Does it taste better if we grow it upstairs?

How

do you know the red peppers come from the roof

around the corner? Who’s picking the greens for

the salad on tonight’s menu? Do you have more

of these green beans that I can take home? Can

your grower come to our P-Patch and help us train

the pea vines? How about those carrots—hands

down, I wouldn’t order anything else! Is it too late

to get stuffed zucchini blossoms—or do we have

to wait until next season to get them? How long

did it take to grow that tomato? Since when can

we grow spinach year-round in this climate? Who Phase 2: Seeding Possibilities

figured out how to get this stuff fresh to so many A Proposal by CityLab7
restaurants? What’s happening up there on the October 16, 2009
rooftop? Is this the only place you can get college

credit for climbing a fire escape to pick arugula?

Invoking the Pause: Creative

Collaborations for Climate Change
 Does it taste better if we grow it upstairs? How do
you know the red peppers come from the roof around
the corner? Who’s picking the greens for the salad on
tonight’s menu? Do you have more of these green
beans that I can take home? Can your grower come to
our P-Patch and help us train the pea vines? How about
those carrots—hands down, I wouldn’t order anything
else! Is it too late to get stuffed zucchini blossoms—or
do we have to wait until next season to get them? How
long did it take to grow that tomato? Since when can we
grow spinach year-round in this climate? Who figured
out how to get this stuff fresh to so many restaurants?
2|
What’s happening up there on the rooftop? Is this the
only place you can get college credit for climbing a fire
escape to pick arugula? How are you what you eat?
Menu
Amuse-Bouche
1 ~ Challenge Statement
2 ~ Project Description
3 ~ New and Continuing Collaborators
4 ~ Building on Phase 1 of Invoking the Pause
5 ~ Scope and Timeline
6 ~ Budget
7 ~ Results and Outcomes
CityLab7 Invoking the Pause Phase 2 Proposal: ON ROOF Lettuce Utility
Amuse-Bouche:
Seeding
Possibilities
How are you what you eat? Are you how you eat?
We offer a taste of eating differently.
Not food that comes to you in plastic bags, or
with labels that take minutes to read. Not food
that is grown states or countries away and
shipped, trucked, flown, or containerized to your
supermarket shelves.
We’re here to discover how we can work together
with what we have to grow healthy food in our very
midst—city-growing (growing food and growing
our cities) as a way to reinvent and rediscover what
it means to put dinner on the table.
In challenging ourselves with the results of Phase
1 of the Pause, we’re talking about carbon without
talking about carbon.
This project is about growing—and selling, serving,
buying, connecting, teaching, learning, sharing,
and nurturing. In a bite, it’s about cultivating a
new generation of urban growth: people, planet,
prosperity, and ultimately, food.
An amuse-bouche is a single, bite-sized hors d’œuvre. Amuse-
bouche are different from appetizers in that they are not ordered
from a menu by patrons, but, when served, are according to the
chef’s selection alone.
These, often accompanied by a complementing wine, are
served as an excitement of taste buds to both prepare the
guest for the meal and to offer a glimpse into the chef’s
approach to cooking.
Invoking the Pause: Creative
Collaborations for Climate Change
Phase 2: Seeding Possibilities
CityLab7 Proposal:
Office Nomads Restaurant-Oriented Overhead Farming (ON ROOF) Lettuce Utility
Part One: Challenge Statement
When considering the concept of local food as a
stable resource in terms of urban sustainability, local
economy, community-building, and influencing
lifestyle choices in a low-carbon/post fossil-fuel
economy, we have found no clear or substantial work
done at a neighborhood or district scale that explicitly
leverages, connects or facilitates connections and
resources to support a local food utility.
Keeping in mind CityLab7’s Phase 1 challenges and
findings related to the sourcing of local farmers
market produce, we propose to explore the logistics
surrounding the creation of a business model
that identifies, connects, facilitates and stabilizes
relationships and resources to create a local food
utility. This food utility will transform unutilized
urban rooftop space into a financially, socially
and environmentally productive resource flow—a
productive rooftop garden, creating newfound
prosperity in the urban environment (noted in our
Phase 1 Report as the “lettuce utility” model.)
Part Two: Project Description
With the lettuce utility model, we seek to connect
interests and resources of groups and individuals to
make climate-friendly choices easier and replicable.
