Inclusion of ʻike Hawaiʻi & urban agriculture in Kakaʻako through hybrid concepts

Abstract

As cities worldwide face increasing density and resource constraints, urban agriculture has emerged as a vital strategy for addressing issues of food insecurity, for restoring native ecology to the urban realm, and for creating moments that spatially define the cityscape. Hawaiʻi presents a unique opportunity, with a history of sustainable resilience. This dissertation examines Native Hawaiian concepts that allowed Hawaiʻi to be fully sustainable and environmentally resilient. The concepts of ahupua’a, kapu, and kauhale offer a larger idea of ʻāina. When paired with how we approach design, specifically towards locations such as Kakaʻako, a key neighborhood in Honolulu with luxury high-rise residential, commercial, and industrial zoning, these cultural concepts have the potential to become influential towards an ʻāina-based design methodology. Much of Honolulu’s Primary Urban Center experienced rapid changes from what was once an area of loko (fishponds), loʻi (wetland gardens), and untouched reefs, into the now gentrified urban core. An area of food-producing systems where the land was viewed as a living entity has morphed into the city’s food-producing struggles with food and environmental resiliency. As a result, this dissertation pitches four hybrid concepts that bridge ʻIke Hawaiʻi concepts with urban agriculture to propose groundbreaking remediative design principles for Kakaʻako. Similar to other locations in Honolulu, Kakaʻako contains a rich cultural heritage and remnants of an industrial past. Also being a gentrified neighborhood with continued development, Kakaʻako is a prime location for hypothesizing a contemporary cultural-infused approach to design. This dissertation argues that integrating ahupuaʻa, kapu, and kauhale as planning influences will improve food, environmental, and socio-economic resiliency in Kakaʻako.