Edible cities

New Technologies

By studying under the title 'A Space of Waste', I found many areas in London which are exactly this, a waste of space! These spaces could be used to promote more food growing in London.

For example:

1. Using Parks to accommodate food growing in their grounds.
2. Exploring under-utilised spaces such as derelict council property, private gardens, and social housing to grow food.
3. Making use of abundant buildings in London to grow food on rooftops, up walls and in window boxes.
4. Providing education and training for new growers e.g. The Camden Good Food project

City Harvest

Having looked at living walls and urban chicken coops I also began to explore the idea of 'City Harvest' and the benefits associated with urban agriculture. It focuses mainly on food growing and sustainability.

It has even attracted the attention of the government as a way of tackling obesity, health inequalities, climate change and more.

An example of this is Changemakers - 'Good Food for Camden' a food strategy launched in October 2009 till 2012. Residents were extremely interested in 'growing their own' to save money and increase the freshness of produce. But most importantly creating environmental sustainability.

A big factor is the reduced food waste. did you know that approximately one third of the food bought in the UK is thrown away, with the average household throwing away £420 worth of edible food each year, and more for households with children.

The Benefits of 'CITY HARVEST' : (Interconnected design thinking)

1. Community - addressing antisocial behavior and decreasing isolation.
2. Environment - increasing biodiversity, reducing environmental impact of food production and food miles.
3. Education - providing training, skills development and opportunities.
4. Health - improving mental and physical health.
5. Economy - addresses poverty, strengthening green infrastructure, supporting communities to trade amongst each other.

Green Cities

I think that consumers are feeling disempowered. They want to know who's made their product, and where their food came from. City farming brings back the idea of 'local', as well as the sense of power.

For example 'OMLET' is a company started up by five designers, which sells chicken coops, beehives and rabbit houses. Helping those who live in the city to easily obtain fresh eggs of make their own honey.

Below: Beehive by Omlet

Below: City Chickens

Below: Chicken coop by Omlet

Emotionally durable design

Jonathan Chapmans has argued that in the context of sustainable product design "the methods through which we currently address sustainability are not as sustainable as we might like to think" (Chapman, 2005, p170). The rationale behind this argument is that the methods and techniques currently in use appear to go straight to the third, and least preferable, of the 'three Rs' of sustainable design - "REDUCE - REUSE - RECYCLE", when focus should be placed on reduce and reuse first.

In simple terms he advocates that designers need to design products which are emotionally durable, this essentially means that people connect with the product emotionally such that there is more desire to keep and repair, maintain and upgrade a product rather than dispose and replace with a new product.

Chapman, J. (2005) Emotionally Durable Design - objects, experience and empathy, Earthscan Publications Ltd, London, UK.

Cradle to Cradle

The large consumption of goods and services in the western World is referred to as a drug or alcohol addiction say Robert Lilienfeld and William Rathje's in their 1998 book Use Less Stuff: Environmental Solutions for Who We Really Are.

"Recycling is an asprin, alleviating a rather large collective hangover . . . overconsumption." Or again,

"The best way to reduce any environmental impact is not to recycle more, but to produce and dispose of less."

"We can no longer import our lives in the form of food, fuel and fundamentalism. Life is home-grown and always has been, So is culture. And so, too, are the solutions to global problems."

(Paul Hawken, 2008)

"To be a responsible designer requires more than just talent, it requires good citizenship"

(Steven Heller - Citizen Designer, 2003)

Designers as Social Innovators

After hearing about Ezio Manzini's SusHouse I read a similar artical in Detail magazine on a housing project in Brighton, England.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The project, 'One Brighton' was designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, a practice with a track record in sustainable design.

"The objective with One Brighton was for all the environmental measures to remain in the background and to make it as easy as possible for people to reduce their carbon footprints without having to change their life style," says FCB project architect Andrew Macintosh.