As a test case, we propose to launch what we
believe is Seattle’s first lettuce utility as an extended
collaboration between CityLab7, a “co-working”
business organization called Office Nomads
(www.officenomads.com), and a network of local
independent restaurants.
Whereas the notion of rooftop growing itself is not
unique (see Bastille restaurant in Seattle’s Ballard
CityLab7 Invoking the Pause Phase 2 Proposal: ON ROOF Lettuce Utility
neighborhood www.cityfarmer.info/?p=2057), nor is
it a collective design response that singly leverages
personal action relating to climate change,
our approach to the concept would effectively
“scale up” the investigation, design, construction,
marketing, community involvement, artistic
response and evaluation of an urban food utility.
|3
Taking an integrated approach to creating what
we have termed the Office Nomads Restaurant-
Oriented Overhead Farming (ON ROOF) Lettuce
Utility, we see a fertile opportunity to “Seed
Possibilities” while achieving several mutually-
supporting objectives:
1. PLANT
We will enrich our network of collaborators by
including those currently engaged in new ways of
thinking about working environments, economic
relationships, and integrated skill sets: in this case,
the owners (and workforce) of Office Nomads.
In considering new partnerships and a means of
urban food production, community-building and
delight, the owners of Office Nomads came upon
the desire for a rooftop food garden as potential
enhancement for their business environment
independent of CityLab7’s Invoking the Pause
Phase 1 findings. (As evidence of our confluent
interest, one of Office Nomads’ own taglines
is “Accelerating Serendipity,” a mission deeply
embedded within CityLab7’s own DNA.)
2. NURTURE
With a demonstration site and willing partners, we
can test the feasibility of replacing unproductive,
4|
rainwater-shedding and energy-demanding flat
roofs with crop-yielding, productive urban gardens.
ON ROOF lettuce utility provides a venue for which
very local demand is strong (“local” defined in
this case as restaurants downstairs, around the
corner, across the street and down the block) but
currently met by insecure, inefficient, unhealthy,
unsustainably-sourced industrial agriculture.
3. GROW
Our approach, which co-opts a 20th century
business model from the realms of private utilities
and urban real estate, employs the lettuce utility
as a pilot for climate-friendly urbanism. Borrowing
from the roof-leasing strategy of cell phone
networks, which exploit “wasted space” as a critical
component to their utility infrastructure, CityLab7
will create a business model that produces healthy,
locally-grown food that stimulates local businesses
and enterprise, employs local labor—and yields a
delicious bounty to nourish the palate and the soul.
Rather than a cell phone network, ON ROOF lettuce
utility will build human connection, enhance
CityLab7 Invoking the Pause Phase 2 Proposal: ON ROOF Lettuce Utility
Farmers Market Onion at the Pause Retreat in Portland
neighborhood cohesion, and increase local
economic resilience.
ON ROOF also presents the opportunity for an
intersecting project: measuring the “urban grain” of
the neighborhood in which the ON ROOF lettuce
utility resides. This evaluation is a unique metric
of understanding place—the findings that result
in both measurable analysis and as an artistic
intervention (referred to as the “Curry/Dillon artistic
response” in this proposal.) This endeavor supports
the ON ROOF lettuce utility as a research method
and as a communication tool and story-telling
technique for sharing our approach to the lettuce
utility concept.
4. CULTIVATE
The aesthetics and human experiences surrounding
and intersecting the ON ROOF lettuce utility call us
to engage the cultural and artistic investigations,
interventions and expressions possible, as much
as the business case for the utility. Consistent
with CityLab7’s DNA, we intend with this second
phase of the Pause to continue to model new
Invoking the Pause: Creative Collaborations for Climate Change
Phase Two: Seeding Possibilities (cont’d)

collaborations and media of expression. In

partnership with the spirit of discovery and
possibility embodied in the urban grain exploration,
we seek to develop awareness, vocabulary, and
experience of layered, richly engaged and “lovingly
worn” existing urban buildings and spaces. Taking
cues from—and sharing exploratory findings
with—the Curry/Dillon artistic partnership, we will
cultivate parallel, complementary and relevant
expressions of the ON ROOF lettuce utility in
ways that bring mutual visibility and provide an
opportunity for exploring art in a 21st century
focused on climate mitigation.

