woodhouse: becoming an alive neighborhood

MA Landscape Architecture
MA Urban Design

CITIES ALIVE 2015

Marc Bori, Linn Svanh, Martina Maria Taroni

CONTENTS
2

Research
Introduction
Research objectives
Aims
H
Introduction to urban agriculture
Urban agriculture gardens typology
Land access
Food growing principles
Growing food in schools
Children relation with food
National curriculum
Sustainability networks
Case studies

3
4
5
6
7
8
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

Site analysis
Location
Context
Topography
Infrastructure
Green spaces
Local activities
Building use
Houses typology

19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26

This study is focused on the idea of

creating an alternative green corridor to
the existing idea of the String o Breads,
connecting Woodhouse Moor (Leeds
Edible Campus) to Woodhouse Ridge. This
idea comes after the observation of the
lack of green spaces in the Woodhouse
neighbourhood.This project will be focused
in more then one area, trying to create
a real green network. It will involve two
public ground and the local primary school
(Quarry Mount primary school) ground.
The idea is to involve all the residents without
distinction of genre, age, background.

INTRODUCTION

It will be use as a social connector, as health,

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but also as educational instrument to
make the children aware about the
food production and preparation and
to give more skills in term of the nature.

String o Breads
Leeds Edible Campus
Green spaces
Green spaces in the study area

LEC green expansion

Project green expansion
Sites green spaces connection
Connection with outside green

1 step - actual situation

Examination of key principles of designing natural playground in

school and green spaces for the community, both productive and
for leisure.

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increase the quality of public realm, the social cohesion.Through the
outdoor activities it will help to improve the lifestyle
standards and the mental health, which is directly connected with
happiness and satisfaction.
It will limit the deprivation as if the people will start to produce
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will help to build a sustainable landscape and to increase the biodiversity.

2 step - transition
3 step - ideal situation

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a healthier diet and to avoid the problem of oversize/obese
children and to overtake the problem of deprivation which
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project also outside the school and to involve parents and other
members of the community to start to grow their of vegetables and
fruits giving them the proper collective spaces or promoting the
Back to Front project which can be easily realized in every garden.

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RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

Relating to the school, having a productive ground is

important under different points of view. First of all it will increase the
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improve children behaviour inside and outside the school, it will
help to promote outdoor activities (then exercise) and to revise
the school curriculum including gardening and cooking programs.

AIMS

There is a community amongst gardeners. Gardening has

always served as a way to break down some of social
barriers
Gardening is a preferred form of exercise across
age, gender and ethnicity
There are benefits to the individual via the community gardening such as improved life quality,
personal satisfaction and enjoyment

SHARE KNOWLEDGE AND

BUILD RELATIONSHIPS
IMPROVE ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
BENEFITS FOR THE
INDIVIDUAL

The presence of vegetable gardens in innercity

neighborhoods is positively correlated with decreas in crime, trash dumping, young delinquency,
fires, violent deaths and mental illness

GARDENS BENEFITS
6

People who interact with

plants recover more quickly
from everyday stress and
mental fatigue

HOUSE VALUE

SOCIAL BENEFITS

ECONOMIC BENEFITS

GARDENS
BENEFITS

ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS
SOIL CARE

CONNECT
WITH NATURE

HEALTH BENEFITS
RELIEVE STRESS

EAT HEALTHIER
GARDENING BENEFITS
YOUR HEALTH

As an activity it is a means of aerobic, isometric

and isotonic exercise, the combination of which
benefits general health but specifically enhance
strenght, endurance, flexibility

Around 20% of the value of a

house is tied up in the landscape
A garden gives an higher value to
propertiest

BUILD
COMMUNITIES

Yard care and gardening activities have a direct impact on

the neighborhood and comIMPROVE SOCIETY
munity environment
Garden links different sector of cities;
diverse age, race, ethnic and socioeconomic group

Gardening offers a relationship

with nature which provides a
sense of psychological
wellbeing
School based programs have
significant health effect on young
people, help to promote active
lifestyles that counteract the passivity associated with the obesity
epidemic

Urban and street planted trees enchance economic stability of localities and community by attracting
business and tourists

Gardening is utilised
to build teams and
educate

EDUCATION

Promote a community atmosphere and allowing people an opportunity

to meet others, share concerns, share skills and solve problems together

Gardens are an expense but the

investiment is returned not just in
enjoyment but in actual financial
benefits

LOWER BLOOD
PRESSURE

The physicality of gardening

releases endorphins which
helps to alelviate stress and
its side effects
Families with home vegetable garden eat more
fruit and vegetables for
improved nutrition
Green triggers a response in the
sympathetic nervous system to
relive tension in the blood
vessels and lowers the blood
pressure

WILDLIFE

Plants can prevent floods,

drought and soil erosion
Plants help to preserve
biodiversity and wildlife

Trees absorbe CO2

AIR FILTRATION

Trees filter the air and help remove

harmful particulates from the atmosphere
Every garden plant is a bio-filtration
system for the planet

URBAN AGRICULTURE

Urban agriculture plays an important role as part of an

environmental sustainability program. Physically, it
increases green space, which reduces the urban heat
island, storm water runoff, and improves air quality.
Because food is produced locally, urban agriculture
also reduces energy consumption and pollution
associated with transportation. Urban agriculture
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access to locally-grown produce.

