, you’ve come into contact with many products derived from the city.

With so much economic responsibility the intense concentration of industry within this city has left decrepit impacts in its landscape. Among these impacts are air pollution, soil pollution, lack of pedestrian activity, and lack of residency. Though Vernon’s nomenclature of industries is a well respected and well prized commodity, there is unimaginable potential within this exclusively industrial city. The city of Vernon can retain its reputation as an economic engine for the region but it has the potential to grow their industry. From processing of plastics and other goods, Vernon can morph and shift into the city that does more to the city that grows more.

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Vernon

ReadingsAgainst

SustainabilityJohn May

Can biodiversity be accommodated in today’s urban environment?

Austin Brown

Ecology and Landscape as Agents

of Creativity

James Corner

The Concrete JungleRobert Sullivan

The Word Shrinks, The World Expands

Robert Thayer

Shifting SitesKristina Hill

Against Sustainability--John May

Technology improved people’s lives for generations --We came to rely on it and believe it could improve life ever more --Came to discover that these ideas, practices and tools were degrading the very conditions that provide for continued existence (the env. & its ecosystem services) --Today—“Sustainable” technology will save us??

The problem with “Sustainability” --An easily undermined idea --Does not address consumption --Conceptually incoherent -Vague & shapeless (like pornography or obscenity) --Politically inadequate

Fails to address underlying causes of environmental degradation/resource scarcity --The Problem of Objects—the idea that the world is composed of things --The Problem of Externalities--The actual cost of the final product does not reflect the real cost of extraction, production, consumption & degradation --The Problem with Newness & Novelty -Lifespan of products reduced -Collective psychology of durability erased in a single generation

Simply—Advocates for LESS BAD --We are having the wrong conversation if we are truly interested in preserving ecological systems & ecosystem services

Relevant in Vernon—a city of Industry & Production --What will we make here in the future?

The Problem with Objects

The Problem with Newness & Novelty

The Problem with Externalities

Impact Consequences

effecteffect

Effect’sImpact on

Stakeholders

Industry pays for prevention or

mitigation

Externality

minorignored/

absorbed

yes

major

no

resolved

process invisible to the consumer










Impact Consequences

effecteffect

Effect’sImpact on

Stakeholders


mitigation

Externality

minorignored/

absorbed

yes

major

no

resolved











Impact Consequences

effecteffect

Effect’sImpact on

Stakeholders


mitigation

Externality

minorignored/

absorbed

yes

major

no

resolved


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Against Sustainability

John May

Technology improved people’s lives for generations• We came to rely on it and believe it could improve life ever more• Came to discover that these ideas, practices and tools were degrading the

very conditions that provide for continued existence (the env. & its ecosystem services)

• Today—“Sustainable” technology will save us?

The problem with “Sustainability”• An easily undermined idea• Does not address consumption• Conceptually incoherent Vague & shapeless (like pornography or obscenity)• Politically inadequate

Fails to address underlying causes of environmental degradation/resource scarcity• The Problem of Objects—the idea that the world is composed of things• The Problem of Externalities--The actual cost of the final product does not

reflect the real cost of extraction, production, consumption & degradation• The Problem with Newness & Novelty Lifespan of products reduced Collective psychology of durability erased in a single generation

Simply—Advocates for LESS BAD• We are having the wrong conversation if we are truly interested in preserving

ecological systems & ecosystem services

Relevant in Vernon—a city of Industry & Production• What will we make here in the future?

The Problem of Newness & Novelty

The Problem of Externalities

The Problem of Objects

Can biodiversity be accommodated in today’s urban environment? -Austin Brown

Habitat destruction a major factor affecting biodiversity --Urban expansion now more rapid than ever --Urban expansion increasingly non-linear rather than incremental along outskirts --Ecologically sensitive areas at risk --Habitat fragmentation increasing

2010—International Year of Biodiversity --Widely considered a missed opportunity --“Decade on Biodiversity” announced to reach targets after Year of Biodiversity failed --New developments should: -Retain existing habitats -Create habitat -Implement green infrastructure

Animal Estates London HQ: Urban Wildlife Client Services --London initiative to raise public awareness on biodiversity --Incorporate native species back into London & urban environment --Public networking & research space for activists, engineers, planners, architects, artists, residents and designers

New Developments—Should be Habitat-Centric --Functioning habitat as framework for design --Habitat buffers --Habitat linkages/corridors

Existing Urban Areas --Attitudes slow to change--many designers & planners still support cities for people only --Data increasingly support health benefits for people --Need to retrofit cities

We need to recognize the changing role of cities and ecologies of cities. Cities can no longer be seen as apart from “nature.” Densification of cities can protect functioning habitats in the hinterlands.