CityLab7 at the Pause Retreat in Portland

Part Three: New and Continuing
Collaborators
Continuing collaborators in the ON ROOF lettuce
utility include the members of CityLab7: Stephen
Antupit, Erin Christensen, Laura Curry, Gabriela
Denise Frank, Chris Saleeba, Rob Matthews, and
Critter Thompson.
The primary contacts for Phase 2 are Stephen
Antupit (stephen@citylab7.com) and Gabriela
Denise Frank (gabriela@citylab7.com.)
As the leaders of the project, CityLab7 will also
be joined by new collaborators, including but not
limited to:
»» Office Nomads: in their own words, the
owners of Office Nomads seek “accelerated
serendipity” in the workplace, drawing
new ways for independent contractors to
connect with each other for a richer daily
experience
(LTR) Erin, Chris, Rob, Gab, Critter, Laura and Stephen
|5
preservationnation.org/issues/sustainability/
green-lab) as a user/supporter/networker
for measuring urban grain
»» Individual private and public funders in
support of Curry/Dillon response (funding
already secured) including 4Culture
As we build our network of supporters and
partners, we intend to reach out to potential
partners such as:
»» OnePot.org (www.onepot.org)
»» Seattle Tilth (www.seattletilth.org)
»» WalkScore (www.walkscore.com)
»» Sustainable Communities All Over Puget
Sound (SCALLOPS, www.scallopswa.org)
»» Business Alliance for Local Living
Economies (BALLE, www.balleseattle.org)

»» Lori Dillon, art collaborator with Laura »» Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce (www.
Curry, as part of the Curry/Dillon artistic caphillchamber.org)
response
»» Seattle University (www.seattleu.edu)
»» Northwest Film Forum, sponsor and
»» University of Washington (www.
presenter for the Curry/Dillon artistic
washington.edu)
response
»» Seattle Central Community College (www.
»» Liz Dunn and the National Trust for
seattlecentral.org)
Historic Preservation’s “Green Lab” (www.

CityLab7 Invoking the Pause Phase 2 Proposal: ON ROOF Lettuce Utility

6|
»» Fresh Digs (www.freshdigs.net)
»» Portland Institute for Contemporary Art
(www.pica.org)
»» Contemporary Art Center New Orleans
(www.cano.org)
»» Performana (www.performa-arts.org)
»» New Museum of Modern Art (www.
newmuseum.org)
»» Storefront for Art and Architecture (www.
storefrontnews.org)
»» 4Culture (www.4culture.org)
Office Nomads will play a prominent role as
our partner, as they hold an interested stake in
the function of the lettuce utility. We will seek
partnerships with culinary and sustainable
agriculture programs of neighboring institutions of
higher learning, and offer internships to students
who can assist us with research. Other partnerships,
may simply come in the form of word-of-mouth
advertising that helps us engage the broader
Seattle urban agriculture community in our work.
CityLab7 Invoking the Pause Phase 2 Proposal: ON ROOF Lettuce Utility
Illustration of ON ROOF Lettuce Utility Resource Flow
Part Four: Building on Phase 1 of
Invoking the Pause
Food is the most compelling (and viscerally
satisfying) way for us to engage with one another
mindfully and begin to understand the impacts
of our daily choices—after all, everybody eats. We
felt the magnitude of this knowledge during our
Farmers Market research trip as we searched for a
fully locally-sourced meal while on the CityLab7
Pause Retreat in Portland.
While it represents only about one-tenth of U.S.
greenhouse gas emissions, we feel strongly that
an intervention in the food supply chain is the
most obvious way to “do something about carbon
without actually talking about carbon,” as we
learned we must do in Phase 1. With that, we seek
to leverage the visceral and personal connection
between humans and food.
Through the Pause Phase 1, we saw a need to
target actions at both the policy or “collective”
level as well as at the personal level in order to
truly impact the various levels of decision-making
Invoking the Pause: Creative Collaborations for Climate Change
Phase Two: Seeding Possibilities (cont’d)