Growing food in cities is becoming more and more

popular. Not only are older generations of allotment
holders still gardening happily, but also a new wave
of younger people are seeking land in and beyond
allotments. Small, intensive urban farms, food production
on housing estates, land sharing, rooftop gardens and
beehives, schoolyard greenhouses, restaurant-supported
salad gardens, public space food production, guerrilla
gardening, allotments, balcony and window sill vegetable
growing and other initiatives are just a few examples.
This wide range of initiatives is more and more
often referred to as urban agriculture.
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processing and distribution of food and other products
obtained through plant cultivation and animal husbandry
in and around cities, generally with the aim of being
sold locally (rather than exported).

POSITIVE
Education about seasonality of food, which can
lead to more sustainable consumption habits
Soil rehabilitation bio and myco remediation
of polluted soils, increased soil fertility and
biodiversity

NEGATIVE

Misuse of commercially available chemicals as

fer-tilisers, insecticides, herbicides, whose traces
in the environment endanger human health

Re-education of taste: possibility of eating

vegetables not usually available in the supermarkets
Improved mental health and relations with
the local community

Increased groundwater pollution and loss of

soil nutrients from poorly managed soils
Council encouragement to local food growing
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services (public health budgets)
Increased energy inputs to grow vegetables
unsuitable for the local climate
Poor management of community gardens,
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Affordably of fresh, organic food all year round

Increased rent of allotments due to high demand

Reduced carbon footprints of food, when

recycled materials are used, waste is minimised
and organic agriculture is practiced

Increased carbon emissions for food production,

when gardening involves the use of a number
of carbon impacting things such as commercially
produced compost, plastic netting bought
annually, slug pellets, plastic pots and labels
for seedlings that are not re-used, plastic
sheets and other consumables

Reconstruction of food commons (when public

land is managed collectively but not appropriated),
renormalizing the possibility of foraging and
gath-ering food, grow food collectively

Enclosure (or privatisation) of public land for food

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costs, which reduced public access and
ownership of common resources

Increased consumption of sustainable locally

pro-duced food (increased self-reliance) and
building alternative food regimes, food sovereignty
Snowball effect and greater reconnection of
hu-mans with nature

Strengthening unjust ecological security policies

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regimes and unsuitable consumption patterns)
Uselessly long waiting lists of allotments, and
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Alternative, visionary urbanism, which reconciled

society and nature, an embeds food production
in the urban realm

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conse-quent displacement of the less
wealthy population

Recycling of organic waste to keep nutrients local

Increased community activity, physical exercise

Chiara Tornaghi (2014) - How to set up your own urban agricultural project with a socio-environmental justice perspective.
A guide for citizens, community groups and third sector organisations - Leeds, The University of Leeds

URBAN AGRICULTURE TYPOLOGIES

Display Gardens - Small edible beds,

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gardens set up in public, openly
accessible space that are planted with
edible plants to inspire people to grow.
They lend to be man-aged by local
authorities, and to be aesthetically
pleasing, therefore the plants are not
usually harvested and people are not encouraged to pick the fruit and veg.

Educational Gardens - Food growing

projects that have as their main goal
horticultural, envi-ronmental and/or
food-related education (i.e. cooking,
healthier lifestyle, etc.). Almost all the
existing gardening projects have an
educational element.
Enclosed Community Gardens
Many community gardens are not
located on public land, but are rather
located on private land. Most of the
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of which community can potentially
be involved. Examples could be
hospital community gardens, projects
for young single mothers or female victims of violence, asylum
seekers and refugees, street drinker rehabilitation projects.

Guerrilla Gardens - These gardens

are a quite wide family of projects,
linked together by the fact that they
are created by someone, on someone
elses land, without asking permission.
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derelict land, vegetable patches on
reclaimed land scattered around the city. Guerrilla gardens tend to be
temporary but if the project gets permission, then this
becomes a community garden.
Public Accessible Community Gardens - this is probably the most
Vertical Gardens - They are usually
known type of urban agricultural initiative. These gardens are located
in parks, street verges, urban greens,
growing projects that extend vertically
city squares or other locations
along a wall, or a window, or occasionally
where they can be accessed by larger
the plants themselves constitute the wall,
public all the time. Plants are grown
and grow in containers attached to vertical
in containers, dedicated raised beds,
cables.
greenhouses, or straight into the soil.

managed

by, or

run

in

Healing Gardens - These are growing

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They tend to grow medicinal/aromatic
plants, are designed in ways that please
the senses, and are run to support
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or creative activities around and in
between the plants. They are often
partnership with, health institutions.