The Changing Mode of Urban Expansion

Past mode of expansion

Present mode of expansion

Existing Urban CenterLinear Urban ExpansionEcologically Sensitive AreasHabitatNew Non-linear Development























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Can biodiversity be accommodated in today’s urban environment?

Austin Brown

Habitat destruction a major factor affectingbiodiversity• Urban expansion now more rapid than ever• Urban expansion increasingly non-linear rather than incremental along outskirts• Ecologically sensitive areas at risk• Habitat fragmentation increasing

2010—International Year of Biodiversity• Widely considered a missed opportunity• “Decade on Biodiversity” announced to reach targets after Year of Biodiversity

failed• New developments should:• Retain existing habitats• Create habitat• Implement green infrastructure

Animal Estates London HQ: Urban WildlifeClient Services• London initiative to raise public awareness on biodiversity• Incorporate native species back into London & urban environment• Public networking & research space for activists, engineers, planners, architects,

artists, residents and designers

New Developments—Should be Habitat-Centric• Functioning habitat as framework for design• Habitat buffers• Habitat linkages/corridors

Existing Urban Areas• Attitudes slow to change--many designers & planners still support cities for

people only• Data increasingly support health benefits for people• Need to retrofit cities

“We need to recognize the changing role of cities and ecologies of cities. Cities can no longer be seen as apart from “nature.” Densification of cities can protect functioning habitats in the hinterlands.”

Ecology and Landscape as Agents

of Creativity

James Corner

The Ecological Idea• Ecology Is never ideologically neutral, despite claims of its objectivity. It is not without values, images and effects. It is a social construction that can initiate, inform, and lend legitimacy to a particular viewpoint. (Example: from green politics to nationalism to feminism) Conjures up particular ways of seeing and relating to Nature• Two Distinct Natures The cultural construction that enables people to speak of and understand the natural world That which always escapes or exceeds human understanding

The Ambiguities of Ecology within Landscape Architecture• Establishment of ecology as a central part of landscape architectural education and practice.• Ecology has changed and enriched the field of landscape architecture substantially.• Displaced some of landscape architecture’s more traditional aspects • Prompted a somewhat ambiguous and estranged disciplinary identity.• Although ecology has surfaced in modern landscape architectural discourse, a culturally animate ecology-one that is distinct

from purely scientific ecology-has yet to emerge.

Modernity and Environment• The belief in human progress and mastery over Nature has at the same time promoted an often brutally mechanistic,

materialistic, and impersonal world.• The potential creativity of both Nature and culture is diminished to dull equations of utility, production, commodity and

consumption. • Landscape architecture remains caught within the technoeconomic, progressivist, and dualistic characteristics of modernity. • Landscape architecture must recognize expeditiously how the root cause of environmental decline is buried in the complex

foundations of modern culture.

Conservationist/ Resourcist and Restorative Ecology• Conservationist/Resourcist Ecology - Landscape is composed of various resources that have particular value to people such

as forestry production, mining, agriculture, built development, recreation, and tourism.• Restorative Ecology - Emphasis is on the acquisition of technical knowledge and skill with respect to the physical

reconstruction of landscapes or, at a larger scale, regional ecosystem.

Radical Ecology• Focuses not on nature but on the sphere of culture• Also critical of progressivist ecology and its technocratic solutions to environmental problems • Social ecology (particular interest for landscape architecture) - Targets technoeconomic aspects of the modern cultural

paradigm and is critical of social practices of domination, commodification, and instrumentality.

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Landscape Architecture + EcologyThe hybridization of between, people, place material and earth

Dialetical Ecology and Language• Human beings, by virtue of their ability to construct a reality through verbal and visual language, are radically different from

the wild and indifferent flux that is nature.• Cultural Worlds are composed of linguistics and imagistic structures

Bewilderment, Wonder, and Indetermination• Bewilderment is simply a prerequisite for another form of seeing.• Parallels between vocabularies of ecology and collage are striking• Ecology and creative transmutation are indicative of an alternate kind of landscape architecture• Catalytic frameworks that might enable a diversity of relationships to create, emerge, network, interconnect, and

differentiate

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The Concrete JungleRobert Sullivan

IntroductionThe article denounces that contrary to popular belief; urbanization can provide more opportunities for housing habitat for wildlife than pristine pastoral open space can. Reason being that the variety of spaces and places wildlife finds themselves in are all too often more interesting than those of a naturalistic habitat. After many observations, a critical evaluation than an urbanized setting is no longer an impediment to wildlife succession, it can in fact, enhance and provide new opportunities for the natural world to thrive in.

