Food-System-Sustainability-and-Agrarian-New-Urbanism-Reform-A-Better-Future-for-The-City-of-Auburn-and-Beyond

Suburban sprawl, monoculturalization, climate change, high food insecurity, and unsustainable food waste are threatening to degrade every aspect of life.. By creating a sustainable food

Food System Sustainability and Agrarian New Urbanism Reform:

A Better Future for The City of Auburn and Beyond

Aubrey Sanders

20 April 2020

To the City Planning Department and fellow citizens of Auburn, Alabama,

The Loveliest Village on the Plains has a spirit like no other It is heard in the voices of those who cry “War Eagle.” It is felt in the hearts of neighbors, who dearly care for the

community that they serve It is seen in the rolls that stream from the grand oak trees of

Toomer’s Corner It is smelled through the blossoms of flowers that grow on every corner and it

is tasted through local chefs’ savory cuisine, whose roots grow in the fruitful Alabama soil Throughout its history, Auburn has helped advance the food system and wellbeing of Alabama, whilst creating one of the most unique food cultures of the southeast While the vitality of

Auburn’s culture is strong, the modern world does not go without its challenges Suburban sprawl, monoculturalization, climate change, high food insecurity, and unsustainable food waste are threatening to degrade every aspect of life These challenges are great, but Auburn is

stronger By creating a sustainable food system through the village model and agrarian new urbanism, Auburn can secure a future of personal wellbeing and freedom, economic opportunity and prosperity, social connectivity, strong civic leadership, and environmental sustainability for all

As defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “Food systems encompass the entire range of actors and their interlinked value-adding activities

involved in the production, aggregation, processing, distribution, consumption and disposal of food products that originate from agriculture, forestry or fisheries, and parts of the broader

economic, societal and natural environments in which they are embedded The food system is composed of sub-systems (e.g farming system, waste management system, input supply system, etc.) and interacts with other key systems (e.g energy system, trade system, health system, etc.).”

Food is one of the most identifiable characteristics of any civilization A great city cannot be without a great food system; Auburn is no exception to this Much of Auburn’s culture relates to its unique agricultural history Settled in the arid plains of East Alabama in 1836 by John Harper and settlers from Georgia, Auburn quickly became the agricultural epicenter of the region

Auburn University was founded in 1872 as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama According to Auburn University, “Throughout its history, the college has helped advance

Alabama’s agricultural economy while improving the nutrition, health and standard of living for all citizens.” With the help of Auburn University’s agriculture program, “Alabama has more than 43,000 farms spread across 8.9 million acres The state’s agriculture ranks second in the country

in broilers, catfish and quail, third for forestland, peanuts and sod, and sixth for pecans Forestry

is an important part of the state’s agriculture sector Alabama boasts the third most timber

acreage in the U.S., behind Georgia and Oregon” (Farm Flavor) Alabama’s food system

produces $70.4 billion in total economic impact and creates 580,295 jobs, with one in every 4.6 jobs related to the Food system (Fields, Deacue)

In the Auburn Metro Area, agriculture yields $2.6 billion in total economic impact, contributing to a significant portion of economic stimulus alongside education (Fields, Deacue) Auburn is home to many local farms (such as Hornsby, Farmer in the Dell, and Sweet Pick’ins), family-owned vineyards (such as Five Points, Hodges and Whipporwill), fisheries (like EW Shells Center), and farmers markets (such as the City Market, AG Heritage Park Market, and O Grows Market) These local producers and sellers feed the community and inspire great culture

as unique as the soil they grow from The pinnacle of food culture in Auburn is savored in the cuisine of local chefs and home kitchens Whether it is a night out to enjoy the great craft of local restaurants (such as Acre, The Depot, and Ariccia Tattoria) or spending a relaxing day drinking

freshly squeezed lemonade at Toomer’s Drugs, Auburn’s relationship with food beautifully presents its unique flavor Much of the flavor is passed down through family home kitchens The homegrown success of Chicken Salad Chick shows that the humble cultivation of Auburn’s grass roots food system has created cuisine renowned throughout the Southeast The recognition of the city’s great cuisine has inspired Auburn University to further develop its hospitality program through the Tony and Libba Rane Culinary Science Center The new center will be the core of culinary leaning, innovation, and experience for Auburn and beyond

