Get Food from Right Under Your Nose with Urban Gardening

Do you know where your food comes from? Many city dwellers don't despite the growing popularity of the localavore and slow food movements. Often it is difficult to connect with the production of our food simply because we are so far removed from it, but why should it be that way?

Most of us live in what author Carolyn Steel calls the "urban paradox", where the cities we live in are equipped to feed its inhabitants, yet they don't. Instead, "the modern food industry has made us reliant on unsustainable processes, while obscuring our vital relationship with nature." This growing detachment from our food is cause for concern considering global food prices are expected to rise within the next year. The way we sustain ourselves has to shift. The question of how do we feed ourselves and become self-reliant is often asked, and luckily there are many architects, urban planners, designers and think tanks addressing this issue. One solution is to look at urban gardening and ways of incorporating it into our living spaces.

Founded by Columbia University graduates Saranga Nakhooda and Devin Lafo, growingCities is a "research and design think-tank for urban agriculture" that creates protoypes for tight urban spaces, developing ingenious designs for urban farming. From using the area around window sills to monopolizing spaces below benches and desks, growingCities and their clever designs are food for thought when it comes to reinterpreting our own spaces and how to use them in a practical manner. All it takes is a little time and effort, but it's really worth it.