Advancing Function of our Cities Supporting Tissues

INTERSTITIAL SPACE;
Generally, an interstitial space or interstice is an empty space or gap between spaces full of structure or matter.
INTERSTITIAL SPACE (BIOLOGY);
In the lungs there is an interstitial space between capillaries (tiny blood vessels) and the alveoli (the microscopic air-filled sacs in the lungs responsible for absorbing oxygen from the atmosphere).

As I have been exploring my new Upper East Side neighbourhood in New York, along with the City as a whole, I am taken by the proliferation of unused interstitial space that abounds. Never mind the lack of green roofs or productive landscapes throughout, I am more curious and perplexed by the amount of square footage that is barred from access, underutilised, or outright abandoned. 

Increasing my bewilderment I received a weekly update from one of the many RSS feeds I subscribe to to learn about the design community, public and professional life in New York City. This  MAS (The Municipal Art Society of NYC) hosted forum is in honour of Jane Jacob's and her work in seeking common sense solutions to urban problems. The 'big question' of the evening is whether or not "farming amidst New York's concrete jungle is a realistic possibility". Am I missing something here? Are we just beginning to consider it as a possibility and not proceeding with efforts to make it a reality!?  I, of course, am blessed to be coming from a climate such as Vancouver's where we, in fact, look for opportunities to inhibit growth of plant life. But perhaps the novel idea of 'greening' the urban environment in a more 'productive' way has simply had more passionate support in other areas of the continent, and the world. 

Much work and research has been done on the benefits of urban agriculture and its ability to provide an alternative to a reliance on sprawling farms on the peripheries of our cities. That said, there certainly are other questions that relate more  to the urban design implications of this possible future. Can we accommodate enough agriculturally productive space without foregoing our more socially sustainable 'in-between' spaces? Do they need to be mutually exclusive? 

Greenskins Lab under the umbrella of  the UBC|SALA program is making great headway in research related to green envelopes and agriculture in the context of the city. 

http://www.greenskinslab.sala.ubc.ca/cover.htm

As we stop to consider a future "if buildings were the new lungs of cities", I beg to take the vision one step further in the context of my urban wanderings. Particularly fond of the established analogy between human physiology and urban development and city building I wish to suggest a future where no space is non-functional, not even those interstitial spaces that beg intervention. What if the streets and interstitial spaces were the capillaries and alveoli of the cities new lungs?