Public orchards
A number of local councils
are investing in the future
and planting fruit and nut
trees on public land. The
act of planting itself is sometimes done in partnership with local
community organisations or institutions, such as primary schools.
Public orchards constitute the basis for a bountiful harvest in a few years
time.

URBAN AGRICULTURE TYPOLOGIES

Community Forest Gardens

Urban Farms - Urban farms are
Forest gardens are usually woody areas
usually middle sized sites within the
planted with edible (perennial) species
city, that combine vegetable growing,
following permaculture principles.This
animal husbandry, leisure and
means that the gardens are designed to
educational activities. Sometimes they
mimic the positive interaction between
run a caf or small restaurant with the
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local produce, they have play areas and
nature, but maximising the number of
offer growing spaces for local schools,
edible species. While less common than vegetable gardens, edible forest community groups or families. In the UK they are usually co-founded
gardens are increasingly becoming a preferential choice of local communities by local councils and other charities for the educational
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Allotments - Probably the most

widespread form of urban food growing.
While most forms of commercial and
household food growing have progressively
disappeared from the urban fabric in the last
century,allotments have been re-introduced
or become regulated by public authorities.
In the UK it is a statutory duty of local
authorities to provide allotments when there is demand. Allotments
plots are usually of a standard size (originally 10x30), and can be rented by
individuals (a smaller number of plots can be rented by community groups).
Allotments sites are usually fenced and restrict access to members of the
public. Produce cannot be sold commercially, but can be sold when it is
excess produce, with the purpose of raising funds for their allotment
association or can be exchanged/sold among members of the allotment
association.
Landshare Gardens - Landshare
gardens are privately owned (usually
front or back gardens) that property
owners decide to share,or to let people
(landless) who are willing to grow use
for free. Landshare provides a number
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of skills, pro-duce sharing, community
building and personal and emotional support to lone householders.

Market Gardens and Commercial Farms

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of the above. They also tend to be
middle-sized projects, but are less likely
to receive ex-ternal funding. Some have
adapted to the growing demand for
leisure and educational services,
and combine vegetable (and meat)
production with recreational activities for family and children and offer some
educational opportunities,in the form of short courses.Some of these,smaller
in size, specialise in the propagation of specialist plants for edible landscaping.
Indoor Growing - Urban agriculture does not
only occur outdoors.More and more projects are
looking into how to convert empty buildings into
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light, or for activities that do not need much light
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Private Gardens - Alongside all these
types of urban agriculture we also have
to consider the wide range of interstitial
practises that grow food within the fabric
of the city: balcony pots and window
sill containers, front and back garden
plant growing and animal rearing, beekeeping and seed sprouting.

LAND SHARE
It is an informal agreement between a landowner and one or more
food growers. Several organisations promote forms of land share.
The most know is the nationwide LandShare (www.landshare.net)
GUERILLA GARDENING
It is the cultivation of a plot/portion of land without permission, but
without appropriation/enclosure of the land. This is usually a
temporary and unsecured way of accessing land. Guerilla
approaches dont secure you a harvest.

LAND ACCESS

SQUATTING
It means taking over someone elses land (usually abandoned) to
grow food, establishing some sort of infrastructure that
aims to be permanent. Squatting is usually more long term than
guerrilla gardening, but to make it sustainable needs an energy and
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on this land.

10

MEANWHILE USES
These are temporary leases for a space that would normally be used
for other activities.This can be idea for container growing, as the soil
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that can easily be moved elsewhere once the lease ends.
TEMPORARY USES
These are occupational leases, or growing licenses, signed on a
temporary basis, which usually are renewed annually.
ONGOING LEASE
This type of lease is especially designed for farmers.
The ongoing term is particularly suitable for new projects
seeking start-up fund to buy the infrastructured needed.

FOOD GROWING PRINCIPLES

11

SUN It absolutely one of the main requirements of the plants,

which need at least six hours of sun a day. When growing in
the lower range of sun exposure, its better to choose carefully
the plants species, such as herbs, all of the leafy greens and some
small fruiting as cherry tomatoes and cucumbers. Carrots, potatoes
and other root vegetables need at least eight hours of sunshine, and
plants such as tomatoes, peppers, melons and squash will not produce
large fruits that ripen to colour without full sun. Plants draw energy
from sunlight, and producing a large, colourful fruit requires much more
energy than producing a small fruit or leafy vegetable.

IRRIGATION Key components of any irrigation system are

well, pump and proper size main and lateral lines. Frequently these
components are undersized for the area to be watered, and serious
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is necessary, it is important to carefully determine the area to be
irrigated with consideration towards increased capacity. Overhead
sprinkling is one of the most commonly used methods of irrigating
greenhouse. Other irrigation methods include drip or trickle
and subirrigation. General information on each of these systems
follows, with mention of some of the major advantages
and disadvantages associated with each method.

