I'd like to draw your attention to two reviews of the book Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes (Architectural Press, 2005) edited by British architect Andre Viljoen.  I met Andre a year ago in Dublin after he presentated at the FEASTA Food Security in an Energy Scarce World conference, so while I haven't read the book I can say that he brought a really impressive perspective to the conference, more from an urban planning than his native architectural basis.

Rob Hopkins at Transition Culture writes:

Great book, terrible title. Andre Viljoen has put together a book of the most profound importance at this point in history. How will we feed our cities beyond the age of cheap oil? Does the old concept that the cities are for people to live in and the countryside is for growing food in still have any relevance when our cheap transport system is no longer able to function? Viljon argues not. We should view our cities as much in terms of being productive spaces as we view our rural areas.

‘The city as a farm’ may appear a fanciful notion in our 21st century industrialised society, yet if we look to the only country thus far to have experienced peak oil, Cuba, we can gain some insight into how we too will have to rethink some basic assumptions. This book contains some of the best literature on the Cuban experience I have yet read. In essence, when the Soviet Union collapsed, Cuba’s oil imports were reduced practically to zero almost overnight. It had, up to that point, developed a Western style intensive agriculture model, which became rapidly unworkable. Agriculture was redesigned, and is now more than 80% organic. What is perhaps more exciting was the explosion in urban agriculture. Havana now produces half of its fresh vegetables within the city, from a series of community gardens, as well as on balconies and rooftops.

Debra Solomon at CuniBlog writes:

CPULs is a compelling vision for urban planners and (landscape) architects. The book is loaded with truly useful facts and case studies yet somehow remains a rivetting read for layfolk, comme moi.

CPULs’ authors articulate the benefits and obstacles to their proposal and offer cogent strategies for creating city land use policy in which urban green and brown are treated as productive space, considering the unbuilt as an event of equal intensity as the built. A vision of a thriving CPULs in London 2045 provides a powerful scenario that I can imagine myself being a part of at any stage in my life. This is something I would not characterise as a common feature in most urban planning. In CPULs city planning the well-being of people is a central and distinguishing factor. In fact, its completely seductive.

Her post also includes the following photo taken from the book which you have to see:

Oil drum lids used as markers in Havana organiponicos. Photos by Tom Phillips from CPULs used entirely without permission

Here's Debra's links too which are quite useful (and include a link to Eat the Suburbs, thanks Debra.) 

• Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes. Designing Urban Agriculture for Sustainable Cities. Andre Viljoen (ed) 2005. Architectural Press
• Biography of Andre Viljoen at the Royal Institute of British Architects website
• Robert Hopkins’ brilliant Transition Culture review of CPULs. The review also questions why Viljoen doesn’t use the term permaculture when the ideas in this book are so clearly informed by it. Hopkins points out that THIS book is exactly where permaculture needs to be. Although CPULs author Graeme Sherriff addresses permaculture rather thoroughly in Chapter 22 (Permaculture and Prodcutive Urban Landscapes) I can imagine that editor Viljoen felt a need for a new definition (and therefore produced that unfortunate acronym) because the notion of permaculture does not specifically address urban planning and land use policy.
• Permaculture according to Wikipedia
• Permaculture according to CPULs authors - quoting Robert Hopkins!: ‘Permaculture has evolved into a system for the conscious design of sustainable productive systems which integrate housing, people, plants, energy and water with sustainable financial and political structures.’ (Robert Hopkins, 2000, p.203)
• CPULs according to wikipedia. Oh how odd, there is as of yet no entry.
• Energy descent
• James Howard Kunstler, author of the Long Emergency
• Eat the suburbs - an Energy Descent Primer
• Some of the more positive aspects of peak oil:
  Healthier food
  More active lifestyles
  Greater self-reliance
  A sense of connection to place and products
  The re-emergence of local identity
  An emphasis on quality over quantity
  A means of overcoming addictive behaviours such as over-consumption
• Permaculture Activist, the magazine - excellent read!
• An MP3 of permaculture ‘proponent’ David Holmgren lecturing on permaculture and peak oil
• Robert Newman’s History of Oil (stand-up comedy) on Google Video. Hilarious and not-so-hilarious at the same time.