Before the year 1900, farms and orchards were standard components of any urban landscape. Today, cities are unable to provide for themselves creating a detrimental transportation footprint and serious fresh food inequities. As our climate changes, we must combine our need to sequester carbon and cool our city with our need to provide healthy local foods to all urban residents including wildlife.
Currently there are 42,100 vacant lots and buldings in Philadelphia, and public agencies own 14% of them, roughly 5,880. Each vanant lot, rooftop, sidewalk, and facade offers opportunities for regenerative urban agriculture, urban orchards, and a re-wilding of the city to promote biodiversity, one microhabitat at a time.