SOIL - Well-prepared soil acts as the immune system of the plants.

Its ideal to have 12-18 inches of nutrient-dense, deeply aerated soil
to give plants what they need to thrive. If a plant is well nourished
by healthy soil, its less susceptible to disease and less appealing to insects
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PATHS - Paths provide space to work comfortably in the garden

and they allow the garden to breathe without them, the rows
can get trampled and the tiny air pockets that are essential to
soil healthy can get choked off. Ideal to mark the paths are straw,
wood chips, bluestone pavers, brick or stepping stones.

12

GROWING FOOD IN SCHOOL

13

CHILDREN RELATION WITH FOOD

14

NATIONAL CURRICULUM

Feed Leeds is a plot to plate project supporting food growers and would-be growers, shop and markets, schools, caterers and cooks,
in fact anyone who feels that fresh, local, affordable, sustainable and healthy food should be widely available in Leeds. The combined
aim of all the different projects and organisations is essentially to develop and support local food growing and consumption in Leeds,
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SUSTAINABILITY NETWORKS

The Feed Leeds co-managed project builds on existing food-growing and biodiversity projects in the city centre to
Hyde park corridor (and beyond), linking schemes run by a number of organisations, and encouraging new plots,
to help create an inspirational demonstration of how Leeds could be more healthy and more sustainable through
the creative, ecological growing of edible plants. Leeds Edible campus sites include Edible Beds outside the Civic
Hall, Leeds Unis Sustainable Garden, the Bardon Grande project, LCC Parks and Countrysides edible beds on
Woodhouse Moor and other food and biodiversity planting schemes. The aim was to create an edible
corridor incorporating a variety of projects and to explore ideas and designs for incorporating edible
plants into the city landscape to create aesthetically pleasing, productive planting.

15

Back to Front is a community organisation set up to promote food growing in front gardens so that they look good and taste better.
Growing food at home gives people a chance to exercise, eat fresher food, spend less money on groceries, feel better and help the
environment. Front garden growing improves the look and feel of your street and is super-convenient for growers. But Back to Front
gardening is much more than this; it is about how neighbours talk and share and grow together as communities.
Leeds Edible Schools Sustainability Network (LESSN) has been formed to help promote local food growing and
consumption, healthy lifestyles and sustainability in Leeds schools and communities. We aim to recognise, enhance and
share great ideas, to celebrate achievements large and small, to help connect schools with local support, volunteers,
and national initiatives, and to provide interactive curriculum-based online learning resources, practical help and more.
The Healthy Living Network have delivered a number of projects across the city- including our incredibly successful Community
Health Educator programme, which trains local people to support their communities in making small changes towards
improving their health and wellbeing. It delivers health education sessions in deprived areas of the city.
It is an innovative, creative and dynamic environmental community organisation. It works with local communities to improve their
surroundings, designing and creating attractive, exciting, safe and useful places for people to live, work and play. Improving the
wellbeing of people and communities is at the heart of what they do. Through our work we facilitate the Five Ways to Wellbeing,
encouraging people and communities to Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learn-ing and Give.

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decided to do something about it and came up with the idea of transforming the grey schoolyard into a green garden as a learning resource.
The edible playground has been a huge success among the children and has improved the school in many ways. Not only do they use it for gardening
but for different subjects such as math, English and writing. They also got a woodland area with grown up trees for relaxing and assembling, an outdoor
classroom where the children could gather for story times or reading a book in the woodhouse. The pupils got taught how to grow and harvest the
vegetables in a practical way which encourages them to cook and eat healthy.

CASE STUDIES - SCHOOL

The garden is maintained by the pupils where every class is responsible for their own planting bed. They also got volunteers by the children, their parents and grandparents who look after the garden during the holidays.

16

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West Jesmond is a suburb just north of the central of Newcastle upon Tyne. 14 years ago a parent of a pupil in the primary school, together with a
member of the Highbury South Allotment Association organized an allotment for the school to take care of. This project have now grown and exist
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different sales.
The school is using these plots as an outdoor classroom for the older pupils, where they today got a lot of different biotopes. The allotment room
raised beds, greenhouses, an orchard, a pond, a marsh garden, picnic tables and a willow tunnel. This gives the pupils new possibilities for practical
learning and they use the plots on a weekly basis to dig, weed, plant out, harvest etc.

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The garden along Leaf Street in Manchester was an act from the local residents in 2000. The area existed of a wide pathway, full of weed, in between
two rows of red brick buildings. They wanted to turn it into a community garden where the residents could interact with each other and grow food
together.This is a good example of the phenomena Guerilla gardening were the locals decided to do it on their own and started to dig up the pathway.
Fruit trees and shrubs were planted and they built a big herb spiral made of railroad ties. A pathway of wood chips meanders through the park and has
replaced the former wide concrete pedestrian walk.

