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DESIGN Harvests; An acupuncture design approach towards sustainability

Submitted by admin on Wed, 07/20/2011 - 3:52pm

Themes

rural-urban links, food, Regions
Promoters: 
Tongji University, Studio TAO, Chongming XianQiao village
Presentation: 
DESIGN Harvests is a Design research project to enable social and economic exchange between the rural and the city. The project is a collaborative social innovation experience that gathers committed creative individuals local farmers, entrepreneurs and craftsmen to form a learning community. The strategy of DESIGN Harvests project is to revitalize rural villages in China by improving quality of life through the environment, communication, services, local business, public and domestic infrastructure.

Context
Chongming Island shares similar challenges like other Chinese rural areas such as unbalance of social structure, scarce public life, weakness in culture, underdeveloped agriculture, low income, poor infrastructures and so on. As a general stigma, the traditional rural ways of living and producing are considered less attractive under the national movement of urbanization. To re-achieve the balance between rural and urban towards a sustainable society, the advantages of rural area should be explored and turn into opportunities for further development through collaborations of locals and creative communities. This is a new but broad area for social sustainable design research and practice.

NeWuxi: Food network

Submitted by admin on Sat, 07/09/2011 - 12:28pm

Themes

Households, rural-urban links, food, Regions
Promoters: 
School of Design, Jiangnan University, TianLanDiLv Organic Farm, Lingshan Vegetarian Restaurant
Presentation: 
It’s a collaborative project between Politecnico di Milano and Jiangnan university under DESIS framework (DESIS10 workshop) with partnership with local stakeholders, in order to investigate the new perspective of agriculture in post industrial society, new relationship between rural and urban, farms and communities. Twenty-eight senior and graduate students participated in this workshop, led by a multicultural team of six lecturers from several universities.

Context
: China has been in agriculture society for thousands of years. With rapid urbanization, a large number of farmers become urban residents. Today, food system in China has been highly industrialized and commercialized, which brings big challenges in food safety and quality. These new urban people with vivid memory of agriculture and food quality, address strong need in plant by recognizing the threads of food quality and safety with modernization of agriculture. One aspect of the project explored was new possibilities for food solutions: services and systems aiming to radically change the mainstream food industries and consumption that has been recognized widely as unsustainable.


 

AGRI-FOND ASSOCIATION

Submitted by joonsbaek on Tue, 06/28/2011 - 9:40am

Countries

China

Tags

Network, food, direct sales, community-supported agriculture

Themes

rural-urban links, food, goods distribution systems
Link: 
AGRI-FOND ASSOCIATION
Stakeholders / Promoters: 
Promoters (Zhou Jinzhang, Luo Zhehong and Peng Hui) are three young people who had some personal experiences on countryside tour and food. They promote this action with strong initiatives Users are those urban citizens who have more consciousness on food quality and incline of countryside food lifestyle. With this network, they could find good solutions with reasonable price. Providers are those individual farmers who prefer to keep (at least partly) traditional agriculture.
Background/ Context: 
Today, people in cities have more interest in rural life and traditional and high quality food (slow food) especially with the industrialization of agriculture and pollution of environment. But there is no information platform for that and no credit system at the beginning. Ainonghui found some farmers who prefer do traditional agriculture (rice, vegetable and poultry) with traditional/local seeds and by natural method and agree on the bargain of products and service. They tried to organize the natural agriculture recourses and keep the quality of products and process. On the other hand, they make more urban people who have interest in it involved in the network to booking and buy the products and service. They also open a showroom/ store to be as a connection between suppliers and consumers.
Case Description: 

diapositive1.jpg

It’s a community support agriculture action and system to connect consumers who have need of high quality food and countryside experience with small agri-producers who keep the traditional species and planting way. On one hand, it makes urban peoples in this community accessible to have food with high quality and special tastes by a reasonable price. And they also could have fantastic experiences of countryside life if they like; on the other hand, with these stable consumers, the individual farmers could have some income and keep their traditional agriculture, which has long term meaning for protection of species diversity.

Benefits (Social, and environmental benefits): 

From a micro-scale, those people (promoters, users and provider) self organize a network to connect a gap between the specific need of slow food and week traditional agriculture, which are ignored in general. Furthermore, they establish and grow the trust system in their network.

Les Jardins de Cérès – Cérès’s garden

Submitted by joonsbaek on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 8:11am

Countries

France

Tags

community-supported agriculture

Themes

forests and wildlife conservation, food, neighborhoods, rural-urban links
Link: 
Les Jardins de Cérès – Cérès’s garden
Stakeholders / Promoters: 
local producers and consumers in Palaiseau, France
Background/ Context: 
Palaiseau is a small town in the suburbs of Paris, which has becoming more and more built up, with shopping malls and industrial areas eating into farmland over the past few years. Several groups formed to protest against these developments. Isabelle Morgan, living in Palaiseau, joined a demonstration organised by a group campaigning against the construction of a new shopping centre on a huge stud farm. She realised that just protesting was not offering any solution, so she contacted existing associations to increase the impact of their actions. During this process she heard about the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in the USA and saw the model as a solution to the problem. Looking for similar organisations in France the group found the AMAP. After contacting several farmers in the region, Isabelle and her friends met Emmanuel Vandame, a farmer willing to try such a venture.
Case Description: 

