Small-scale & Short-travelled Food
mandag 23. august 2010
tirsdag 17. august 2010
THE FOOTPRINT PROJECT
I think they discuss all the important aspects of food and cities through projects and workshops / "talkshops", (wish I discovered it earlyer!) .
Check it out :
www.foodprintproject.com
and for video casts : http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/8637192
Check it out :
www.foodprintproject.com
and for video casts : http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/8637192
søndag 15. august 2010
BUILDING EXHIBITION
Re-used windows for exhibition wall is up!
Collected windows measured and counted.
Idea for wall design;
Voila!
Collected windows measured and counted.
Idea for wall design;
Voila!
tirsdag 10. august 2010
DIPLOMA PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Never mind the bad composition of the text, here it is and there is no going back (meaning it is sent off to the sensors of my final exam).
Laura Ve, Bergen School of Architecture, 2010
(y)our alternative legacy
developing urbanity along bergen light rail
UTOPIA= “good place” or “no place”
(greek; eu=good, ou=no)
SITOPIA = foodplace
(greek; sitos=food + topos,place)
PLANNING / EDUCATION / ACTION
How do we plan for future urban life, and develop a good background for future generations to live “easier green” lives?
We are big spenders of oil, a resource it took millions of years to “make”, and a really dirty business, once it is let out of its dark caves.
There is an enormous amount of oil involved in almost everything we eat and drink; today about ten calories of fossil fuels are used to produce one calorie of food. Approximately half of everything produced in the western countries is thrown away; due to trade regulations, not because its unusable or to old.
The diet in western cities is not very sustainable either; most people enjoy a meat based diet. Production of meat is very space consuming as the process requires ten times more calories than crops produced for human consummation directly.
We have built a system on a terminal resource, making us very vulnerable.
The 21st century will be characterized by big changes in style of life, at least the way we know it in the west. Governments sign treaties and make regulations on how to lower our green gas emissions. We will maybe not go short on oil and gas during the first 50 years, but regulations on emissions will make it difficult to continue the way we have done the last 50.
But as the focus on green gas emissions so far has been driven by the existing economical system, lacking a value system for ecosystem-services, there is now a careful and slow shift attempting to value nature-services before / beside the value given in the financial market. Market-value given to amazon forest reserves, besides the value of f.ex rainforest wood. Financial losses discussed before turning wetlands into farmland or real-estate. These matters are important all the way down to the choice of clover fields covering the floors of our public landscapes before monotone grass-fields.
From the ecological point of view the aspects of nature services matters more for the future rather than (only) green gas emissions effect on climate change. Biodiversity over and under the sea surface is the eco-systems supporting our way of life.
Valuation of productive land and how we decide to manage these resources have great impact on future generations quality of life.
The situation I have chosen to work in is the city of Bergen, a small city of challenging topography. Only small contiguous areas are good for urban settlement, surrounded and divided by several mountains forming what is known as “Bergens buene”. Only 3,5% of the 465,68 km2 area of Bergen Municipality today is productive land.
Historically Bergen has been an important harbor and most traffic happened by boat. Naturally most of the inhabitants lived close to the sea and the harbors in the center. From the beginning of 1900 the inhabitants was connected to neighboring municipalities, and the east of Norway (Oslo), by rail. Then, during the late 1900, the private car was given great importance; roads, tunnels and bridges were established and the settlement pattern of the city changed. The former dense city, with its farm- and grassland right outside the city border, has now spread out into large areas with single housing making the car an inevitably necessity for people to manage their everyday life. Working 10 to 15km from home and the children’s kindergarten 5km in the opposite direction is common. Every day many of the Bergen inhabitants spend hours in their car, stuck in traffic . Not quality time spent, I think.
This summer BergenЂs first light rail line opened for traffic, changing the infrastructural situation again.
The light rail opens up for a new way to reach destinations in Bergen, and a new style of life. Densification of the access points and establishment of new, direct, travel-lines to and from them is important to provide this opportunity for as many inhabitants as possible.
But this is also important to save us from further development of valuable land.
With background in the ecological footprint of our lifestyle, the project explores a possible future scenario in a site situated along the light rail line in Bergen, access point : Wergeland.
The ecological footprint of the average Norwegian was, according to the Living Planet Report, 6,8 gha (global hectares) in 2008. Relative to available bio-capacity and the existing population of the planet, the ideal ecological footprint is 1,8 gha.
The five eco-footprint parameters are :
#MOBILITY
#SHELTER
#GOODS
#SERVICES
#FOOD
Working with conceptual strategies to lower our energy consumption and eco-footprint, I focus on mobility, densification and resilience.
The “heart” of the situation, close to the stop, is strategically important for several reasons besides being the access point. It is the visual introduction to the district.
With the challenging landscape mentioned above a strong character of the mobility issue has become to “bridge the landscape”, connecting the two sides of the valley, with a pedestrian bridge, making the access point and the “heart” of the situation more accessible, and giving the place a strong character and new urban identity.
Aiming to develop more resilient communities the necessary focal point of the project becomes production of food, and the processes involved.