CASE STUDIES - community

The garden is loved and has a strong identity by its locals and is now a good example of a resilient community. Here they produce their own vegetables, fruits and herbs together in the community which makes a positive impact on the climate. It is an inspiration for other communities to grow food
locally and stop importing vegetables from all over the world.

17

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neglected for many years. It was in 2011 that they transformed this waste land near 15th and South Streets into a temporary urban resort. The land is
situated just six blocks from the City Hall which makes the area perfect to attract city dwellers to step by and take part of all the activities that goes
on here.
Among the activities, food growing is one of them. Here they produce vegetables for local restaurants and to families in need through the PHS City
Harvest program.The food is grown organically in dozens of raised beds and is maintained by several community garden groups. Other activities going
on are workshops, yoga-classes, movie nights, parties, gardening walks etc.

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a central place in Nottingham that is very underprivileged and got residences from all over the world. With partnership from local communities and
volunteers the garden started to transform in 2003. From the beginning, a hedge, fruit trees and raised beds were planted, but now the community has
grown a lot more.

CASE STUDIES - COMMUNITY

The garden now holds 19 small plots that measure 1.5 square meters, where the locals could grow their own food. A tyre garden made of recycled
tractor tyres are used for raising herbs and strawberries. The big growing circle in the garden provides crops for every season of the year and is
maintained and harvested by the community.The garden today even got hens that lay eggs and keep slugs and snails away from the plants.The hens even
help out with the compost area where they move around the weed and food scraps.

18

An eco- building where built in the garden after getting funding from the Big Lottery Found in 2012. This made it also possible to employ staff and
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community active even during the winter and is even available for leasing to other groups and communities. The community holds activities apart from
gardening such as dancing, yoga, and cooking. This is a good way to bring the different people in the community together and let them try new things
from all parts of the world.
The Arkwright Meadows Community Garden holds a lot of events where they celebrate the cultural diversity of the community and sales when
residents could come and buy vegetables. They aim to sell organic fruits, plants and vegetables with reasonable prices for the community to eat healthy
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and therefore be able to get a job in the green sector.

Woodhouse is a largely residential area

just north of the city centre of Leeds
(West Yorkshire) and home of the
University of Leeds, which is in the
Hyde Park and Woodhouse ward of
City of Leeds metropolitan district.
The name Woodhouse is likely to derive
from Old English wudu (wood) and hus
(houses).

SITE ANALYSIS - LOCATION

Woodhouse is now a largely working-class

area, with a racially diverse population and
a sizeable student community.

19

The area climbs a hill rising from

Woodhouse Moor, adjacent to the
University of Leeds, and backs onto
woodland known as Woodhouse Ridge, a
part of the Meanwood Valley Trail and the
Forest of Leeds.
Older residences are largely redbrick
back-to-back and through terraced
housing. There are also concrete council
houses (the Holborn Estate) and a mixture
of more modern buildings, particularly
student accommodation.
Furthermore,there are other older buildings
like the Anglican parish church of St Marks,
currently disused but being renovated for
use by Gateway Church Leeds, the Quarry
Mount Primary School, and several public
houses that provide historical character
and architectural value to the area.

20

SITE ANALYSIS - CONTEXT

SITE ANALYSIS - TOPOGRAPHY

21

The local topograhpy consists of ridges

and spurs of land, but in general it slopes
to the city centre. Travel into the city
generate the general impression of
descending to the city centre, being
involved into the urban building mass.
7KLV IDFW UHHFWV KRZ WKH JUHHQ VSDFHV
around the area have been adapted to
the tophography. Creating a diverse urban
landscape and allowing the creation of a
great green infrastructure around the city
HQDEOLQJWRQGIURPVPDOOSULYDWHJDUGHQV
to woodlands.

KEY
Primary roads
Secondary roads
Local roads

SITE ANALYSIS - INFRASRACTURE

Pedestrian paths

22

The area is well supplied by a

great
infrastructure
network.
There are few main road crossing it,
which can guarantee an easy movement by car. There also few bus lines
driving through them, which means that
also the residents which dont have a
car have the possibility to move around.
There is a good network of minor
roads which are safer and better used
also by the cyclist and pedestrian. This
is really important in an area mostly
populated by young people and students.

SITE ANALYSIS - GREEN SPACES

KEY

23

General green
Woodland
Cemetery
Semi green spaces
Allotments
Playground/sport pitches
Farmland
Buildings

It can be seen from this map that there is

a great quantity of different green spaces
which connect Woodhouse Moor to
Meanwood Farmland through Woodhouse
Ridge.
The main concerning about them
is the quality as not always they are
well maintain and the value of the
green featues is sometimes really low.
Our main aim is to take the existing
green spaces, improving them and then
connecting them with new potential
green spaces with different function:
community allotments, neighboor parks
and school projects.