“Concrete” Details• For example, after an occurrence that left the Bronx River damaged and

polluted, many native birds were killed for the duration, but with sacrifice came a discovery of survival. Robert Leaf, a recent Ph.D grad student came across a rare finding of Eastern floaters peeking through the muddy banks of the Bronx. Through this discovery, this event exemplifies that through the accidents and ruin that may occur with an urban system, resiliency can be found through even the simplest of organisms.

• From this finding, this theory that the urban condition is not a great supporter at sustaining life can be denounced as folly. It is evident that even the most sensitive of species, if they live, it is to signify that life in a forgotten river or in any abandoned space have potential to thrive.

Urban landscape and Wildlife Interface

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• If anything can be contrived from this article, this sentence just about sums up the whole thinking behind it. “Understanding nature as infrastructure means thinking about it less as a painting to restore and more as a process to encourage.”

• Other findings seeking out potential for new wildlife to thrive in the most extreme conditions can be contributed as a worldwide phenomenon that new-age naturalists, biologists, and allied scientists have now been implicating. For example, biologists in Europe are now studying what once were bombing sites and anticipating new growth of a new species. It is Mother Nature at work with her heartiest and most resilient of soldiers.

• Another facet of interest that this article proposes is the idea of an ecological feedback loop. An ecological feedback loop works in such a way that whatever happens, intended and unintended occurrences both create a cause and effect relationship amongst the flora and fauna, neutral of habitat. Whatever occurs out in a rural setting can very much occur just as well, or even better within an urban setting.

In SummationIn culmination, the overhanging principle that the only living system that inhabits a city is of the Homo sapien kind, is proven to be false. Nature does exist within the city confines and it happens to be doing just fine. The question to ask now is whether the human citizens of the metropolis are willingly to share their space with neighbors that fly, swim, hop, buzz and everything else in between.

Rural landscape and Wildlife Interface

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The Word Shrinks, The World Expands

Robert Thayer

IntroductionIf there are two irrelevant spectrums of study that seemed too distant to be even considered for comparison, it would be the world of geophysics and information technology. Two figures coming from their respective backgrounds, Norbert Wiener and King Hubbert have been proprietors of a unique and forthcoming situation. Ideas involving both parties were the ideas of energy and matter in relationship to the happenings of the physical world, but when Wiener came into the picture, he introduced a third factor into the relationship, information.

Energy and the Landscape• With this new tidbit of knowledge that information informs directional qualities

of energy and matter, it is also a happenstance that information feedback influences living systems and the dynamics that can occur.

• In regards to the urban ecology, the matter of energy (oil) and it’s dutiful rise and decline as supported by the supply and demand curve is being researched through the physical planning perspective of it all. That everything that interacts within a system is interconnected through an invisible ecology that is unseen by economists and people alike.

• The article then proceeds to discuss the framing of the landscape if oil was not a subsequent source of energy for transportation purposes. It explained that with the decline in oil, shared systems of transportation will be on a rise, that the gap between suburbia and the bustling city will close and the landscape will change indefinitely. In the realm of tourism, the ideology of going someplace far to wander and vacation might be a thing of novelty and a new tourism may emerge. Localized tourism; tourism of people that live there become inhabitants as well as visitors of their own environment.

Information and the LandscapeTo counteract these statements, while energy is shrinking the landscape into a more localized system, the transfer of information is doing just the opposite. Information is creating the hyper realities that represent the landscape, that give information but do not transcend space, energy, or matter. Though the effort in obtaining information has opened up the landscape to be a globalized monopoly, the quality of

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information in the transference is lacking in context.

The Three Scenarios of the post peak-oil landscape• Scenario 1: Global economy, global ownership• Scenario 2: Local economy, local ownership• Scenario 3: Local economy, global ownership

In Summation In reverie, this article highlights the essential need to understand future projections of the supply and demand field in proposing new landscapes of the future. That landscapes for the pure aesthetic purpose are notions of the past and highly productive high variety landscapes to occur within the civic system are going to be the new normal.

