community food forestry
the community food forestry initiative (cffi) takes a unique and innovative approach to address the challenge urban and community tree canopy loss due to re/development by providing planners, developers, policy-makers, designers and practitioners a comprehensive set of resources that integrate food-producing trees and plants into the urban landscape. in addition, it will help raise public and professional awareness around the issue of using urban places to grow food.
challenges
development and redevelopment is happening at an unprecedented rate and more often than not, established trees and forests are pushed out in favor of more buildings. cffi offers a unique way forward that makes urban forests indispensable amenities in the urban landscape.
We will accomplish this in several ways:
1) by suggesting forests that are comprised of food producing plants;
2) by demonstrating ways to integrate these tightly into a wide variety of interventions within the re/development; and
3) by creating easily accessible resources and tools that anyone, but particularly practitioners, planners, developers, etc. can use to implement these food forests into the re/development projects.
audience
our intended audience is anyone who is a planner, practitioner, policy-maker or stakeholder in development or redevelopment projects.
the resources and tools in particular are likely to be used mainly by professional audiences (developers, planners, architects, engineers, etc.). However, the tools will be easy enough for non-professionals such as community activists, non-profits, or average citizens.
solutions
code module
cffi will document all the possible ways to integrate food forests into every type of public and civic space, using graphical representations and descriptions to succinctly communicate the relative placement, form and the functions of each component in the planted space.
the code module will be universal in nature and not specific to any region or species. it will enable users to easily integrate food-based plantings into almost any situation within the urban landscape in their communities.
index of edible and useful plants
this index will allow users to pick and choose appropriate trees and plants for each situation in their food forest planting that fulfills each particular role within the planting and is appropriate to the climate and microclimate of each planting situation.
edible/useful plants knowledge base
i-tree integration
multi-level indicators
indicators will measure success at various levels from the landscape to the individual plant that measure resistance, resilience and appropriateness of planting.
users will be able to easily evaluate which components of their plantings will have synergistic effects that create greater value and lower-maintenance interventions in the landscape.
planting scenarios/templates
design and document a representative set of planting scenarios for various types of public and civic spaces rendered in the code module in varying climate zones throughout the US.
templates will be developed for each of the various scenarios applicable to each region.
platform/portal
workshops/training/ technical assistance
dissemination/ demonstration
demonstration plantings will be completed in new york city and in miami.
a very active campaign will disseminate the products produced here far and wide.
project partners


