Regenerative Agriculture Infrastructure Design: The Built Environment of Food, Culture, & Soil

• Main Author: Selman, Jesse JW
• Format: Others
• Published: ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst 2010
• Subjects: architecture; agriculture; sustainable; regenerative; Architecture
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses/468; https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1554&context=theses

The goal of this work is to explore the built context of our food system as a manifestation of a set of social and environmental conditions that are antithetical to the long-term health and survival of human life on this planet. The specific focus of this work is the small-scale, integrated farm. The farm is but one piece of the puzzle of how we eat and resides within the larger context of storage, distribution, economy, culture etc. Using precedents, both past and present, and through design explorations this work seeks to develop a positive course forward that will enable humanity to reconnect with its food source. We have the potential and impetus to rebuild and to heal our local resilience, food security, and egalitarian access to fresh, healthy food. Arguably, these goals have coinciding and connected paths within other aspects of our cultural and human needs – housing, manufacturing, healthcare, etc. The essential questions to be answered are: What does a healthy food system look like? How can this be designed to integrate into and support diverse and positive communities? What infrastructure is necessary to support the type of endeavor that creates healthy food, feeds a culture, and heals the damaged soil that is the basis of our sustenance. It is clear that industrial agriculture, the source of nearly all food consumed by Americans, is not this model. Appropriate food systems will vary by culture, climate, economy, settlement patterns, and the like. This work focuses on the condition of the Northeast region of the United States.