that occur around climate change. Although some PHASE 1: Feasibility

policies are in place, we continued to conclude that
personal action and related change is limited—and
will continue to be—unless there is greater inter-
personal connection surrounding those choices.
By designing a new set of relationships in a place-
based context (the neighborhood or district
scale), we can “seed the possibility” of influential
constituency for change as well as make this
personal connection more evident—and therefore
shift demand with the ON ROOF lettuce utility
business model in Phase 2.
An interesting link to note is that another Pause
grant recipient has organized their response around
local food access (www.saboresfronteras.com/.../
invoking-the-pause-project-on-taco-diplomacy-
sustainability-and-reduced-foodprints/), which again
echoes the universality of the appeal of food as a
means of leveraging action.
Begins: Early 2010, based on funding
Estimated Duration: 3 months
The intent of the feasibility phase is to two-fold: the
first, to develop a framework for the lettuce utility
business model; second, to test the feasibility of a
specific site, namely the rooftop on the building
adjacent to Office Nomads’ office space.
A. Market Analysis / Demand: Research volume
of local demand (amount, seasonal, crop types)
for viable candidate crops (lettuce, spinach, herbs,
tomatoes, etc.) and understand specific logistics
relating to business practices, such as long-
lead timing of delivery, menu selection, current
suppliers, etc.)
|7

Part 5: Scope and Timeline Food System Model

Adapted from the San Francisco Food
We propose an implementation plan in three
Alliance 2005 San Francisco Collaborative
phases for the ON ROOF lettuce utility that begins Food System Assessment
with an initial feasibility phase to analyze technical,
financial, market, social and organizational
Natural resources t
B
feasibility, as well as setting baseline metrics. Upon re
& Environmental
meeting the requirements for this phase, the team t
In
systems
will proceed to design, construct, implement, and se
communicate progress in order to garner support to
a
n

Pr

and interest from new partners (restaurants, future

tio

oc

Social & o
uc

es

rooftop utility sites, etc.) in our business model.

od

sin

Cultural Political
Pr

Systems systems
Once the rooftop garden is constructed, the
operation and expansion phase commences.
During this phase we will be actively gathering
Co

n
n

tio

data and understanding first-hand what it takes to

su

bu
m

maintain this business operation—and hopefully,

ri
pt

st
io

Di
n

expand elsewhere in Seattle and across the nation.

A detailed description of each phase and a timeline Economic

follows. Note that the Measurement and Evaluation Systems
phase runs concurrently throughout the project,
beginning on Day One in order to collect, evaluate
and broadcast data based on our metrics.

CityLab7 Invoking the Pause Phase 2 Proposal: ON ROOF Lettuce Utility

 District Food System Outcomes
t
Build & reinforce t
Local business, tax »» Measure of local economy (money spent
relationships base, and independant on potential crops at target restaurants,
t
Increase knowledge & restaurant support
tracking hours of work and other in-kind
sense of connection t
Food output and
other crops with contributions of all partners: CL7, ON,
to neighborhood
and to each l Eco economic value restaurants, BALLE, Tilth, etc.)
ita n
t
Reduced
other
ap

om
stormwater »» Biophilia (how do we make a connection to
lC

ic I
Socia

utility
Lettuce nature in city?)

m
pcat
demands
Utility »» Urban heat island effect/insulation
“budget”
vi
En

ce
ro
nm an »» Water runoff and capture potential
ental Perform
»» Food miles embodied in “target crops”
Ecosystem Services
»» Composite carbon footprint
t
Avoided food miles/
GHG emissions »» Caloric output potential of site
t
Stormwater management
t
Habitat »» Water budget to support growth
t
Mitigate urban heat island
8|
»» Revenue stream (multiplier of local
growing, selling, and serving)
B. Organizational Analysis: Research the capacity
to operate (staffing, etc.) and similar initiatives NOTE: At the end of this phase, the team will report
currently underway to understand logistic to the Funder regarding feasibility of A, B, C, D for the
challenges and opportunities. Research and draft proposed test site. If feasibility is not met, an alternate
an initial business model and structure, answering test site will be identified for study. We will also
questions such as: who are our growers and consider public relations or political support desired to
account keepers? Is the capacity best provided build awareness and ease the implementation phase
by restaurants? Office Nomads? An urban farm- during this time.
steader? CityLab7? Who ultimately oversees all of
the resource flows, including human capital? Measurement and Evaluation: Ongoing (to begin
with Phase 1): Measure, evaluate, report and
C. Technical Analysis: Analyze structural and incorporate data relating to Baseline Metrics as
schematic design, building codes and zoning, legal, defined above.
leasing strategies.
PHASE 2: Design, Construction, Outreach and
D. Financial Analysis: Determine construction Implementation
budget, cash flow, operating expenses, budget Begins: Spring/Summer 2010
projections, debt, rent, operational budget, etc. Is Estimated Duration: 4 months
ongoing grant support required? This phase builds upon the data and knowledge
created during the feasibility phase. We will use
E. Establish Baseline Metrics, including: that data to design and construct the urban garden
»» Current roof utilization (surface modules and begin to record and broadcast the story
temperature, water flow); are these of our project to the local community and beyond.
monitored, modeled, rain gauge?
A. Architectural Design and Engineering: Design
»» Current demand/volume of target crops
and engineering for growing system (beds or other)
used by local restaurants
considering the source of soil, water, other utilities.