KEY

Bedford forest garden

Meanwood farm

Community centre garden

Pennington street community garden
Friends and volunteers
Council allotments
Community and public harvest
CPUL

SITE ANALYSIS - LOCAL ACTIVITIES

LEC

24

Strings o breads

This map shows the different activities

which are already going on in the
area. Most of the projects still involve
a small part of the population or a
restricted group of people, but they
are trying to be more popular and
spread out into the population. Anyway
is really good that something is already
happening, because it will be easier
in the future to create a wider grid.
Three different big aims for the future
are represented by CPULs, LEC and
String o breads route which try to
connect every place in a green way.

KEY
Residential
Schools
Industrial
Community services
Student accomodation
Commercial
Church
Meanwood Urban Farm

SITE ANALYSIS - BUILDINGS USE

Green spaces

25

This map shows that the project area is

mainly dominated by residential buildings.
There is an industrial area on the north east,
but it is not that relevant for the project.
There is the Quarry Mount Primary
School and Nursery, with who it could
be interesting to work, as it is exactly in
the centre of this neighborhood. There
are also another nursery (The Tiny Tree)
and a high school (The Leeds Academy).
There are also few shops which help to
make this district more vital but they can be
involve in a bigger project of improvement.

KEY
Semi detached houses
Terraced houses

SITE ANALYSIS - HOUSES TYPOLOGY

Back to back houses

26

From this map we can see that almost

most of the houses in the area are semi
detached or terraced, so in most of the
cases they have the availability of a garden.
Some of them are bigger and well
maintained, others are mainly just a back
or a front garden without enough space
to grow. But nowadays some projects
like Back to Front are becoming more
popular and these little spaces have
the potential to become greener. Concerning to the back to back houses
who dont have a garden at all is important
to develop public green spaces where they
can enjoy outdoor activities.

Design

CONTENTS

Location & context

Site Analysis
How the park looks now
Design Concept
Master Plan
Materials & Features
Planting List
The Edible Wedge
Site Visualisation
Conclusions

28

29
30
31
32
33
34
35
37
38
42

Midgley Gardens

Location

United Kingdom

Context
The Midgley Gardens block is situated in the very
middle of Woodhouse in Leeds. It is an important
green space in the neighborhood as its the biggest
one in the center of Woodhouse. In the outskirts
there are a lot of green as the area is situated in
between the Woodhouse Ridge and Woodhouse
Moor.
Our mission in this project has been to link together these two areas with a green corridor from
south to north. The Midgley Gardens with its
great location and unused land is one of our green
places that we want to develop to make it more
appreciated and used by the local people.
Close to the site we have facilities as shops, pubs,
Quarry Mount Primary school, the community centre and a church. The city centre is in the
southwest direction and is around 20 minutes
walk from here.

Leeds

Woodhouse

Midgley Gardens

scale 1:3750

Midgley Gardens

Situation today
When looking at the site today you probably wont be impressed. Half of it exists of a feral plot where many choose to
dump their garbage. It is hard to enter as parts are covered
with shrubbery and because of that, the only use is probably
when someone decides to cross it because theyre too lazy going around it.
The other half of the block is better maintained and exists of
small plots of cut grass in a pattern. Here we have pathways
going through the area towards the middle of the site where
a small furniture second hand and a grocery store with fresh
fruits and vegetables are located.
On the site we also have the Moorside Social Club with a big
parking space and on the other side an overgrown green area
where people also tend to throw litter. The two parts are divided by a road for deliveries to the shops and the residents living
here. There is a small path leading in between the houses towards the abandoned lot but it is closed in the end by a brick
wall.

Lots of garbage are dropped on the abandoned lot.

Open grassland, divided by pathways.

Big open land of asphalt and no people present.

The backyard of someones home, not so delightful.

Delivery road divides the two parts of the site.

Climbers with thorns and shrubbery makes the lot hard to enter.

Furniture second hand with funny painting on

the wall.

A shortcut many people use every day.

Small shop for fruits and vegetables.

Badly trimmed bushes.

Midgley Gardens

Site analysis
When looking analytical on the site we see that its surrounded by big roads on three sides.
This creates important nodes in the corners of the plot. Many people walk through the site
every day when going from the residential area in northwest towards the city centre in southeast. In the north we also got landmarks as the pub and a church that could attract people
coming from town.
Even if the block is big, the green space is scattered and divided in smaller parts. As we mentioned before, we could have use of a bigger coherent green space in the middle of Woodhouse
to be a resort for people and wildlife. The abandoned plot on the left in the map is of private
ownership which could explain its bad maintenance. The whole site today is very messy and
unstructured. People tend to do whatever they want here without valuing or caring about the
block. This even affects the residents here, which also have a mess on their backyard.

The local pub.

Existing planting beds next to the pub.

