The sky’s the limit when it comes to urban farming, as RAD Urban and Top Leaf Farms have proven with their project at 2201 Dwight Street, in Berkeley, CA. The CCLR team visited the property to speak to Benjamin Fahrer, co-owner, principal designer and farm manager at Top Leaf, and Jason Laub, RAD Urban’s VP and Director of Operations, to learn more about the ultimate creative use of an oft-ignored space: rooftop farming!

At CCLR, we’ve been hearing a great deal of interest lately about landfills.  This sparked our April workshop in San Jose, CA, where Jeff Ludlow, Principal at Langan Engineering, gave two presentations about landfill post-closure redevelopment.  Other communities have reached out with questions about capping landfills or the feasibility of building on landfills.  Landfills pose unique challenges, but they also offer powerful opportunities for redevelopment. 

Seventeen years in the making, the Miraflores Senior affordable housing project celebrated its groundbreaking on May 15th, 2017.  Miraflores Senior is being developed by non-profit developer Eden Housing in partnership with the Richmond-based Community Housing Development Corporation (CHDC) on 1.56 acres, and is part of a larger master-planned development of the entire 14-acre site.

TOD Technical Assistance Initiative

Here at CCLR, we’re deeply interested in Transit Oriented Development (TOD). Redeveloping vacant or underutilized properties with an eye toward transit, mobility and access is a best practice, and helps promote sustainable, economic growth, and community health. Consider that compared to sprawl, brownfields redevelopment projects lower vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions by 32 to 57 percent, and a big part of that is TOD.¹

The NJ Brownfields Interagency Working Group (NJ IAWG) collaborated with the NJ Mayors Association (NJ UMA) to deliver an invaluable workshop on redevelopment and community goals to promote economic revitalization in New Jersey urban communities.

The Center for Creative Land Recycling (CCLR) and New Partners for Community Revitalization (NPCR)  set out to make the “Brownfield Redevelopment and Community Revitalization” Summit the most consequential meeting of redevelopment practitioners in New York State in 2017.

About fifteen years ago, renowned Japanese master builder and zen architecture guru, Paul Discoe, purchased a plot of land in West Oakland. He named the strip of land the O2 Artisan’s Aggregate (O2AA) and envisioned it as a maker-space for sustainability-minded creators in the community. The site encompasses about 2.5 acres on the corner of Magnolia Street and West Grand Avenue, nestled in brownfield-rich area of West Oakland between various industrial metals recyclers, American Steelworks, and concrete manufacturers.The O2AA is striving to preserve the spirit of both pre- and post-industrial craftsmanship through innovative, sustainable and socially responsible processes.

On Saturday, June 3rd, they came as Wonder Woman, Shrek, fire fighters and other superheroes to Gresham’s Rock the Block, a family-oriented celebration that featured organizations providing community members access to much needed, life-changing resources.

The Center for Creative Land Recycling, in partnership with the CA Department of Toxic Substances Control held a free half-day workshop and walking tour in Vista, focusing on recycling underutilized land for economic development, renewable energy, and affordable housing.

The fourth biennial Sierra Fund conference, focused on finding ways to reclaim and remediate mine-scarred lands in the Sierra, took place at the Sacramento State University on May 8th and 9th. The full slate of programming was kicked off by Elizabeth “Izzy” Martin, CEO of the Sierra Fund, who spoke about the grip that absentee landowners have over the land in the Sierra. The stage for a frank conversation about land-use and equity was further set by Lawrie Mott, a former scientist with the National Resources Defense Council, who begged the question: “Can our 20th Century water systems survive the 21st Century climate reality?”