Landscape Architecture Australia — February 2018

Edible Way – Matsudo, Japan
Edible Way is a project initiated by a group of graduate students
in the Isami Kinoshita Spatial Planning Laboratory at Chiba
University in Japan. Urban food production has risen in the
public consciousness in Japan, following shock at empty store
shelves as a result of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
Rather than simply growing and producing food, however, the
Edible Way project uses small-scale urban food production
a s a lso a way of engender ing socia l interact ions a mong
community members. The city of Matsudo was chosen as the
site for the project not only because of the location of the
university campus, but also because of the lack of social
interactions among the city’s neighbours as a result of it being
a “bedroom community,” with most resident working in Tokyo.

For this project, Chiba University students distributed felt
planters donated by a supplier to residents within a
one-kilometer radius of the school campus, at no charge.
The planters, placed alongside the streets, help green the
neighborhood environment and encourage chance encounters
between neighbours as they tend to their edible plants. When
the edible plants are ready for harvest, co-cooking and food-
sharing activities further deepen interactions and social ties
among residents and students.

The “Way” in “Edible Way” represents both the physical space
of the street and the methods of building community through
food production. The project builds on the tradition of placing
potted plants outsides one’s home, a common practice in
Japa n. By g row ing vegetables in felt pla nters, however, t he
project turns the familiar practice into a nimble and effective
way of promoting urban food production and community
building. edibleway.org

ParkUp – Taipei, Taiwan
ParkUp is a placemaking project that converts small vacant
sites in the city into active, adaptable gathering spaces.

ParkUp began as an experimental effort by a group of young

entrepreneurs and artists who started Taipei’s very first

co-working space. With support from the City’s Open Green

Matching Fund program, staff and volunteers from the

co-working space converted a nearby vacant lot into a

community gathering place. With few spots in the city for

gathering, it soon attracted other social start-ups to use it for

events and on a typical day, people also use it to dry blankets.

The successful transformation of the space led to the creation

of Pla n b, which includes placema k ing a s pa r t of it s business

portfolio.

With additional support from the Open Green program, the

Plan b team produced a second iteration based on their

observations of how the space had been used by the

community and other visitors. The new design features nine

steel horizontal bars that can be adapted for a variety of uses,

ranging from hanging swings, planters and hammocks to

drying blankets and clothes. The rear area functions as an

event space that can be used for workshops, concerts or

outdoor cinemas. Large letters of 5.32 square metres, visible

from afar, were painted on the back wall as a reminder that the

a mount of pa rk space per person in Ta iwa n is on ly 5. 32 squa re

metres, lower than many other cities around the world.

T he Pa rkUp site is just one of ma ny Open Green project s in

Taipei. The Open Green program was introduced by the

government in 2014 after a series of pilot experiments. From

2014 to 2017, sixty-one projects were created under the program

in neighbourhoods throughout the city. They range from

rooftop gardens to community maker-spaces, turning vacant

or underutilized areas into active, social gathering spaces. As

community-driven projects, they also help to strengthen social

relationships and increase the capacity of the community and

citizen groups to self-organize, develop future projects and

even assist in similar efforts in other neighbourhoods in the

city. parkup.tw

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The Edible Way project in

Matsudo, Japan uses felt

planters to conveniently

introduce urban food

production to a dense

residential neighbourhood.

Photo: Courtesy of

Edible Way

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LANDSCAPE ISSUE 157 080 — 081

AN ASIAN PRACTICE