Parking and view over S:t Marks church.

Untidy backyards.

Misleading name of the block.

Shorttcut west of the plot.

The Moorside Social Club, who got a big house in the southeast, seems to have it too big for
their not so frequent use. We think there could be a better use to the house that includes the
people of Woodhouse more. When walking in between the houses in the site you cant come
any further because of a wall next to the abandoned plot. It is quite wide and could be open
up to the public.

scale 1:1500

Inbetween the houses.

Accessable for people.

Midgley Gardens

Inspiration

Philadelphia Pop Up Garden that drags a lot of people by

holding campaigns and making social events. Sometimes
people could be the attraction in themselves.

ple
o
e
p
t
c
a
r
t
People at

Manchester Leaf Street where local people

transferred an abandoned backstreet into a
place for food growing. If people want something really bad they will do much to get it.

ion
Local act

Arkwright Meadows community Garden in Nottingham, where people from different cultures and backgrounds grow food together.

West Jesmond Primary School in Newcastle where the school, little

by little, made up an allotment site, starting from just one. As it gets
popular everyone wants to be part of it.

ing
d
n
u
o
b
s
n
Tra

cratch
s
m
o
r
f
g
Startin

Concept
The main goals that we want to achieve here is to link together the parts of the
site and make it part of peoples everyday life. By linking it together from south
to north and left to right, with the existing network around it, it will be easier
to use.
By searching for information and reading about similar areas in England we
gained knowledge about food growing projects. Food growing is a great way to
raise the value of a neglected site and make people proud of it. The more they
are involved in the process, the better. We dont want to create something that
people wont use, therefore we made a survey to ask the local people about food
growing. As many said they would like to grow fruits and vegetables if they had
possibility to, we could be surer that the site would be appreciated if you could
grow food here.
The residents of Woodhouse come from different backgrounds and got different ages, therefore we find it important that the design got something for
everybody. Food growing is crossing these borders and makes people socialize
with a wide range of people. We also found a lack of sporting facilities here, so
a possibility to do sports on the site would be useful.
The site today is very open and doesnt make you feel enclosed. We want to
change that by making you feel enclosed and safe inside of it, yet with seeing
the surrounding but not make it present everywhere you look. Where routs are
crossing we see a possibility for a meeting point where people could gather and
possibly meet new people.
It is supposed to be a site for and by the locals, so an amount of flexibility is
integrated in the design for their wishes and demands. It is not supposed to be
completed from the first day, but something that evolves over time and make
people feel like theyre part of the process and the success of the place.

Concept map

scale 1:1000

Midgley Gardens

Design proposal

This is our design proposal for the new Midgley Gardens, a place that makes people proud. Some parts have been in need for a full renovation while some are just
added a couple of things. In general this design connects the green space and has a
lot of different uses and plantings that we look closer into on the following pages.

scale 1:500

Midgley Gardens

Design parts 1-4

1. Private allotments

Plant list
Trees:
Apple Malus x domestica
Bird cherry Prunus avium
Common cherry Prunus cerasus
Bushes:
Sargents crabapple - Malus Sargentii

In the northern part of the abandoned lot we

will make room for allotments so that people
in Woodhouse have possibility to grow their
own food. The allotments could be rent out
individually or in groups so that people could
grow together and learn from each other.
Each plot is 3x3 meters but some are slightly
bigger. When starting of the allotments some
fruit trees will be planted to have something
there from the beginning, the rest will develop after time. A hedge is also planted to frame
the plots, avoiding fences but making it harder for unwanted thieves.

2. Public park
We want to create a park that is public and
has something to offer for everyone. Here you
could stroll around in a green environment,
having kids play safe in the naturalistic playground. Some teenagers playing basketball
and an elder couple admiring the plants.

Plant list
Trees:
Apple Malus x domestica
Common pear Pyrus communis
European plum Prunus x domestica
Lime tree Tilia cordata

The park is partly enclosed by the existing brick wall but also by new tree- and
bush planting. In planting beds vegetables
are grown by enthusiasts in the community
growing group, making it possible for everyone to pick up fresh herbs for dinner.
In the northern entrance there is an information board and a picnic table for visitors.
Hopefully this park will be experienced by
people even outside of Woodhouse, raising
its reputation as neighborhood.

Bushes:
Black currant - Ribes nigrum
European elder Sambucus nigra
Flowering quince Chaenomeles japonica
Raspberry - Rubus idaeus
Red currant - Ribes rubrum
Sea buckthorn - Hippophae rhamnoides
Sweetberry honeysuckle Lonicera caerulea var. kamschatica

3. Ornamental planting with edible plants

In the park we also got a part that is covered

with perennials and many of them edible or
used in the home. This will become a proof
that herbs could be both healthy and pretty at
the same time.
In this mixture we found both low perennials and plants of decent height, situated in the
back of the planting. The flowers are mostly
in yellow and pink, making this a shimmering and colorful part of the park.

