Pattern 4
Agricultural Valleys
Context Independent Regions1 · City Country Fingers3
Problem
Fertile farmland tends to sit flat and easy to build on, right in the valleys — exactly where builders most want to break ground. Once that land is covered over, the region loses forever what could have fed it.
Solution
Keep fertile valleys and good farmland free of building as a firm rule; put houses and settlements on the slopes and on poorer ground instead, so the best soil stays in the hands of agriculture.