Real estate
BY ROO MOODY
New Fort Bend community blends neighborhood and farm
Fort Bend County residents of a new “agrihood,” are currently settling into a new routine, according to a March 2 news release from Texas A&M. The big picture Earlier this year, residents moved into the 235-acre master-planned community called Indigo as part of a study led by Jay Maddock, a Texas A&M professor in the School of Public Health and director of the Center for Health and Nature. The purpose of the study is to examine how living in an agriculturally integrated suburban neighbor- hood in uences health, which is why 42 acres of the neighborhood are dedicated to agriculture, housing crop elds and a livestock pasture. Indigo also promotes walkability by dedicating more than half of its land to car-free green spaces, including walking trails and water features. About the project The 13-month study recruited 350 residents
who were split between Indigo and a comparison community with similar demographics but no agricultural features. With only 100 agrihoods developed or in devel- opment globally, Maddock said these types of communities are still relatively new, but that he sees promise for urban development. “It does seem that people will connect more to each other and connect to the farm and where their food comes, but so far it’s all been anecdotal evidence,” he said. “This is a rst-of-its-kind exploration of this.” Measuring the impact To measure the e ect on residents, a mobile clinic travels to both neighborhoods to collect height, weight, blood pressure and other data points. “Forty percent of Americans have never met a farmer before in their lives. I think we’ve totally divorced ourselves from where our food comes from,” Maddock said. “I think the agrihood provides
A new agrihood community has taken root in Fort Bend County.
1300 Harlem Road, Richmond
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RENDERING COURTESY OF MERISTEM COMMUNITIES
a model in a rapidly growing urban community of bringing the farmer back to the people and knowing where your food source is and how we can actually create neighborhoods that improve people’s health.”
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