‘The Tony and Libba Rane Culinary Science Center will be an academic learning

environment equipped to launch our students into leadership roles in the culinary and hospitality industries The campus and community will also reap the benefits of having such a dynamic destination for food, hospitality and instruction so close to home,’ said Auburn University President Steven Leath ‘The potential impact is enormous The Tony and Libba Rane Culinary Science Center is going to be one of the most interesting and exciting culinary education centers in America, if not the world,’ said Frank Stitt, owner and executive chef of Highlands Bar and Grill in Birmingham and 2018 James Beard Award winner for Outstanding Restaurant ‘Our students will have unparalleled

opportunities to learn best practices in the hospitality and culinary sciences within a luxury setting from the best in the industry The entire complex will provide guests with

an immersion in hospitality that is second to none,’ said June Henton, dean of the College

of Human Sciences (OCM Auburn)

While Auburn enjoys a fruitful lifestyle, it is facing major challenges that are threatening

to degrade every aspect of life Suburban sprawl, a detached urban-rural relationship,

monoculturalization, high food insecurity, excess food waste, and climate change are evidence

that show a weakening of the current food system While many of these challenges are not new, unacceptable policy and development over the past century have undermined Auburn’s cultural food system and intensified such negative externalities The continuation of the current standards will inflict cultural loss, personal insecurity, social isolation, civic injustice, economic instability, and environmental unsustainability The fundamental source of negative externalities is a lack of civic consideration for the food system and public wellbeing, in favor of mid-century ideological progress As a result, city planning and civic leadership unintentionally fueled suburban sprawl Suburban sprawl marked the beginning of the food system’s downfall and the subsequent

negative externalities of a detached urban-rural relationship, monoculturalization, high food insecurity, excess food waste, and climate change

Suburban development occurs when mismanaged city planning, transportation expansion and automobile dependent development in the city’s outlying areas causes the mortgage rates of the urban neighborhood to crash The development of suburban sprawl in Auburn began in the 1950s Federal low interest rates, the construction of the national highway system, and cheap energy made living outside of the city not only a viable option for a growing middle class, but a social aspiration to depart from the cramped city and hardship of depressions and world wars (Thomas Laidley) Auburn’s mid-century economy was fueled by its dependence on the car and the spread of its suburbs; “The construction of houses, utilities, and roads in the suburbs, along with the delivery of resources to suburban residents and workers, are integral components of the gross national product” (Thomas Laidley) In order to make sure that the suburbs would continue

to promote economic growth, the city planning department employed weak single-use zoning laws and subsidized the use of cars (Thomas Laidley) As a result, Auburn has become

completely reliant on the automobile, and zoning has become segregated Suburban development

promised social, economic, environmental prosperity, generating large support from public to create a new, modern, mid-century America In the United States, “suburbs and exurbs attracted 91.8% of major metropolitan area population growth, while 8.2% of the growth was in the urban core (See Figure 1)” (Cox, Wendell)

Figure 1: (Cox, Windell)

Auburn is no exception According to the 2045 Lee-Russel Long Range Transportation Plan by the Lee-Russel Council of Government,

Over the next 25 years, the region is projected to continue growing at a rate faster than the state average This growth will concentrate in certain [suburban] areas, creating new transportation challenges and opportunities for the region Most residential growth is projected to occur at the edges of cities and existing developed areas Commercial

corridors are projected to expand in rapidly growing areas and redevelop along key regional corridors (Lee-Russel Council of Government)

In reality, suburban sprawl has not been unable to provide its promises of sustainable social, civic, economic, and environmental growth In its process, suburban sprawl in Auburn

undermined the social, civic, economic, and environmental systems that promote sustainable societal and cultural growth (Sanders, Aubrey)

Suburban sprawl dismantled the relationship between the city and countryside The outward expansion of Auburn through subdivisions consumed the transect of the urban-rural geography In urban planning and design, “the rural-to-urban transect is a system that places all

of the elements of the built environment in useful order, from most rural to most urban (See figure 2)” (Congress for the New Urbanism)

