Research + Design Advanced Studio
Plant the Network
An Urban Farm Hub on Fulton Street
Urban vs Rural Agriculture
Agriculture shapes rural and urban life in different ways, yet both contexts reveal how food systems structure relationships, labor, and community. In Chester, fields and housing exist side by side, and the question focuses on the people who sustain the system. How do migrant workers live, gather, cook, and find dignity in a landscape that depends on their labor while keeping their lives out of view?
In Brooklyn, NY, agriculture appears through gardens in vacant plots, farmers' markets, ventures like NYC GreenThumb, and shared public space rather than expansive fields. The challenge becomes understanding how urban communities who are removed from food production can reconnect to the systems that support them. The question asks how space can foster shared practices, mutual care, and a local food culture within a dense neighborhood. Urban farming acts as a civic anchor, creating opportunities to grow, cook, and gather in ways that strengthen community ties. The Fulton Street hub positions agriculture as a public resource that supports belonging, participation, and everyday connection within the city.
The 1024 Fulton Street site sits within a neighborhood shaped by small-scale food systems, from community gardens to cooperative growing spaces. These efforts are deeply rooted in the lives of nearby residents, especially Black, Caribbean, and immigrant communities who rely on gardens for fresh produce, cultural food practices, and shared public space. Yet these spaces often operate without stable infrastructure, funding, or long-term land security. Many gardens function independently, with separate volunteer groups, limited tools, and uneven programming capacity. Their missions overlap, but their resources do not.
This landscape reveals a need for a more connected and supported approach to urban agriculture. An urban farm hub at Fulton Street can serve as an anchor for these dispersed efforts.
How can linking dispersed neighborhood gardens into a coordinated system create the shared spaces and food infrastructure needed for urban communities to reconnect to the processes that sustain them?
Urban Farm Hub
Source: Site composite showing relation of community space formed by church and playground in relation to these community gardens
The location of 1024 Fulton Street gives it a unique role within the neighborhood’s daily rhythms. The site sits directly between a long-standing church and a popular playground, two anchors that draw families, elders, and young people throughout the day. This steady flow of activity creates a natural point of convergence, giving the site built-in foot traffic and a community already accustomed to gathering there. Its close proximity to the Franklin Avenue subway station further increases accessibility, allowing residents, gardeners, and visitors to reach the site easily from across the neighborhood and beyond. Historically intended for public use, the site has long carried the expectation of serving its surrounding residents. Placing an urban farm hub here strengthens that legacy by transforming an underused parcel into an accessible, civic-facing resource. The site’s social anchors, transit access, and visibility along Fulton Street make it an ideal location for a stable hub that supports and amplifies existing food-growing efforts.
Massing Concept
Diagrams showing connection between playground, church and street.
Schematic Design
Section
Material Reflections
On Fulton Street, between a children’s playground and a church, the site sits within a cluster of community gardens and small farms in Bed-Stuy/Clinton Hill. Many of these sites operate on their own even though their aims, operations, and communities overlap. The Fulton Street project uses its unique crossroads, where families come for the playground and neighbors gather at the church, to connect them into a shared network. Urban-farm terraces rise from the playground along the south-facing community wing, continuing the landscape and inviting people in. Inside are a seedling nursery, tool-lending cage, community kitchen, and a reliable SNAP farmstand that coordinates distribution and public access. The street-facing residential wing lifts to form a shaded plaza linking park and church, announcing a civic entrance.