Information and the Landscape

Energy and the Landscape

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Shifting SitesKristina Hill

The Nature of a Bounded Place• A new understanding of place has emerged over the last few decades, the

Nonequilibrium Paradigm• The Shifts Spatial scale - whether local ecosystems can be considered “closed” to larger flows or the influence of the larger flows should be integral to the local systems Temporal scale - local and regional history influences contemporary ecosystem dynamics Pattern - consideration of physical landscape patterns as an important component of ecosystem functioning• Sites are flashpoints (a place, event, or time at which trouble flares up) in the

theories of science and design• Collaboration will occur on a renewed basis as new metaphors are sought and

accepted as the basis for the development of theory

Spatial ScaleAre local ecosystems independent from an outside entity or are they an integral part of an even larger system? In the context of Vernon, the city is an industrial hub which serves as an employment hotspot for the people of Los Angeles County

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The Spatial Scale Shift: Organism Versus System, Boundary Versus Node

• Two Dominant Metaphors The first refers to them as forming a “super-organism,” as if the interactions among species can be compared to the interactions among individual organs within a body The second describes them as a system of energy flows and exchanges, as if they are comparable to the mechanical and electrical systems designed by humans

The Temporal Shift: Cycles, Rates of Change, and the Role of History• This law simply states that geological processes operating today, such as

weathering and soil formation, also operated in the past

The Spatial Pattern Shift: Landscapes as Dynamic Mosaics• The metaphor of a shifting mosaic relies on a probabilistic conceptualization of

change• Understanding sites as components of a probabilistic landscape mosaic requires

that the significance of spatial and temporal patterns be evaluated on a species-by-species basis

Flashpoints • Complexity of categories derives from effort to reveal changing conceptual

frameworks by thinking through both old and the new conceptual lenses• Designers will doubtless find it easier to pick up the current ecological theories

and run with them without looking back

Spatial PatternThe landscape acts as a shifting mosaic, working with a probabilistic factor of change. Industrial sized buildings fill the site of Vernon forming a mosaic of industry.

Land Use + Industry + Ownership

MappingsLonely

Land Use

The Diversity ofIndustry in Vernon

Ownership andLevels of Control

The Vernacular

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Lonely Land Use

The City of Vernon is known to be as an industrial city that is located several miles away from Downtown Los Angeles. Vernon is the only city in the Los Angeles region that encompasses most of its land for industry use and employs approximately 55,000 people. Not only does the city provide jobs for Los Angeles County but also is the home to major food and agriculture, apparel, steel, plastics, logistics and home furnishings industries. Since the city has a policy to discourage housing due to the odors, noise, and traffic levels it is generally incompatible with residential development. The map displays the various planed distribution of land use that are currently found in in the city of Vernon. Although, most of the city is composed of industries there are still areas where there is housing, commercial, and public use buildings. It is evident in the map that there is only one category for land use which is for Industrial. The Industrial section allows for a broad range of industrial use that supports the city’s desire to stay as a

regional manufacturing and industrial center. Some of these industries include refineries, energy-generating facilities, manufacturing and hazardous waste facilities. It also shows the five Overlay Districts that are categorized as Commercial, Rendering, Slaughtering, Housing and Emergency Shelter. These overlay districts allow for specific uses in a certain area that are not permitted anywhere else in the city. Even though these Overlay Districts are implemented there is contradiction to what actually exists in the designated districts.

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The Diversity of Industry in Vernon

The city of Vernon has been described as a landscape of heavy industrial industry, and although this is true, there are many more facets to reveal within the boundaries of Vernon. Vernon is commonly known for being a large manufacturer and processor of food, but there are more spectrums underneath the category. Processing, manufacturing, rendering, packaging, and slaughtering are just a few subcategories that are included. The second largest industry within the city of Vernon is chemical manufacturing. With two seemingly incompatible industries located within a short distance of each other, what is really happening in Vernon?

A narrative is revealed about the city of Vernon and it encapsulates how Vernon is the largest “cog in the wheel” when it comes to supplying the Los Angeles region. It exemplifies that because Vernon is in an ideal condition, it should be highlighted as the city that really does more.