CityLab7 Invoking the Pause Phase 2 Proposal: ON ROOF Lettuce Utility

 2010 2011

J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A

WINTER SPRING SUMMER AUTUMN WINTER SPRING SUMMER

Measurement &
Evaluation

Ph1: Feasibility * Feasibility

Check-in

Ph 2: Construction &
Implementation
* Installation
complete
Refine business
Ph 3: Operation &
Expansion
* model

Outreach
Engagement &
Connections
strategy
*
Measuring Presentation of Curry/
Urban Grain Project
(Curry/Dillon response)
* the Grain Dillon response

<--------- Cross fertilization and interaction with Artistic Invervention throughout project duration -------->
*
Note: Partial funding has been secured for the Curry/Dillon artistic response, a complementary endeavor not |9
included in the proposed budget detailed on the following pages.

B. Construction: Permits, access, inspections, beds, PHASE 3: Operation and Expansion

irrigation, power. Begins: Summer 2010 to Summer 2011
Estimated Duration: 12 months
C. Outreach: Storytelling through multi-media: This phase sees the ON ROOF lettuce utility
print, web, social networking sites, etc. Establish throughout a full calendar year of operation during
project website, send press releases, conduct which time we will test the on-going viability of the
outreach to partners organizations for promotion. business model and seek to increase its replicability.
Arrange for display or “showroom” space, kiosks,
etc. Determine approach venues for speaking or A. Operation: Daily operation of the ON ROOF
presentation opportunities, including radio. New lettuce utility, including growing and harvesting of
partnerships, collaborations, community events crops, distribution to restaurants, and maintenance
and other means for establishing connection to and of rooftop garden and equipment.
within the local community.
B. Expansion: Refine business model for replication
Engage cultural partnerships as a way to at other locations/sites and with new partners.
expand the dialogue from a science and social Marketing and business development. Meet with
science realm into the cultural expression and local government organizations, restauranteurs,
contemporary art realm. Increasing visibility of property owners, growers, community-supported
climate mitigation strategies through art, while agricultural organizations, and others to replicate
discovering new thinking and support of this 21st this business model across the state, region, and
century conversation. potentially, the nation.

CityLab7 Invoking the Pause Phase 2 Proposal: ON ROOF Lettuce Utility

12 |
Farmers Market Baby Artichokes at The Pause Retreat in Portland
Part 7: Results and Outcomes
We anticipate the following to result from our work
on the ON ROOF lettuce utility:
»» Measurable data relating to optimization
of roof space, including energy use, water
savings, carbon liability, and financial
benefit
»» Reclamation of urban space that becomes
more productive and rich as a key strategy
to greenhouse gas reduction strategies
(i.e., eliminate transportation needs, reduce
energy demand, increase wellbeing, etc.)
»» Build new working relationships, business
models and “low-profit” organizational
arrangements that support local
independent business, economic and
cultural flows
»» Connect economic activity with natural
seasonal cycles in the city
CityLab7 Invoking the Pause Phase 2 Proposal: ON ROOF Lettuce Utility
»» Film documentation of process and
outcomes
»» Performance/installation engaging
community participants, casual observers
and users resulting from actions of
proposal
»» Creating awareness and possibilities for
human connections through the every day
uses manifest in this proposal
»» Business model for the lettuce utility;
research and outcomes are made public
for user adoption elsewhere, including
storytelling
»» Institutional knowledge and experience
that can be used by CityLab7 to propagate
additional endeavors