The amount of food produced it self is not the main issue, it is about re-introducing important aspects of eating. Visualizing the processes, influences the habits of eating, raises awareness and can change our relationship to our environment. Introducing the processes of the food-cycle (soil improvement, seeding, planting, harvesting, processing, consume and waste management) locally, can show us the impact of our choices on our surroundings. With an Artisan approach to Urban Agriculture (refers to the hand craft of making food products), education and skills become important.
Conventional agriculture does not integrate easily into the urban fabric. It is space consuming, requires large machinery and heavy spraying of fertilizers and pesticides is “normal”. Risking dust and chemicals to drift into residential areas is a concern and therefore conventional agriculture becomes incompatible with modern city-living.
In the urban landscape of Bergen, stuck between mountain walls, the Artisan Model can work better as it is more flexible and adaptable. Artisans employ creative thinking and manual dexterity to their produce.
When it comes to building communities upon an artisan economy, one can assume that the food produced is of good quality and worth celebrating it, simply because of the knowledge, skills and concern puts in the effort of making it.
Key elements relating to an artisan agrarian economy are;
# low toxicity farming; agro-ecological farming practices with a minimum of toxic pesticides and fertilizers.
# high value products; for urban markets comes from smaller parcels. A community will focus on high value products.
# vertically integrated economy; the focus of artisan agriculture is on finished food products. The local community benefit from transforming the raw foodstuff into final products.
# integrated infrastructure; water, waste-water, energy and solid-waste management systems offer opportunities to both integrate with urban infrastructure and turn waste into shared resources. ( Composting food waste for soil improvement, treating urban runoff in ponds using it for irrigation (water source), using waste urban heat for green houses.
# diverse education; the urban farmers education, or training of skills, covers agro-ecological farming practices and possible a range of small-business management strategies (to support
vertically integrated business opportunities).
# economic diversity; mixing agriculture with processing, retail, restaurants, agro-tourism and education, greater economic diversity is achieved in the community, and offers new opportunities for the inhabitants.
Skills and knowledge are of high value, which appeals to us and inspires us.
‘From field to fork’, means making food visible in all its processes. In future city planning this is the important tool. Glassed galleries on buildings, green houses on roofs and conservatories in the gardens extends the productive season, and saves energy in the built fabric creating an extra climatic buffer zone, specially important in a city like Bergen with a lot of wind and short summer season. Children at school seeding and planting in the school gardens and green houses will educate the youngest members of the society to become skilled and experienced urban farmers. Grocery stores, cafes and restaurants in the streets offer local products in their product range. Production fields for the new urban agrarian businesses and urban farmers, to supply restaurants, grocery stores, kindergartens, schools, canteens, institutions etc. Organic waste composed and used directly in the vegetable gardens and in the fields making them productive without fertilizers. Clover covering the fields resting until next season, attracting insects and possibly give basis for production of honey. Festivals celebrating the seasons and local food. Farmers markets showing and selling the local products, sharing their knowledge of the products. People enjoying their own produce in their backyards with the neighbors.
Wergeland has started its transformation.
This could be (y)our alternative legacy,
Laura Ve,
MA Diploma
Bergen School of Architecture, 2010
Laura Ve, Bergen School of Architecture, 2010
(y)our alternative legacy
developing urbanity along bergen light rail
UTOPIA= “good place” or “no place”
(greek; eu=good, ou=no)
SITOPIA = foodplace
(greek; sitos=food + topos,place)
PLANNING / EDUCATION / ACTION
How do we plan for future urban life, and develop a good background for future generations to live “easier green” lives?
We are big spenders of oil, a resource it took millions of years to “make”, and a really dirty business, once it is let out of its dark caves.
There is an enormous amount of oil involved in almost everything we eat and drink; today about ten calories of fossil fuels are used to produce one calorie of food. Approximately half of everything produced in the western countries is thrown away; due to trade regulations, not because its unusable or to old.
The diet in western cities is not very sustainable either; most people enjoy a meat based diet. Production of meat is very space consuming as the process requires ten times more calories than crops produced for human consummation directly.
We have built a system on a terminal resource, making us very vulnerable.
The 21st century will be characterized by big changes in style of life, at least the way we know it in the west. Governments sign treaties and make regulations on how to lower our green gas emissions. We will maybe not go short on oil and gas during the first 50 years, but regulations on emissions will make it difficult to continue the way we have done the last 50.
But as the focus on green gas emissions so far has been driven by the existing economical system, lacking a value system for ecosystem-services, there is now a careful and slow shift attempting to value nature-services before / beside the value given in the financial market. Market-value given to amazon forest reserves, besides the value of f.ex rainforest wood. Financial losses discussed before turning wetlands into farmland or real-estate. These matters are important all the way down to the choice of clover fields covering the floors of our public landscapes before monotone grass-fields.
From the ecological point of view the aspects of nature services matters more for the future rather than (only) green gas emissions effect on climate change. Biodiversity over and under the sea surface is the eco-systems supporting our way of life.
Valuation of productive land and how we decide to manage these resources have great impact on future generations quality of life.