Plant list
Perennials:
Alum root Heuchera
Anise hyssop Agastache foenicum
Artichoke Helianthus tuberosus
Caraways Carum carvi
Chives Allium schoenoprasum
Common lovage - Levisticum officinale
Garden Strawberry Fragaria x ananassa
Horse radish Armoracia rusticana
Ladys mantle - Alchemilla mollis
March-mallow Althea officinalis
Pink coneflower Echinacea pallida
Rhubarb Rheum rhabarbarum
Sprue Asparagus officinalis
Strasberry Fragaria x vescana

4. Picnic grassland
In the south of the area we want to connect
two separate grasslands with scattered trees
by removing the road and plant grass instead.
With very small effort we will then have a bigger area for picnic or barbeques that will link
together our block better. This will be kept as
an open area where we savethe nature that is
here today.

Midgley Gardens

Design parts 5-8

5. Kitchen garden

7. Planting bed with perennial herbs

In the corner of the new event square we will
plant a new kitchen garden. This could be
used for cooking in the community house or
to anyone fancying some fresh herbs.

Along the side of the community house some more

perennial herbs will be planted. Close to the walkway and the market place where many people pass
by. As the existing planting bed is raised they will be
in good height for picking up as well.

Plant list
Chives Allium schoenoprasus
Common oregano Origanum vulgare
Dill - Anethum graveolens
Garden thyme Thymus vulgaris
Lemon balm Melissa officinalis
Parsley Petroselimum crispum
Rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis
Spearmint Mentha spicata

Plant list

6. Meadow with perennial herbs

In the south east corner we got elevated grassland where we want to introduce some perennial herbs as well. The existing grass mix will
be kept on some places but added with some
meadow plants and herbs. This site is very
sunny and dry so it will fit these plants well.

Perennials:
Caraways Carum carvi
Chives Allium schoenoprasus
Common oregano Origanum vulgare
Garden radish Raphanus sativus
Garden thyme Thymus vulgaris
Hyssop Hyssopus officinalis
Lemon balm Melissa officinalis
Spearmint Mentha spicata
Strasberry Fragaria x vescana

8. Semi-dense bush planting with planting beds

On this site today we find some bushes that
divide the grassland from the road. In the design we want to strengthen this line to frame
the grassland and keep the road out of sight.
We will do this by planting new trees and
bushes in the existing planting.

Plant list
Chives Allium schoenoprasus
Common stonecrop Sedum acre
Dropwort Filipendula vulgaris
Hyssop Hyssopus officinalis
Lesser calamint Calamintha nepeta
Scabish Centaurea scabiosa
Sheep sorrel Rumex acetosella
Sprue Asparagus officinalis
Yellow bedstraw Galium verum

Plant list

Trees:
Common pear Pyrus communis
Common cherry - Prunus cerasus
Bushes:
Black currant - Ribes nigrum
Gooseberry Ribes uva-crispa
Hazel Corylus avellana

On the inside of this planting we will arrange

planting beds for community growing. Garden groups will plant, maintain and harvest
the planting beds. The harvest could then be
sold on markets being hold here or in the local vegetable shop. Here they will sell herbs
and vegetables from the season thats being
raised in the surrounding area.

Midgley Gardens

Design parts 9-10

9. Trees, bushes and open grassland

10. Community planting beds

The north part of the surrounding planting is similar to the previous one. Though
we could have more trees as they wont
shade the planting beds that much here.
All trees and bushes being planted in the
design are utility plants that could give us
useful fruits or material. In the outskirts
of the planting the grassland is kept as we
cant hide the sight for the drivers.

Plant list

Trees:
Bird cherry Prunus avium
Common pear Pyrus communis
European plum - Prunus x domestica
Limetree - Tilia cordata

Bushes:
Black currant Ribes nigrum
Sea buckthorn - Hippophae rhamnoides
Sweetberry honeysuckle Lonicera caerulea var.
kamschatica

Before vs after

Design part 7 gets a more maintained and colourful look. It will form a welcoming entrance to the area where many people pass by.

In this part the community will hold

planting beds that their members will
take care off. We think that the amounts
of planting beds here and in the park are
reasonable for the community members
to handle. As there isnt a community garden group today, they will have to
start small before they could maintain all
of the beds. After a while we think they
will get popular though and more planting beds could be placed all around the
Midgley gardens.

Plant list

Trees:
Common pear - Pyrus communis
Limetree - Tilia cordata
Bushes:
Sweetberry honeysuckle Lonicera caerulea
var. kamschatica

Midgley Gardens

The meadow will also get a new look with more flowering species that is planted
within the existing grass to create a good meadow mix.

The half back-to back house will form a great wall to practice graffiti and will
become a place that the locals could shape as they want. This goes hand- in- hand
with the allotments that will become a green thriving place for garden enthusiasts