Top 20 Industries In Vernon (according to employee numbers)1. Food Manufacturing2. Chemical Manufacturing3. Wholesalers—Nondurable Goods4. Warehousing and Storage5. Wholesalers—Durable Goods6. Textile Mills7. Couriers and Messengers8. Fabricated Metal Products9. Plastics Product Manufacturing10. Apparel Manufacturing11. Furniture & Related Products12. Printing & Related Support Activities13. Paper Manufacturing14. Machinery Manufacturing15. Textile Product Mills16. Truck Transportation17. Nonmetallic Mineral Products18. Repair & Maintenance Services19. Support20. Beverage & Tobacco Products

When one describes the city of Vernon, it is appointed as a landscape of no people, but in hiding this city of industry has approximately 50,000 workers coming in and out on a daily basis. It is a unique situation that Vernon illustrates and is unlike any other city within the state. And also unlike any other city, Vernon has a plethora of industries within its boundaries that should be highly regarded as an important utility for the Los Angeles region.

Without the city of Vernon, hustle and bustle of Southern California’s largest metropolis would cease to exist.

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Ownership and Levels of Control

Legally, the City of Vernon owns a number of parcels, but unlike most cities, where parks, civic centers and other public spaces make up the majority of city-owned property, all Vernon-held property is zoned for industry. As furthertestament to the city’s dedication to industry, even the scarce quantity of housing stock in Vernon is technically zoned industrial.

The rest of the story of legal ownership in Vernon is a complicated patchwork of both large and small, and domestic and international corporate and private ownership. This does little to tell the real story of ownership in Vernon, otherthan that there are many players, in many places, who rely on, and have a stake in Vernon. We must look beyond conventional understanding of ownership in order to develop a more meaningful understanding of this unique urban condition.

A more compelling and authentic concept of ownership in Vernon thus emerges: who actually controls Vernon? Who has authority in Vernon? Who has possession in Vernon? Through the

Who really “oWns” Vernon, a city dominated by industry?

mapping of these levels of control, wereveal a deeper, more complex understanding of who the real players are, above, on the ground, and under the streets of Vernon. Due to years of pollution, leaking storage tanks and heavy toxic chemical use and production, State and Federal agencies maintain a significant level of outside control in Vernon. These outside agencies have the authority to effect change in Vernon.

Though the streets are dominated by semi-trucks, tanker trucks and refrigerated vans, there is also a level of social control, evidenced along the sidewalks of bus routes, where workers travel in and out of the city, within the LA River channel, where people recreate, and along the river bike path.

And, there is a level of faunal control, both above and below Vernon. The river is populated throughout the year with more than 200 species of birds, and pigeons and seagulls flock to the recycling centers. Under Vernon, the stormdrain system forms a vast network of underground culverts and channels, housing the dens of coyote, abundant food for the vermin of Vernon, and safe navigation for wildlife under the streets of Vernon.

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The Vernacular

Many people live their lives without a care in the world, not thinking of what the food they are eating has gone through or where the power supplying their precious phones has come from. Vernon is a city of industry, a city that gets down and dirty. The importance of Vernon as an economic engine is overshadowed by the fact that most citizens see the place as an eyesore, but the potential for this city to be greater than what it is perceived as is evident in all of the opportunities others may see as constraints.

As a city that prides itself in being almost exclusively industrial, Vernon does well for the people who work there and the people who utilize the products manufactured in the city. Although the city has a measly population of 114 residents, over 50,000 workers go in and out of the city on a daily basis. These workers manufacture and process the goods we demand as consumers. The businesses in Vernon provide stable jobs for the neighboring cities in the area. Some workers are even noted to travel as far as the Port of Long Beach utilizing one of Vernon’s most distinguishable infrastructural land uses, the rail lines.

Public and private rail lines meet to populate the city for means of distribution of the manufactured goods. The abundance of rail lines and truck terminals hint that the city relies heavily

Land Use + Industry + Ownership

on transportation and distribution for the industries to be successful, which leads to an interesting take on who actually controls Vernon. Are the people who walk the grounds the ones who are in control, or are the big machines that make an industrial such as this one function in control? Trucks and trains constantly circulate in and out of Vernon making it possible for the city to sustain itself as a place of industry.

The scale of Vernon will make anyone feel small. With all of the industrial sized buildings and big trucks circulating the site, it is no surprise residential and commercial areas are scarce. The city created an assortment of overlay districts that are used as boundaries where businesses other than industrial ones are able to be established. With all of the industries being in such close proximity, the spatial relationship between food processing facilities and chemical processing sites, Vernon’s top two industries, is something to note.

Obviously, Vernon has its problems, but they only hint towards this need for a framework for change. We cannot stop Vernon from being the big industrial city it is known for today, but we can provide the necessary steps needed to take to change this area from a place people see only as an eyesore to a place where its importance is acknowledged.