Figure 2: The Transect

Steuteville, Robert

When the transect is intact, city planning promotes a sustainable and balanced environment When the transect is not intact, the environmental sustainability and relationship between the city and the country declines While cities naturally have a permeable transect of increasing density, suburban sprawl limited development to T3 and SD zones The overdevelopment of T3 and SD zones has drastically decreased density and created automobile dependency The mid-century ideology that everyone should live in the country suburb to be closer to nature has dismantled nature itself The agricultural land that is vital to the city’s society and culture has been touted as

land for future suburbs Half a century of suburbanization has left the entire countryside labeled

as a place of suburban development and abandoned the transect This creates an identity crisis, as the boundary and relationship between the city and country dissolves The consequences of this are the elevation of negative externalities created by suburban sprawl For the Auburn

metropolitan area, this is evident through monoculturalization, high food insecurity, excess food waste, and climate change

The most immediate effect of suburban sprawl in Auburn is monoculturalization As defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a monoculture refers to a culture dominated by a

single element: a prevailing culture marked by homogeneity Monoculturalization dominates

the planning and architecture of suburban sprawl because it can be applied to virtually any city To easily observe monoculturalization, refer to the downtown figures 3-5, compared to the suburban developments of figures 6-8

Figure 3: Downtown Covington, GA

Figure 4: Downtown Auburn, AL

Figure 5: Downtown Nashville, TN

Figure 6: US 278 Covington, GA

Figure 7: Opelika Road Auburn, AL

Figure 8: Charlotte Ave Nashville, TN

Google, "Streetview," digital images, Google Maps (http://maps.google.com)

Suburban sprawl inherently creates monocultures of automobile dependency, that do not consider the regions local culture and society In figures 6 through 8, What is expressed about the people and history of the city? The figures do not express the culture, society, value,

or place of the city and its citizens The public realm is the space and identity of the city’s public The swaths of oversized parking lots, empty excuses for sidewalks, and insidiously designed strip malls signify a cruel collapse of the public realm As best stated by urban design author and Professor James Kunstler, “public spaces should be inspired centers of civic life and the physical manifestation of the common good Instead, what we have in America is a nation of places not worth caring about.” Look again at figures 6 through 8 Who would dare let their child walk down that sidewalk alone? Who would want bicycle to work? Who would

want to live next to this? It is obvious that the city planning and design of suburban sprawl does not care for all of its inhabitants, only those with cars Furthermore, it subjects the entire city to an inacceptable public realm

For many citizens, the economic burden of suburban sprawl and a declining civic culture bears too great a burden; this is especially true in rural areas, where suburban sprawl has deteriorated the environment The economic instability and segregation of both zoning and people that are inherent to suburban sprawl often induces food insecurity According to the USDA Economic Research Service, food insecurity relates to anyone who experiences a reduction in food availability, quality, and intake due to economic or systematic problems “In

2018, an estimated 1 in 9 Americans were food insecure, equating to over 37 million

Americans, including more than 11 million children” (Hunger + Health) While the food insecurity rate in the United States is 12.8%, Lee County is at 17% (Feeding America) That is 26,560 people in the Auburn Metro Area who are struggling to simply put food on the table (Feeding America) Fortunately, Auburn has an array of community food pantries that aid those in need (such as the Food Bank of East Alabama) Additionally, many churches in the area offer a food pantry for their neighborhood and/or members While the volunteers that help feed their fellow neighbors in need provide a priceless service to their community and serve as the face of hope for many in need, the unfortunate truth is that such food pantries are only reactive to the issue In order to truly manage food insecurity in Auburn, and the rest of America, a dramatic change must occur in the way city planning and civic leadership conduct aid for struggling citizens The solution lies in being pro-active, and not re-active

While many in Auburn are facing food insecurity and hunger, the rest of the

population is contributing to an enormous amount of food waste In the United States, food

waste is estimated to be between 30–40 percent of the food supply, corresponding to

approximately 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food in 2010 Wasted food is the single largest category of material placed in municipal landfills and represents nourishment that could have helped feed families in need Furthermore, water, energy, and labor used to produce wasted food could have been employed for other purposes (USDA) Food waste has a tremendously negative environmental impact “Organic waste, mostly food, is the second biggest component of landfills, and landfills are the third largest source of methane emissions Methane is a major factor in global warming because it is so effective at absorbing the sun’s heat, which warms the atmosphere” (FDA) The financial expense of wasted food adds up quickly “The average American tosses nearly $54 in spoiled food a week, or $2,798 every year” (FDA)