사용자 삽입 이미지

Les Jardins de Cérès is a consumer group which wants local farmers to produce food organically. To do this, the group orders the produce in advance, before it is even planted, and guarantees to buy the crop. The association is inspired by the AMAP (Association pour le Maintien d’une Agriculture Paysanne) system, well known for some years in southern areas of France. An AMAP is basically a group of customers (organised by the farmer) who buy goods from one particular farm. In this system the customers adjust their demand to what the farmer can offer seasonally. Members of Les Jardins des Cérès have persuaded a cereal farmer, with about 250ha, to use one part of his farm to grow organic potatoes – the simplest crop. The members of the association help the farmer during the process – they cleaned the 400-year-old cellar and created storage places, and helped plant, tend and harvest the potatoes – and in doing so develop a close relationship. 
Les Jardins des Cérès was founded in December 2003. For the first year of its existence its 150 members ordered a batch of three tons of potatoes, which were grown on the Plateau de Saclay close to Palaiseau. The process created a social network, where people share their environmental convictions, experiences and ways of life. The farmer was paid in three parts: first third in advance to pay for the plants and the tools; the second third half-way through production, and the third part when the potatoes were harvested. The price for one kilo was evaluated in advance by taking the average price of organic potatoes.The association doesn’t get any external financial support.
Benefits (Social, and environmental benefits): 

Society. Through creating a direct producer/consumer link farmers get to sell their products for a good price and work under better conditions, and customers can buy high-quality locally produced products for a good price. By improving the economic situation of the farmer these organisations may well slow down the industrialisation of the countryside.The members very much enjoy the social network, and are very aware that the project needs social connections in order to work. Knowing the producing farmer is also a benefit for both consumer and farmer. 

Environment. The project offers an alternative to industrialisation in the area of Palaiseau, while supporting and developing local organic agriculture. By offering the farmer a good price for his produce the association enables him to earn a living, so he is not forced to sell his land for development. The project supports keeping green areas around the town. The farmer, who used to only grow cereals in a conventional way, is now interested in expanding organic cultivation step by step. Also, by promoting a direct producer-consumer-link the association reduces the distance produce is transported.

Local Food Link Van Group

Submitted by joonsbaek on Sun, 06/26/2011 - 8:01am

Countries

United Kingdom

Tags

logistics, food

Themes

food, goods distribution systems, rural-urban links
Link: 
Local Food Link Van Group
Stakeholders / Promoters: 
Skye & Lochalsh Food Link Van Group, local producers and consumers in Skye, Scotland
Background/ Context: 
Food distribution was made difficult by the large distances between producers, retailers and consumers, decreasing the availability of local food produce on the island. To improve this situation, the food link van was initiated on a voluntary basis in 2000, with a try out period of six months. Following its success, Food Link Skye and Lochalsh was incorporated in 2003 as a non-profit making company to manage the award-winning foodlink van and secure its future as a viable local distribution service.
Case Description: 

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(Source: Emmy Larsson & Julia Schaeper, 2005)

Local Food Van Link, in association with other groups, helps increase local food production by distributing produce around the local community. Skye and Lochalsh Food Link is a voluntary association of local producers, caterers, retailers and consumers with an interest in promoting fresh, locally produced food. A shared van links the network and distributes local produce all over the island. The group was initiated in April 2000 by a couple of local producers who decided that rather than delivering every product themselves, they would use a van to drive a set route twice a week, picking up the orders from the producer and delivering them to their customers. By doing so, not only could they save on petrol but also ensure the delivery of local produce all over the island, creating a more sustainable community. The solution both ensures the future of local food producers by distributing their goods, and promotes important aspects of economic and environmental community life and the health benefits of locally grown fresh produce. 

Within the last five years the food link has vastly increased the amount of local produce staying within Skye and Lochalch from £8,500 to over £60,000. The van group comprises approximately 15 producers and 40 customers spread all over the island. The funding it received in 2003, allowed the group to buy a larger van which enabled them to deliver even more produce and help the van to become self-sufficient. At present, the van runs on Tuesday and Friday, normally between March and October. The customers pay the price of the produce they order, and a 10% levy is paid by the producer to the company. This money is used for petrol, van maintenance and pays the wages of the van driver and the marketing co-ordinator.

Benefits (Social, and environmental benefits): 

Society. The Food Link Group aims to build strong sustainable networks between local producers and consumers in order to stimulate local food production. They believe that there are sound economic, environmental, health and community benefits to be gained from sourcing food directly from where it is produced. The Skye environment is said to produce some of the best quality food in Britain, free from pollution, genetic modification and other harmful substances. 

Environment. The use of one shared vehicle for a group of 40 farmers clearly minimises congestion and pollution. Detrimental environmental impacts of conventional agribusinesses can be avoided through the promotion of small-scale local production that underpins the notion of healthy and communal living on the island. The consumption of fresh and seasonal food reduce the need of energy for cooling and freezing.