The Vernon Argument

Existing Conditions

Why Now?

Why Here?

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What If

transportation costs were to dramatically rise?we were to lose significant amounts of arable land?California suffers a debilitating natural disaster?

With food processing and distribution being a major industry in Vernon, would the economy suffer?

Could Vernon become the leader in local food production for the Southern California?

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The “Exclusively Industrial” City of Vernon, just south of downtown Los Angeles, has a history of heavy and prolonged industrial use dating back to 1903. In terms of size, no other city in Southern California has a footprint the size of Vernon. As the region’s main hub for food processing and distribution, its impact on the residents in surroundingcommunities is untold. As the major industrial center, it is a key driver of the regional economy, and the city employs nearly 50,000 workers who crisscross its city boundary every Monday through Friday on their daily commutes.

It is a city of warehouses, mills, rendering, food processing, textiles,chemicals, and recycling. It is a city that essentially deals with the inconveniences, the trash, the noise and the smells generated by our modern way of life. Its industrial legacy also includes a legacy of pollution. There is a high concentration of both underground andabove-ground hazardous material storage tanks throughout the City, many of which have become Cal EPA cleanup sites over the years. In addition, the use of heavy equipment, use and manufacture of chemicals and solvents, and use of petroleum products over the years has resulted in heavy soil contamination at many sites. Industries have also been charged with violating

clean air standards and polluting groundwater, and all of this industry takes place on the banks of the Los Angeles River. It is the only place in the Los Angeles region that does what it does, and it is the only place that can: very few people would elect to have the industry of Vernon conducting business in their own backyards.

In fact, it is precisely due to this unique set of characteristics that the exclusively industrial City of Vernon has everything is needs to transition from chemicals, plastics and processing, to nourishment and health. It is ideally poised to be both a leader in local food production for the Los Angeles region, and a driver for change in the industrial arena.

The scale, location and industrial knowledge of this unique city make itthe ideal location for large scale low-input high-output industrial urban agriculture. The contaminated soils make outdoor cultivation impossible, but the city’s massive building footprints are ideal for indoor agriculture, especially for methods that favor a highly controlledenvironment, such as aquaculture or fungi farming (mycoculture). The Los Angeles River, traditionally an ephemeral river, has year round flow due to discharge by wastewater treatment plants, and could provide ample water

for a well-controlled urban agricultural system. The city is also located far from the largest population centers in Los Angeles, making it an ideal location for disruptive large-scale agriculture. And,the City of Vernon has critical industrial knowledge: Vernon knows industry and it knows how to scale up. No other city or community in Southern California, certainly not the Los Angeles region, has these unique and ideal qualities.

In addition, though the residential population of Vernon is quite small—around 100 and expected to reach 150—it borders several communities that have lived in its industrial shadow for years. Vernon has everything it needs to be a better neighbor to these communities.By managing its resources in a different way and adapting its industrial values to a different era of technology, Vernon can position itself as the most appropriate, and best-equipped place for low-input high-output industrial urban agriculture, gain social, economic, and ecologicalcapital, and emerge as the leader in regional food production.

ExistingConditions

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A large amount of processed foods that infiltrate into Vernon come overseas from China. It travels 70,000 miles by ship and arrives in the Port of Long Beach. From the Port of Long Beach the food treks twenty miles through the Alameda Corridor and finally reaches its destination in Vernon. The processed food is then disseminated to Vernon’s neighboring communities. With so much food coming in and out around the vicinity of Vernon there is a peculiar occurrence of food deserts (illustrated in orange). Food deserts are recognized as places with lacking an availability of fresh food. This illustrates an apparent disparity in the food system that is not only occurring near Vernon, but in North America.

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The Way Forward

Global food demand is acceleratinG, and aGricultural productiVity cannot keep up.

doublinG of calorie demand is fueled by Global rise in demand for meat

World Food Production must increase by

70%

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80% of the world’s population engages in entomophagy

Entomophagy is was sushi was to Americans 25 years ago

both the food and aGricultural orGanization (fao) and the united nations (un) are promotinG entomophaGy as a future food source.

Entomophagy: the practice of eatinG insects

insects are hiGhly nutritious, extremely efficient at turninG feed into meat and can be farmed at a Very hiGh density.

they can be turned into a hiGh-protein flour and baked into pastas, breads, protein bars and other Value-added Goods.