The 'eco-studio' was developed, where a group of studio apartments share a communal room. The development also has a 925 meters squared community centre and 1134 meters squared of office space, as well as 28 mini-allotments.

(the picture below is an example of the 'eco-studio' )

It is Britain's first 'One Planet Living' project, containing the 10 principles: zero carbon, zero waste, sustainable transport, local and sustainable materials and food, sustainable water, natural habitats and wildlife, protect local cultural heritage and diversity, increased health and safety, equity and fair trade.

This project goes beyond sustainable building methods alone! It creates lifestyle changes such as car clubs, using public transport (next to train), and food-growing. This makes it EASY for people to live sustainably. I also think they got the combination of desirability + sustainability right making it an excellent project.

(To date, 85% of the apartments have been sold, which I think is good seeing as it coincides with the UK's credit crunch!)

Biomimicry

LIVING WALLS -

How much do you know about the sustainable materials that could insulate your home?

How about your windows and cabinets?

Have you ever considered LIVING WALLS?

• Living walls can act as insulation and help filter the air. They cool the ambient air temperature as well as cooling the building system it's attatched to.
• Glare is reduced.
• Sound insulation.
• Aesthetically pleasing, especially on barren cityscapes.
• Habitat and flora/fauna preservation, contributing to the overall health and sense of wellbeing of everyone.
• EVEN the fixing bars are made from recycled materials.

Sustainable Development

Sustainable building materials are more than just re-cycled or re-used materials. To be truly sustainable the material has to be examined from the time it was harvested as a raw material, to when it needs to be disposed of.

Considerations: Price, environmental and health impacts, energy consuption, waste, emissions, and the resources ability to renew itself.

Sustainable homes. If you could build a house that was healthier for your family as well as the environment would you?

More people are concerned with the carbon footprints of their homes. But now with environmentally friendly building materials, your home can be a sustainable one, which benefits the surrounding environment and is healthier for your family.

Local materials for sustainable building. Local materials are the most common, because they reduce the energy needed in transportation.

Sustainable Building Materials that are not made from recycled resources MUST be highly RENEWABLE. For example renewable materials such as straw, hay, adobe, bamboo, cork and clay, can be renewed quickly when harvested, have low or no emission rates, and have energy conservation qualities. They are natural materials and build healthier more eco-friendly homes.

Recycled Material are anything from steel, to granite, to polyurethane.

So use these materials, most of the time they even cost less than the traditional building materials.

Emergency Shelter Designs

UP-CYCLING : Making speedo swimsuits into emergency shelters/tents for disasters.

Some photo's of the other emergency shelters designed by Platform 5 (Re-use, Re-Build, Re-new).

Finished Shelter

Yesterday (04/11/10) we finished our emergency shelters and had a picnic Lunch in them.

Oxfam and Speedo came around to choose and judge which ones will be put into production. We will find out their choices soon.

My fingers are sore from sewing and I don't want to see another Speedo swimsuit for a long time!

Shelters

A very chilling and relevant article on the BBC news last week. Thousands of people still have NO shelters. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special_reports/pakistan_floods/

Progress

So far we have made the base for the shelter by sewing the speedo swimsuit bodies together. We then made the triangular frame for the structure, and are now sewing together the legs of the speedo's to make the walls.

Soooooo much sewing it's crazy, but nearly there!

Brief

Oxfam and Speedo brief for the emergency shelters.

Sustainable Scents

The Oon Candlemaker - Short-life to long-life design.

Want any new idea's to recycle? why not look at the new oon candlemaker that turns used cooking oil into fragrant candles.

Invented due to the mismanagement of used cooking oils and the water contamination it creates, not to mention the waste of value and resources.

INCREDIBLE!

DESIGN IDEAS : WOOL

'Wool Week' : this week (11th to 17th October 2010). Shops around the UK will be hosting fun, informative, wool-themed activities.

