The book, begins by outlining the theory and the evolution of CPULS as a concept. This section features a Utopian dream sequence of sorts, in which a London of 2045 is envisioned. This future is one of integrated, productive, green space and walkable, pedestrian/cyclist focused transportation networks. The public, open space of urban London serves as farm, market and site of leisure. London in 2045 is transformed, it's urban fabric shaped by these new connective, productive spaces purposed for pleasure and public, civic use.
Next, the text reviews urban agriculture as practiced through history and explores some of the factors behind the recent explosion of interest in the topic. In Western Europe and North America it was chiefly as a result of the Industrial revolution and subsequent Green Revolution(s) that food production became so removed in it's proximity to the city. Even then it experienced a revival in the form of Victory gardens and allotments during the First and Second WW. However, the authors pointedly note that globally there exists a North/South divide with regards to the practice of urban agriculture. In the global North, urban agriculture is experiencing a peak in popularity due to growing environmental, economic and social concerns. Including issues such as: food miles, rising prices, growing obesity rates and urban economic and social revitalization programs.
As a number of authors remind us that in the global South, urban agriculture never went out of style. In fact if anything it's practice is growing as a result of rapid urbanization and population growth. Two models are reviewed. Urban agriculture as part of larger urban scale nutrient/waste recycling systems (think night soil and it's collectors) was long practiced in urban China and the practice continues today at some scale, in spite of the rapid, urban-modern-ization. Cuba however is the more well reviewed case.
The second model Cuba, has long been studied as an example of a successful transition from an industrialized farming model to one more integrated and locally scaled. The transition in Cuba resulted from the withdrawal of Soviet farming and petroleum subsidies during the 1980s. The resulting system of "Organoponicos", along with a host of other de-industrialized, nutrient/waste intensive, urban and peri-urban farming practices transformed the social, economic, agricultural and infrastructural-urban landscape of Cuba.The system was based on the idea of "Production in the community, by the community, for the community" and all efforts towards this goal were supported by the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture.
Later in the book Graeme Sheriff explores the relationship between permaculture and the concept of CPULs . Sheriff acknowledges there are similarities but suggests that CPULs as a concept is something beyond permaculture. The chief of insight of permaculture Sheriff suggests is the desire to create self-regulating systems which rely on sustainable energy/waste cycles. Next, in a section entitled, "Practical Visioning" Katrin Bohn and Andre Viljoen emphasize their interest in all urban agricultural practices whether vertical or horizontal, for edible or leisure, and labor intensive or mechanized. CPULS can't be rushed, their arrival relies on two key strategies, Bohn and Viljoen believe.
A key strategy leading to the London of 2045 outlined in the beginning of the book, is the identifying and expansion of the current topography of the British "multi-use, shed and garden leisure" allotment system. In connection, they argue for the activation of empty or available areas (brown-fields for example). These small beginnings, expand over time in a linear way, providing "connectivity and space of encounters".
However, what begins with the activation of unused land becomes a cannibalization. Existing roads and other infrastructural junkspace are re-purposed and when integrated with agriculture serve as bridging elements. It is from these continuous elements that the acronym CPUL is formed. The elements serve as public route and agricultural landscape and thus shape the topographical and experiential character of the city.
