At Urban Center Books last week, I picked up a book called “Sustainable Everyday: Scenarios of Urban Life” (looks like a good chunk of the text is available online) — really an exhibition catalogue from the Milan Triennial, with ideas from univerisites around the world on how to create sustainable communities. Many of the ideas aren’t all that new, but examining the common threads between them: local co-ops, skill sharing, applying smarter logistics to local passenger and freight travel, telework centers, managing the use of space (and capital, like tools) through networks — makes for a fascinating read.

Also interesting is the worldwide focus on food. I’m so darn excited about slow food/slow cities as an organizing concept for sustainability that I’m just speechless about it. I managed to write a bit yesterday explaining how slow food (in this case, a public market) embodies the new urbanism, and hope to be able to expand on that soon.

From a draft of the Charter Awards 2004 book:

Portland Public Market
Portland, Maine

This jewel of a building enriches and engages the public realm of Portland, Maine, both by intelligently responding to its site and also by supporting a regional approach to food and economics. The market creates a new civic gathering place for the entire state and attracts much-needed retail and pedestrian activity to what was a parking lot in downtown Portland.

The building engages the sidewalk with generous windows, steel canopies, stone street furniture, a small plaza, and seasonal outdoor vendors. Inside, heavy timber beams provide a neutral framework for 28 year-round market stalls, while a granite fireplace welcomes pedestrians with warmth during Maine�s long winters. Three corner entries and gentle slopes draw customers of all abilities through the market. Local stone and brick literally ground the market in the environment, while operable windows and fans recycle cool night air in the summer and waste heat from refrigeration equipment in the winter. The building�s height and materials draw from the surrounding urban fabric without being overly derivative.

More private settings within the building include mezzanine seating above the market hubbub and an alley loading facility that makes it possible to transplant the food market � traditionally housed in industrial districts outside town � right into the city�s heart.

Like thousands of farmers� markets nationwide, Portland Public Market addresses economic, environmental, and social problems at the regional scale of the Charter. Farmers� markets reestablish the bridge linking city and country; urban consumers purchase directly from rural producers. This direct, high-margin exchange keeps exurban farmland in production, sustains small, local businesses, and circulates money within the regional economy � all while providing consumers with fresher, better food and reducing the need for long-distance transportation and big-box stores or warehouses.

The burgeoning number of farmers� markets nationwide parallels a growing international interest in �slow food,� a gastronomic movement that celebrates local, natural foods produced with traditional methods. An offshoot called �slow cities� (complete with manifesto) focuses on sustaining local ecosystems, economies, farms, and crafts. In contrast to the prepackaged, fast-food world of sprawl, slow food offers a fresh, healthful alternative that nourishes both city and country.

Betty Noyce�s gift of the Portland Public Market brings Portland full circle: back to the city�s prehistoric roots as the market town; back to Portland�s original indoor market, which stood half a block away; and back into the circle of local production. The Portland Public Market is the rare project which simultaneously enriches an entire region at all scales of the Charter: healing a block with civic architecture and public space, revitalizing a neighborhood, and enhancing the regional economy.

Charter of the New Urbanism Principles:
3. The metropolis has a necessary and fragile relationship to its agrarian hinterland.

24. Architecture and landscape design should grow from local climate, topography, history, and building practice.

25. Public gathering places require important sites to reinforce community identity and the culture of democracy.

Juror Quote:
“The market becomes a hearth both literally and symbolically. People and locally produced fresh food are brought together to support city and rural life” Stephanie Bothwell