As farmland is lost due to the challenging economics of farming and the pressures of the real estate industry,[1] DSA attempts to reconcile the need for development with the need to preserve agricultural land.
A variety of individuals collaborated on the project, including planner Duane Verner, developer Nathan Wieler, members of Piedmont Biofuels, participants in the Sustainable Agriculture program at Central Carolina Community College, and others.
Reynolds & Jewell Landscape Architecture was retained to design the master plan for the community, and the team grew to include experienced organic farmers, experts on native plants, and others.
In the spirit of Le Corbusier's "Five Points of a New Architecture," DSA focuses on five core principles: Harvest[3] is a 200-acre (0.81 km2) development introduced in 2008, sited in the New Hope River Valley in Chatham County, North Carolina.
The City of Fairfield to the south, and unincorporated Solano County to the north, have continued to entitle subdivisions while Green Valley has remained largely undeveloped agricultural land and open space.
Many of the landowners, some whose families have cultivated the land for over 150 years, wished to realize the development value while at the same time maintain the integrity of the open space, agricultural productivity and the farming legacy.
In 2010, at significant cost and with no guarantee of success, the Solano County Board of Supervisors – with meaningful participation from landowners AND neighborhood groups – approved a Specific Plan for Middle Green Valley.
The final plan includes more than 1,400 acres (570 ha) of protected agricultural and open space and a small village of about 400 clustered homes that are shielded from the main views from Green Valley Road.
[5] Preserving the rural beauty and cultural legacy of the Green Valley area is the guiding vision in crafting a long term, equitable, and sustainable development plan.
To provide assurances for the long-term preservation and management of the open space, the Middle Green Valley Specific Plan envisioned the creation of a non-profit Conservancy (the GVAC) to oversee the ±1,490 acres (600 ha) of productive agricultural land, pastures, and natural areas.
In these high-rises, food such as fruit, vegetables, fish, and livestock can be raised by using greenhouse growing methods and recycled resources year-round, allowing cities of the future to become self-sufficient.