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Planners must engage in the political system. Politics, as murky and wayward it may be, influences significant consequences in the way our cities are formed and developed. To not participate in the system is to resolve to practice small-scale in the private sector, "off the grid" if you will. Planners strike me as individuals that strive to enact widespread, large scale change; to do so one must engage with the public and the civic, and hence the government and its politics.

This is actually one reason why I am not attracted to Planning as a career. I like to operate piece-by-piece, with small interventions. To me planning invites the opportunity for huge gains at the expense of huge, guaranteed costs. These costs are inevitable because the issues envelop massive swaths of the physical domain, and interact with individuals and groups providing limitless diversity in opinion. With an overwhelming scale, it's not possible to regard every issue, every person, to solve every problem. Thus the work of a Planner is positioned towards accepting failure time and time again.

Politics is an inherent part of the game, so why not embrace it. No matter what scale one is working at, Planner or Architect or X, if there are people involved politics can't be avoided. A planner must, however, get used to the limelight of politics at its epicenter-government- to truly delve into the capacity of the profession to improve the lives of many.

a relevant video

(Seems to factor into our recent discussions) 

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so much food yet so little to eat...

Food deserts are a "wicked problem" in portions of east and south Austin. The USDA defines a food desert as: a low-income census tract where a substantial number or share of residents has low access to a supermarket or large grocery store:

To qualify as a "low-income community," a census tract must have either: 1) a poverty rate of 20 percent or higher, OR 2) a median family income at or below 80 percent of the area's median family income;
To qualify as a "low-access community," at least 500 people and/or at least 33 percent of the census tract's population must reside more than one mile from a supermarket or large grocery store (for rural census tracts, the distance is more than 10 miles).

Further, "access", in this context, may be interpreted in three ways:
1) Physical access to shops can be difficult if the shops are distant, the shopper is elderly or infirm, the area has many hills, public transport links are poor, or if the consumer has no car. Healthy options are unavailable. Carrying fresh food from grocers is also a challenge for individuals who must take transit or walk long distances.
2) Financial access is difficult if the consumer lacks the money to buy healthy foods (generally more expensive, calorie for calorie, than less nutritious, sugary, and fatty 'junk foods') or if the shopper cannot afford the bus fare to remote shops selling fresh foods. This limits individuals to cheaper local fast food outlets. Other forms of financial access barriers come in the forms of inability to afford storage space for food, or, for the very poor, homelessness, or living in temporary accommodations that do not offer good cooking facilities.
3) The consumer’s mental attitude or knowledge about nutrition and food preparation can be major barriers limiting access to fresh produce and other healthy food choices. Consumers may lack cooking knowledge or have the idea that eating a healthy diet is not important.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert)

Problems associated with food deserts include malnutrition and diet-related disease (including obesity, diabetes, heart disease), catastrophic for public health.

Food deserts come about in a number of ways. The commercial siting of supermarkets takes into consideration economic profitability; some areas of a city are more of a lucrative draw than others. The popularity of supermarkets themselves has driven many small-scale, local markets out of business, unable to compete with their giant counterparts' low prices. Zoning can too play a part in impacting the creation of food deserts. 

Stakeholders include City of Austin citizens and residents, grocers, nonprofits, local and federal government, the healthcare community. Planners can address the problem of food deserts in a number of ways. Planners can determine the maximum distance acceptable for residents to travel to a grocery store, and propose plans accordingly. Planners can investigate alternative means of providing access to healthy food, such as farmers markets, mobile markets, community gardens and farms, and gardening and cooking education programs. Planners can examine and propose alterations to counterproductive zoning. Planners can initiate and engage in discussions with government and business concerning the politics and economics.

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An ideal Austin...in no particular order an ideal Austin has an interconnected network of parks and green space, accessible to all city residents by a maximum 10 minute walk. Waller Creek, Shoal Creek, and Town Lake are part of this network. Parks are utilized, safe gathering spaces for a multiplicity of ages. Urban plazas are similarly activated. An ideal Austin fosters interaction and communication between and amongst diverse cultural and social communities. An ideal Austin provides access to fresh, healthy produce to all its inhabitants. In an ideal Austin people grow much of their own food in their front yards, backyards, patios, community gardens, community farms. An ideal Austin supports local business. An ideal Austin preserves natural places and develops intelligently and sensitively. Residents appreciate and are educated about native plants and animals. An ideal Austin promotes a pedestrian-friendly lifestyle. Walking, biking, public transportation (buses and rail), car-sharing are all feasible and accessible transportation options. Bike lanes are physically separated from car traffic. Energy is green and highly conserved. Wellness of mind and body permeates local culture. Compostable materials are collected city-wide, processed into compost, and redistributed throughout the city for gardening, farming, and landscaping. An ideal Austin is zero-waste. An ideal Austin has clean air and water. An ideal Austin provides ready access to healthcare- in all its variety. An ideal Austin promotes the formation of communities and support networks. In an ideal Austin ideas and knowledge are voiced, shared, challenged in an atmosphere active and constructive. Austinites can make a living. The democratic process works.

1

My topic: urban agriculture. I've participated in urban agriculture for nearly three years. Urban agriculture is fascinating to me in so many dimensions. At a personal level, farming is an activity interesting, enjoyable, and satisfying to me. My interest in that fundamental- food- is even stronger than my interest in shelter (bad architect?). When one critically considers food, a number of simultaneous implications arise: health, safety, nutrition; flavor, traditions, culture; agriculture, technology; environment, worker's rights, community, access... Cities, and by extension city planning, hosts, influences, interacts with all of these aspects.

Sustainable urban agriculture typically addresses all of the above in a most beneficial way. Food grown sustainably and locally often results in higher quality produce, especially concerning taste, freshness,  and nutritional value. Agricultural operations within urban areas operate at a relatively small-scale; food contamination outbreaks are largely tied to practices typical of large-scale, industrialized agriculture. Agriculture and food are centerpiece to culture! Community garden spaces cultivate traditions and bring various cultures into interaction. Agriculture utilizes a variety of technologies, encompassing a spectrum ancient to modern. Farmers and gardeners are known for their ingenuity; urban agriculture sites provide numerous opportunities for creative problem solving. Urban agriculture is beneficial to the environment and wildlife. Small-scale farmers know their land, their soil;  farming sustainably increases soil health and fertility. Green in the city is good for many reasons, from soaking up CO2, to reducing heat gain, to providing public places promoting recreation, relaxation, and mind-body wellness. Providing the opportunity to garden is a potent means towards promoting environmental awareness and appreciation. Similarly, through gardening and farming, one comes to understand modern-day agricultural systems, in comparison or in foil. Urban agriculture fosters community and increases access to fresh produce. In America, widespread diet-related diseases- including obesity, diabetes, heart disease- all arise in part due to limited consumption of fresh produce. Through these and additional implications, urban agriculture benefits society in significant ways.

I'm interested in researching how cities can foster the development of sustainable urban agriculture. In Austin, the newly created Sustainable Urban Agriculture and Community Garden Program is making first strides towards this goal. I'm particularly interested in issues of access, as many of the important benefits urban gardens provide are reaped and cultivated on-site. I'm also interested in envisioning ideal placements of such projects throughout the city- in terms of physical location, relationships to buildings and building-types, and community partnerships.