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A Look at Proteins

How They Measure in Comparison

COWCurrently the number one consumable protein in the United States. Domestic beef consumption equates to 182 pounds per person per year.

CHICKENNext to beef, poultry is the second largest consumable protein in the United States. Domestic poultry consumption equates to 80 pounds per person per year.

TILAPIATilapia is a fast growing fish that originated in Africa and is not a recognizable source of protein that is commonly consumed in the United States. Currently, domestic tilapia consumptions equates to 15 pounds per person per year.

CRICKETInsects such as crickets have not been consumed in larger amounts to be considered a common protein in American diets. Currently Americans unknowingly consume roughly 2 pounds of dead insects/insect parts per year (found in vegetables, rice, beer, broccoli, pasta, and spinach).

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spacethe amount of space needed for animal

eciefficiency of converting food into consumable meat

agehow long it takes for the animal to reach maturation for food

nutritionthe amount of consumable protein per animal

methanemeasured in amount animal expells in a 24 hour period

Vernon has everything it needs to be the leader in local food production in Southern California. With potential in its position and connectivity, all forms of transportation are easily accessible. By using these forms of transportation, Vernon can continue to be a leader in distribution while also altering its persona as a producing city as well. Looking more into a local scale of the opportnities Vernon has to offer, just the scale of the framework of the city lends itself to become a producing machine. With enormous amounts of floor space and huge surface areas for wall, systems can be efficiently designed and organized for production. The Los Angeles River, a resource that Vernon currently does not take advantage of, runs directly through

the city. WIth the amount of discharge the flows through the river annually, Vernon will not have to rely solely on their groundwater pumping for water. Finally, Vernon has been an industrial city for almost a century. They know the in’s and out’s of how industry works and will be able to adapt in a change of framework for new industry to arise.

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1905Vernon serves as farmland

1919Industrialization begins

Why in Vernon?

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Building FootprintThe average square footage of an industrial sized building is 15,,000 with about 10,000 square feet being usable. Building facades are also unused valuable resources.

Los Angeles RiverThe Los Angeles River discharges roughly 50 billion gallons annually. WIth, such close proximity to the river, Vernon is asking to take advantage of it.

1938Channelization of the river

PresentVernon as the exclusively industrial city

Urban Framework

Growing Systems

River Relation

Integrated Systems Diagram

New Food Flows

New Overlay

Phases

Conceptual Imagery

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Urban Framework

Guidelines for this urban framework derive from a set of values that proclaim to be essential in the improvement of Vernon for a prosperous future. These values will guide the design process and the strategies will be the methods in which they are executed. The strategies are: low input- high output systems, waste to riches, reuse of infrastructure/waste, phasing, and integrated systems. Noted below are the values explained in detail.

Industrial Memory The legacy of Vernon as the industrial workhorse of the region should be something that is celebrated with ferocity. Framework for this value will be exemplified through the implementation of growing industry and the emphasis that this new industry will coincide efficiently with remaining industry.

NourishmentVernon’s landscape is seen as a terrain of synthetic man made materials that symbolize the strong role of the machine. Through the insertion of a industry that is grown, not processed, Vernon will be seen as a place of nourishment. It will be seen not through the perspective of oil and chemicals, but through the perspective of earth’s materials derived from compounds found in the natural world.

ProductionProcessing, manufacturing, and distributing seem to be what Vernon is well recognized for, but due to its ideal proximity, it is positioned to be so much more. Vernon can realign itself as the city that does more and produces more; therefore reinforcing a value on locally produced goods and circulating economic revenue close to home.

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AdaptabilityAs this city aims to produce and package more for the future, it is inevitable that the systems within it be susceptible to flexibility. Static systems are seen as unsustainable and will be obsolete in the near future. Placating value on more adaptable systems that coexist will ensure that Vernon remains a large proprietor and will flourish from its economic prosperity.

JusticeCurrently, Vernon has been seen as a city with many controversies where economic capital is overriding in its politics. In order for Vernon to thrive with a positive reputation, virtue exemplified within the realms of food, economic, environmental, and social justice should be exercised. The utilization of these justices enable Vernon to become a better neighbor to its surrounding communities and entitle this city as an essential asset within the global network of industry.

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The GrowingSystems

Integrated Low-Input High-Output Systems and Products

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ALL use WASTES as feedstock

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IntegratedSystems

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AlgacultureAlgaculture is the practice involving the cultivation of algae. Algae cultivation has many uses such as production of food ingredients, fertilizers, bioplastics, producing feedstock amd biofuel.

