Contents
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Up Front Information on the ground Food:
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Round Table Urban Spaces that Feed Us MODERATED BY NADJA PAUSCH, OALA, CSLA
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Food Deserts: Promoting Equitable Access to Food through Policy & Design TEXT BY NATALIE ARMSTRONG, ALISON LUMBY, OALA, CSLA, AND ANDRIA SALLESE
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Food in Space! Q&A with Mike Dixon TEXT BY EVERETT DEJONG
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Book Corner Bringing Back the Bees TEXT BY NADJA PAUSCH, OALA, CSLA
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Grounding Food is Medicine
President’s Message
President’s Message
Editorial Board Message
For many of us these final months of 2022 will mark the beginning of the first holiday season where we are able to physically gather around the dinner table and share a meal with our families and loved ones.
Throughout human history, the growth, harvest, preparation, and eating of food has been an intrinsically communal activity. It is an act of coming together, distributed labour, storytelling, shared abundance, fostering tradition, culture, and knowledge, of feeding both the body and the soul. This theme felt perfectly suited for the Fall issue—after all, autumn is the season of harvest and plenty before the winter months ahead. It is a season of gratitude and thanks for the abundance of Mother Earth.
However, with the increased pressures of inflation, the cost of food is rising. “Eating local” is no longer affordable for many families, and the need to invest in local agricultural infrastructure has never been clearer. As landscape architects, we need to pay closer attention to how public spaces can be better designed for local food production. For example, farmers markets can bring a sense of wellness and community to urban areas—as well as ensure Ontarians have access to affordable and local produce. A successful conference in London One of the Association’s highlights this year is the success of the 2GETHER conference, in partnership with the Ontario Professional Planners Institute, which took place in London, Ontario this past September. I had the opportunity to meet with NDP Economic Development Critic Terence Kernaghan, MPP (London North Centre), and London Mayor Ed Holder, who both engaged in a number of discussions with OALA representatives about building more equitable, accessible and sustainable communities.
TEXT BY MILLIE KNAPP
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Notes A miscellany of news and events
Looking forward, I am also particularly proud of three initiatives OALA is working hard on: 1.
Artifact No-Dig, Ya Dig? TEXT BY MARK HILLMER, OALA, CSLA
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PROFESSIONAL RELATIONS: We continue to raise our profile with our allies such as architects, engineers, planners, and landscape designers to build interprofessional relationships. GOVERNMENT RELATIONS: We continue to engage with both municipal and provincial public office holders to promote a Landscape Architect Practice Act. MEDIA COVERAGE: We are raising the profile of the profession with amazing coverage in specialized media including Canadian Architect Magazine, Building Magazine, Canadian Consulting Engineer, Daily Commercial News, and Municipal World.
Municipal elections This October, local municipal elections were held in 444 cities, towns, and villages across Ontario. I want to congratulate OALA members who took the time to engage in the election process and make their voices heard, as it is estimated only a third of residents actually take the time to vote in local elections.
Fall 2022 Issue 59
Editorial Board Message
STEVE BARNHART, OALA, CSLA OALA PRESIDENT PRESIDENT@OALA.CA
As Melana Roberts mentions in the Round Table, our role as landscape architects in the larger food system can be that of co-designer and facilitator. Farming and food production are not specializations which most landscape architects are well versed in. It’s critical we partner with farmers, Indigenous communities and knowledge keepers, and community members with a history and culture of food production throughout the design process. This requires food and access to food be at the forefront of our design thinking. How can we increase the productivity of our landscapes? This shift in perception can then lead to the codification and protection of these landscapes with policies such as Hamilton’s urban agricultural zoning designation. Everett DeJong interviews University of Guelph’s Mike Dixon on growing food in space—and while at first glance it might not appear to pertain to us landscape architects working here on Earth, there are parallels to food production in harsh conditions such as the far North, in periods of excessive drought, or areas with contaminated soils. As the effects of climate change are predicted to make many of our landscapes much less predictable and hospitable, there is much to glean from these technologies as we design for the future. Because food production is such an inherently communal activity, fostering food production is also fostering community care. Not only is it a way to nourish and feed our physical bodies, but it is a key part of nourishing the health of our mental, emotional, social, and spiritual selves. As Millie Knapp reminds us, food is also medicine. It also puts us in direct relationship with Nature and our more-than-human kin, as we are, of course, not the only creatures which require food. Lorraine Johnson and Sheila Colla’s latest book, A Garden for the Rusty-Patch Bumblebee, provides valuable knowledge and resources on how we can design spaces which provide, among other things, food to our valuable and vulnerable native pollinators. On behalf of the Editorial Board, we hope you are well nourished—both in food and in community. NADJA PAUSCH, OALA, CSLA CHAIR, EDITORIAL BOARD MAGAZINE@OALA.CA