{"id":15184,"date":"2022-04-09T14:16:01","date_gmt":"2022-04-09T18:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sds.parsons.edu\/urban\/?post_type=portfolio&#038;p=15184"},"modified":"2025-09-17T04:29:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T04:29:09","slug":"regenerative-growth-sowing-a-community-embedded-food-economy-in-east-new-york-by-ashley-lehrer","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/parsons.edu\/urban\/portfolio\/regenerative-growth-sowing-a-community-embedded-food-economy-in-east-new-york-by-ashley-lehrer\/","title":{"rendered":"Regenerative Growth: Sowing a Community-Embedded Food Economy in East New York by Ashley Lehrer"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"15184\" class=\"elementor elementor-15184\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-764a24d elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"764a24d\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-4d229426\" data-id=\"4d229426\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b84b4f0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"b84b4f0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"p1\">There is a need for local, community owned and operated, food economies that provide opportunities for the full life cycle of goods, from production to waste management. The East New York Industrial Business Zone is a prime location to build and initiate the infrastructure needed for NYC to provide access to healthy foods and economic opportunities for historically underserved populations. In Brooklyn, while there have been studies and articles that reflect the need for a localized food system, a multi-nodal food port based on the principles of food sovereignty and circular urban food systems has not been fully described. This project will provide a deeper formulation in phasing a development trajectory for Universe City NYC to grow into a local economic engine for the people it intends to serve. The focus of this thesis is to analyze existing food governance mechanisms in NYC and illustrate the measured urgency for local economic investment and increased access to fresh, healthy foods, workforce development, agri-tech education, and to local food business incubation in East New York. In partnership with Universe City (UC), utilizing frameworks of Democratic Organizing, Regenerative Economics, and Food Sovereignty, a participatory planning process toward the development of a 10 year plan has been initiated. In creating the participatory process, this thesis defines and articulates steps taken to imbue each phase of strategic development with the needs and dreams of stakeholders towards collective growth.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6e83d3e elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"6e83d3e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"662\" src=\"https:\/\/parsons.edu\/urban\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2025\/09\/Ashley-Lehrer-02-1024x662.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-16922\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parsons.edu\/urban\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2025\/09\/Ashley-Lehrer-02-1024x662.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/parsons.edu\/urban\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2025\/09\/Ashley-Lehrer-02-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/parsons.edu\/urban\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2025\/09\/Ashley-Lehrer-02-768x496.jpg 768w, https:\/\/parsons.edu\/urban\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2025\/09\/Ashley-Lehrer-02-1536x992.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/parsons.edu\/urban\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2025\/09\/Ashley-Lehrer-02-2048x1323.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is a need for local, community owned and operated, food economies that provide opportunities for the full life cycle of goods, from production to waste management. The East New York Industrial Business Zone is a prime location to build and initiate the infrastructure needed for NYC to provide access to healthy foods and economic&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"portfolio_category":[37,48,47,46],"portfolio_tag":[],"class_list":["post-15184","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_category-due","portfolio_category-global-urban-studio","portfolio_category-thesis","portfolio_category-tup-2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Regenerative Growth: Sowing a Community-Embedded Food Economy in East New York by Ashley Lehrer - Urban@Parsons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/parsons.edu\/urban\/portfolio\/regenerative-growth-sowing-a-community-embedded-food-economy-in-east-new-york-by-ashley-lehrer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Regenerative Growth: Sowing a Community-Embedded Food Economy in East New York by Ashley Lehrer - Urban@Parsons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There is a need for local, community owned and operated, food economies that provide opportunities for the full life cycle of goods, from production to waste management. 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