Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Poultry And The Press: Urban Chickens And The National Stage, Nicole Iroz-Elardo

Metroscape

After a 2010 Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) conference bus erupted into chatter from a tour guide’s passing comment about a new ordinance allowing chickens into Minneapolis backyards, I wondered about the magnitude of the urban chicken movement. Legalizing urban chickens is, in fact, occurring more often. A Lexus-Nexus Power Search of the term ‘chicken ordinance’ does not even register a hit in 2000. Yet in 2010, 141 articles discussed potential changes to urban chicken ordinances. Such an explosion of national news coverage suggests urban chicken keeping reaches beyond Portland’s borders.

What is driving this interest in urban …

Indicators Of The Metroscape: Low And Very Low Birthweight Babies, Elizabeth Morehead

Metroscape

A brief look at the incidence of low and very low birthweight babies in the Portland Metropoltan region, probable causes, and emerging trends.

Community Breeders: Animal Husbandry In Portlandia, Kurt Spickerman

Metroscape

A brief exploration of animal husbandry within the city limits of Portland, Oregon, covering residents' experiences with raising chickens, goats, bees and other farm animals. Touches on new concerns relating to local sources for food, community building, and drawbacks faced by some residents.

On The Edge Of Agriculture: An Interview With Narendra Varma And Gianna Banducci Of Our Table Cooperative, Mike Simpson

Metroscape

One mile outside Portland’s urban growth boundary near Sherwood OR, a new farm business is modeling innovative practices that could become the future of Oregon agriculture. The Our Table Cooperative brings stakeholders from all levels of the food system together as member-owners within the same organizational structure. By sharing costs and infrastructure, the cooperative seeks to show that small and medium scale agricultural production can be economically viable. The farm also emphasizes diversity of crops over industrial efficiency, and its management is based on dynamic governance.. Recently, Metroscape sat down with two members of the cooperative to discuss their vision, …

Stafford Triangle, Jeremy R. Young

Metroscape

This year, the Portland metro area recognizes the 40th anniversary of Senate Bill 100’s signing into law by the late Governor Tom McCall. This landmark legislation paved the way for Oregon’s renowned land use planning system and pioneering urban growth boundaries. Since the implementation of the state’s first urban growth boundary (UGB) in the 1970s, the UGB has become a model for anti-urban sprawl efforts nationwide and has helped to preserve vast areas of agricultural and forest lands statewide. Since its inception, however, the UGB has excited controversy, especially in the state’s most populous area: Portland metro. This year, as …

The Landscape Of Food Production, Nathan Mcclintock, Jeremy R. Young, Taren Evans, Mike Simpson, Jacinto Santos

Metroscape

The celebration of the 40th anniversary of Senate Bill 100 provides us with an excellent opportunity to reflect on metropolitan Portland’s agricultural landscape. The landmark legislation passed in 1973 has helped to protect countless acres of the region’s precious agricultural soils—some of the richest known in the world—from development. Perhaps most importantly, however, the legislation has helped to preserve the important bond between the region’s urban areas and their hinterland, and to secure the region’s local food system. A renewed interest in growing food in one’s own backyard, however, has shown in recent years that urban dwellers need not rely …

Indicators Of The Metroscape: Change In Employment, Elizabeth Morehead

Metroscape

Overview of Employment by Industry in Portland Metropolitan Statistical Area