The School of Architecture at The University of Texas at Arlington is providing overall project development and design services for the construction of an urban youth farm in West Dallas. The project is the result of a year and a half of envisioning a beneficial public green space and an opportunity to address public health and a supportive work environment for high school aged youth. A coalition of supporters has been assembled to build the urban farm in the La Bajada neighborhood of West Dallas. Located just west of the Trinity Groves development (which includes a restaurant start-up incubator) and the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, the neighborhood is a working-class enclave that is 93 percent Hispanic. Employment opportunities for area youth are few, and affordable healthy food options have been limited. The project is closely based on a similar one in New Orleans known as the Grow Dat Youth Farm that was created by the Tulane University School of Architecture three years ago.

 

As part of their spring 2014 studio, graduate architecture students from the School of Architecture at The University of Texas at Arlington worked with the La Bajada neighborhood and West Dallas Community Centers, Inc. (WDCC) to design the urban farm and recreational space on the vacant land owned by WDCC at their Bataan Street Community Center site. The students were led by landscape architecture professor Kevin Sloan, ASLA and School of Architecture dean Donald Gatzke, AIA. Urban-farming consultants were interviewed, and the students designed the physical facilities required to run a working farm.