While 85% of single-family residences in Auburn recycle, the amount of solid waste, most of which is food waste, sent to landfills is environmentally disastrous Auburn sent over 15,495 tons of solid waste to landfills, while recycling only made up 1,669 tons of material (Cook, Catrina) What is clear is that food waste is an issue that cannot be solved through recycling There needs to be a fundamental change in the way that society perceives food The marketplaces of food and how food is processed plays an important role in the perception of the value of food For agrarian cities, the market is placed at the center of civic life The agrarian market provides fresh and healthy high value foods that are sustainably sourced from local farms Such a marketplace stimulates a close personal connection between the grower, seller, and consumer of food In the suburbs, marketplaces have been consolidated to the outer regions of civic life, with little consideration on the local community The supermarket sells goods that are highly processed and sourced from regions that do not provide benefits for the

local region The consumer has little relationship with the seller and is completely obsolete to the grower of such foods This disconnect with food leads to a severe decline in the foods perceived value This causes households to waste more food than necessary, and often leads to

an unhealthy diet For food to regain its perceived value, marketplaces need to reestablish the relationship between the grower, seller, and consumer, whilst stimulating regional

agricultural A Walmart only assessible by car on the perimeter of the city, surrounded by a quarter mile of unused asphalt parking, that does not sell high value commodity crops from local sources, is simply not a consumer experience that benefits the relationship with food and the countryside

The ultimate effect of a food system plundered by suburban sprawl is large scale environmental damage Climate change will cause Auburn’s climate to worsen within the 21stcentury By mid-century, widespread productivity decline due to extreme heat in Alabama will likely cost the state economy up to $1.2 billion each year (Qtd Sierra Club) The increase temperatures, particularly during the summer months, will cause an increase in severe weather and “by 2050, the severity of widespread summer drought is projected to see an average

increase of about 85 percent” (Qtd Sierra Club) Climate change will cause a dramatic shift in agriculture and forestry sectors Corn and soybeans could both see a 15% to 20% decrees in yield by 2030 (Qtd Sierra Club) The decrease yield in high value temperature-based crops, such as peaches and wheat, could cause dramatic cultural effects for their local region

Auburn’s extensive forestry sector is at a particular risk “Under drier conditions, 40-70% of forests in the east-central part of Alabama could be replaced by grasslands and

pasture Warmer and drier conditions could increase the frequency and intensity of fires, which could result in increased losses to important commercial timber areas Even warmer

and wetter conditions could stress forests by increasing the winter survival of insect pests” (Qtd Sierra Club) Climate change will cause disastrous implications on Auburn’s economy and culture if the city does not act proactively to mitigate its effects and become more

environmentally sustainable Furthermore, the struggling present food system will likely completely collapse under the pressure of economic competition, environmental destruction, and a weak urban-rural relationship Without a healthy countryside, the city cannot sustain itself, and eventually it will fall in disparity While Auburn cannot single handedly end

climate change, it can become an influencing symbol of sustainability and resiliency through composed urban planning, design, and civic policy

The continuation of current negative externalities would cause the loss of cultural and societal conditions throughout the region The challenges of the modern world that Auburn faces pushes many, particularly those in civic leadership positions, to believe that the dilemma

is out of their control or too great to correct The sheer subtilty and long-term scale of the matter makes it all the easier for people to disregard it for the next generation to consider Perhaps it is fear, perhaps it is a lack of understanding, or perhaps the challenges make people intrinsically believe that the burden of facing these challenges is a lost cause Whatever the reason, there is one thing for certain that all citizens should believe; Auburn is not a lost cause The city is too socially, civically, economically, and environmentally vital to the entire region of East Alabama to simply give up The stakes of not standing up to the challenges of suburban sprawl, a detached urban-rural relationship, monoculturalization, high food insecurity, excess food waste, and climate change are too great for Auburn to lose The time that the city has

to stand up to these challenges is running out, and they cannot be brushed off to the next

generation