Food & Farmland Archives

Editor's Notes & Interviews

Anchoring a Neighborhood

Close to Hartford’s “seats of power” — state government; insurance companies; and Trinity College; you’ll find Frog Hollow, a predominantly Latino neighborhood. It has a mix of walk-up apartments, neighborhood restaurants, stores, churches, and social clubs. But anchoring it is an innovative mixed-use development called Billings Forge.

PCJ Articles

Eating on the Go: Mobile Food Trucks

by Beth Humstone

Beth Humstone takes a look at a number of the issues that can come up in local regulation of mobile food trucks.

PCJ Articles

Food Planning for Your Local Economy

by Diana Limbach Lempel and Christina DiLisio

A look at several projects in the Boston area highlighting the link between planning and food.

Editor's Notes & Interviews

Audacious … or Realistic?

I met with planners trying to deal with the large amounts of vacant land in Cleveland’s inner-city neighborhoods. Their approach to turn things around: implementing creative, green-oriented strategies.

PCJ Articles

F is for Farmland

by Laurence C. Gerckens, FAICP

Maintaining productive agricultural soils has been the basis for the economic and cultural growth of most nation states. In America, however, farmland preservation efforts have gained momentum only fairly recently.

PCJ Articles

Wanted: Downtown Grocery Stores

by Kennedy Smith

As Americans’ taste for downtown living grows, so does their appetite for downtown grocery stores. So, why is it still rare to see a grocery store downtown? Economic development consultant Kennedy Smith provides some answers.

Bright Ideas

Community Food Needs & Opportunities

by Amy Souza

Many people are looking to improve their community food systems, in which food is grown, processed, distributed, and consumed locally. A look at the use of food assessments and food councils.

PCJ Articles

The Journey from Farm to Table

by Hannah Twaddell

The food we consume literally travels the globe. We can now get just about any food we want, at any time of year, if we are willing to pay the costs — financial and environmental — of transporting it. A look at how food moves.

PCJ Articles

Farmland Protection: What’s Behind the Growing Interest?

by Keith Schneider

Why more towns, cities, and counties are recognizing the benefits of farmland protection, and some of the strategies being used to keep land in agricultural use.

PCJ Articles

Purchase of Development Rights: Preserving Farmland and Open Space

by Gayle Miller & Douglas Krieger

An introduction to PDR programs: how they work, what they can accomplish, and questions that often come up.

PCJ Articles

To Market, To Market

by Roberta Brandes Gratz

Local farmers’ markets provide one of the best ways of increasing downtown activity, while offering a valuable outlet for area farmers. Author and lecturer Roberta Brandes Gratz takes a closer look at the role farmers’ markets can play — and why they’ve become so popular.

PCJ Articles

Putting Growth In Its Place With Transfer of Development Rights

by Rick Pruetz

Transfer of development rights offers communities a way of saving environmentally sensitive areas, farmlands, historic landmarks, and other important resources. A look at how TDR programs work, and what makes some more successful than others.