Integration With SystemWater, carbon dioxide, minerals and light are all important factors in cultivating algae. Once the algae is ready to harvest the oil is extracted. As a results, two by-products are produced for use. Biodiesel and livestock feed will be used to fuel the truck fleet as well as feed the livestock in entofarming and vermiculture.

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AquaponicsAquaponic systems combine hydroponics with aquaculture to create a more optimized and sustainable food production system by solving for problems that occur in the individual systems. - David Rosenstein

Integration With SystemVermicultured worms can be used as feedstock for the fish. They may also function like the microbes in terms of converting the fish waste to nutrients for the plants to absorb. Water that has been recycled a fair amount of times may also be circulated to the algaeculture section as feedstock. Vegetative waste may also serve as feedstock for mycoculture.

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MycocultureMushrooms can be easily cultivated in warehouses or lab-like settings using a minimum of resources. They can be grown on substrates considered to be waste streams, including agriclutural waste, yard waste, waste from food processing and more. Mushromms can be converted into a high-quality protein called mycoprotein, and processed into a number of foods. Many mushrooms also have medicinal properties, and many are remarkable for their ability to mycoremediate contaminates such as petroleum prodcuts, pathogens, and heavy metals.

Integration With SystemMushroom substrate can include waste from Aquaponics, insect frass from Entofarming, and algae from Algaculture. Spent mushrooms substrate can be used for mycofiltration of LA River water before, after it enters the system, and in between systems as well feedstock for Vermiculture.

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Entofarming80% of the World’s population engages in entomophagy. Is is what sushi was to “western” nations 25 years ago. Insects are highly nutritous, extremely efficient at turning feed into meat, and can be farmed at a high density. They can be turned into a high protein flour and baked into breads, pasta, protein bars and other value-added products. Crickets are not the most efficient insects for turning feed into meat, but they are the world’s most popular edible insect. Some have lkiened crickets to the “gateway bug.”

Integration With SystemInsect Frass can be utilized as a substrate for Myococulture, and can also be sold as a high value fertilizer. Insects can utilize waste feedstocks from aquaponics agricultutral waste and well as algae.

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VermicultureVermiculture is the practice of utilizing earthworms in the processing and amendment of compostable organics or the practice of raising earthworms for feedstock and bait. It aims to take in organic waste compounds and transform them into nutrient rich matter suitable for agricultural production.

Integration With SystemDried algaeculture is used as feedstock for the worms in the vermiculture system. Worms produced from vermiculture are utilized as feedstock for fish in the aquaponics system or sold as bait for fishing practices. Worms can also be dried and used as fertilizer or animal feed as needed. The vermicasting (soil remnants that pass through the worms’ body) is also rich in nutrients and can be utilized as soil for agricultural production. Vermiculture does not require much water within the system and is therefore the last industry in the process to receive it.

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A NewOverlay

64Cultural relationship where the visible water wheel lifts water from the Los Angeles River

Navagational relationship where the flow of the water chanel follows the flow of the railroad

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River Relation

Faunal relationship where the open treatment basin and outfall meet the river

Industrial relationship where the river forms a critical symbiosis with urban industrial agriculture--withdrawing 28 million gallons a year, and then cleaning, circulating, cleaning once agian and returning it to the river

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New FoodFlows

Food Desert No MoreWith the integrated systems of the Growing Industry Project, a new revolution of food is on the rise. By cutting out the middle man, production, processing and distribution can all be done locally, thus serving the surrounding communities in desperate need of fresh food. With access to so many integral highways, fresh food trucks will be able to circulate to all of the ocmmunities in need of accessible food. A new food flow will expand and evolve to satisfy the needs of Southern Californians.

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Phasing

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SystemSections

Because we live in cities, because we maintain a certain standard of living, and because we live in a world composed of things, we need a City of Vernon. Even were we to dial back the consumerism and the demand for cheap products from Asia, we would still need a Vernon. Vernon is a major recycler of everything from glass, paper, metal, and batteries to grease and animal carcasses: where would these things go if not for Vernon? Vernon also supplies the region—a non-foodproducing region—with food, and is a major contributor to the economy in terms of both jobs and export of goods to the State of California and the Nation.

Were Vernon to expand its regional role to food producer—which it is ideally poised to do—this 5.5 square mile industrial city could develop even deeper ties with the Los Angeles region, become a leader in regional food prosperity, and keep its edge as an industrial city in an era where production is heading over seas.

Necessity