For example why not help by choosing to buy wool fabrics, floorings, and accessories this week and experiment with the decorative possibilities of this beautiful, natural and eco-friendly product.

A few of it's BRILLIANT qualities : beautiful, tactile, practical, versatile, biodegradable, easy to process, sustainable and renewable, natural, as well as eco-friendly!

"GIVE FLEECE A CHANCE" - www.campaignforwool.org

Performance enhancing, non-textile Speedo LZR swimsuit banned from January 2010.

Recycling/Re-using

Our first new 3 week project is to design an emergency shelter using left over speedo swimsuits.

20,000 swimsuits designed and made by speedo were refused from competing use due to rules and regulations. Our task is to recycle/re-use them by making them into emergency shelters, these can then be sent in first aid packs to places affected by natural disasters, such as Haiti and Afghanistan.

In 3 weeks time one of our ideas will be chosen by Oxfam and Speedo. This design will be put into practice and manufactured.

Back at Chelsea for Stage 2. Platforms given tomorrow.

Right . . . So this is the start of my green textiles elective. Please wait for further posts on the subject.

Went to B and Q today to get some pieces for my recorder device because the workshop didn't have the materials. Going back into the workshop on friday because today the metal workshop was closed.

Sketch model of my alginate moulder. I have decided to roll alginate (a quick drying mould) onto the weathered walls to pick up all the cracks, chips, holes and erosion. I began testing out the alginate today however it didn't set properly so i am going to have to try again this weekend.

I have decided to make the main body of the roller out of plastic (available at the chelsea shop), metal for the connection and wood to make an ergonomic handle.

Once I have got the alginate mould I am going to cast it in clay and wax to see the different effects, and then take some rubbings of the final models.

My chosen site for the recorder project is Crucifix Lane due to the damp and dark interior. I am going to record the decay and erosion of the bricks.

Architect's house chosen for essay is Walter Gropius - Gropius House.

Reporter Project

Today we walked from South Bermondsey to London Bridge Station along the old railway viaduct. This is the site for our reporter project so I took some photo's of particular areas which interested me. For example the medieval column's and arches.

Finished

Film project finished and handed in today. Could have done with some more editing time to make it perfect but it was only a 3 week project and I'm pleased with what we produced.

Got the new brief for the christmas holiday project which looks interesting, looking forward to getting started. Excited to be working individually on this project rather than in groups, having only worked in groups so far.

EDITING

We have begun editing our 6 minute section of the 20 minute film. So far it is going well and it all seems to be fitting together and making much more sense. We have also started to put in sounds for example city sounds for Canary Wharf, footsteps, wind and newspaper rustling. We were going to use a sound track but this distracted the viewers attention away from the film and meant that the audience wouldn't focus on the time lapse photography etc.

Eventually we are going to put all 3 edited clips of film together to make the final 20 minute film.

we put our finished story board up on the wall of meis so that everyone knew what exactly was going on. This would help us get the perfect footage for our film, as well as showing how long each scene would be.

Timetable

Timetable for last week. (GROUP 4)

MONDAY 30TH	TUESDAY 1ST	WEDNESDAY 2ND	THURSDAY 3RD	FRIDAY 4TH
10:00am - Meis	10:00am - VS	10:00am - edit	10:00am - put all 3 groups together	10:00am - Hand In
Start Editing	computer room booked		link them and edit	Meis studio
	Sounds?	12:00pm - finish editing
			ALL DAY TILL FINISHED	brief for holiday
2:00pm - Meis	2:00pm - Tutorial
Editing lecture		3:15pm - Lecture

PERSPECTIVE DRAWINGS

A one-point perspective sketch of the underground. On way to Canary Wharf.

Canary Wharf - Film Project

A few photo's from Canary Wharf for the film project. The area's light, shadow, spatial surroundings and of course the london newspaper.

Film Project

now going to Canary Wharf to start taking photographs and videos of the area and what happens to the free london newspapers in that area.

Induction project