The situation I have chosen to work in is the city of Bergen, a small city of challenging topography. Only small contiguous areas are good for urban settlement, surrounded and divided by several mountains forming what is known as “Bergens buene”. Only 3,5% of the 465,68 km2 area of Bergen Municipality today is productive land.
Historically Bergen has been an important harbor and most traffic happened by boat. Naturally most of the inhabitants lived close to the sea and the harbors in the center. From the beginning of 1900 the inhabitants was connected to neighboring municipalities, and the east of Norway (Oslo), by rail. Then, during the late 1900, the private car was given great importance; roads, tunnels and bridges were established and the settlement pattern of the city changed. The former dense city, with its farm- and grassland right outside the city border, has now spread out into large areas with single housing making the car an inevitably necessity for people to manage their everyday life. Working 10 to 15km from home and the children’s kindergarten 5km in the opposite direction is common. Every day many of the Bergen inhabitants spend hours in their car, stuck in traffic . Not quality time spent, I think.
This summer BergenЂs first light rail line opened for traffic, changing the infrastructural situation again.
The light rail opens up for a new way to reach destinations in Bergen, and a new style of life. Densification of the access points and establishment of new, direct, travel-lines to and from them is important to provide this opportunity for as many inhabitants as possible.
But this is also important to save us from further development of valuable land.
With background in the ecological footprint of our lifestyle, the project explores a possible future scenario in a site situated along the light rail line in Bergen, access point : Wergeland.
The ecological footprint of the average Norwegian was, according to the Living Planet Report, 6,8 gha (global hectares) in 2008. Relative to available bio-capacity and the existing population of the planet, the ideal ecological footprint is 1,8 gha.
The five eco-footprint parameters are :
#MOBILITY
#SHELTER
#GOODS
#SERVICES
#FOOD
Working with conceptual strategies to lower our energy consumption and eco-footprint, I focus on mobility, densification and resilience.
The “heart” of the situation, close to the stop, is strategically important for several reasons besides being the access point. It is the visual introduction to the district.
With the challenging landscape mentioned above a strong character of the mobility issue has become to “bridge the landscape”, connecting the two sides of the valley, with a pedestrian bridge, making the access point and the “heart” of the situation more accessible, and giving the place a strong character and new urban identity.
Aiming to develop more resilient communities the necessary focal point of the project becomes production of food, and the processes involved.
The amount of food produced it self is not the main issue, it is about re-introducing important aspects of eating. Visualizing the processes, influences the habits of eating, raises awareness and can change our relationship to our environment. Introducing the processes of the food-cycle (soil improvement, seeding, planting, harvesting, processing, consume and waste management) locally, can show us the impact of our choices on our surroundings. With an Artisan approach to Urban Agriculture (refers to the hand craft of making food products), education and skills become important.
Conventional agriculture does not integrate easily into the urban fabric. It is space consuming, requires large machinery and heavy spraying of fertilizers and pesticides is “normal”. Risking dust and chemicals to drift into residential areas is a concern and therefore conventional agriculture becomes incompatible with modern city-living.
In the urban landscape of Bergen, stuck between mountain walls, the Artisan Model can work better as it is more flexible and adaptable. Artisans employ creative thinking and manual dexterity to their produce.
When it comes to building communities upon an artisan economy, one can assume that the food produced is of good quality and worth celebrating it, simply because of the knowledge, skills and concern puts in the effort of making it.
Key elements relating to an artisan agrarian economy are;
# low toxicity farming; agro-ecological farming practices with a minimum of toxic pesticides and fertilizers.
# high value products; for urban markets comes from smaller parcels. A community will focus on high value products.
# vertically integrated economy; the focus of artisan agriculture is on finished food products. The local community benefit from transforming the raw foodstuff into final products.
# integrated infrastructure; water, waste-water, energy and solid-waste management systems offer opportunities to both integrate with urban infrastructure and turn waste into shared resources. ( Composting food waste for soil improvement, treating urban runoff in ponds using it for irrigation (water source), using waste urban heat for green houses.
# diverse education; the urban farmers education, or training of skills, covers agro-ecological farming practices and possible a range of small-business management strategies (to support
vertically integrated business opportunities).
# economic diversity; mixing agriculture with processing, retail, restaurants, agro-tourism and education, greater economic diversity is achieved in the community, and offers new opportunities for the inhabitants.
Skills and knowledge are of high value, which appeals to us and inspires us.
‘From field to fork’, means making food visible in all its processes. In future city planning this is the important tool. Glassed galleries on buildings, green houses on roofs and conservatories in the gardens extends the productive season, and saves energy in the built fabric creating an extra climatic buffer zone, specially important in a city like Bergen with a lot of wind and short summer season. Children at school seeding and planting in the school gardens and green houses will educate the youngest members of the society to become skilled and experienced urban farmers. Grocery stores, cafes and restaurants in the streets offer local products in their product range. Production fields for the new urban agrarian businesses and urban farmers, to supply restaurants, grocery stores, kindergartens, schools, canteens, institutions etc. Organic waste composed and used directly in the vegetable gardens and in the fields making them productive without fertilizers. Clover covering the fields resting until next season, attracting insects and possibly give basis for production of honey. Festivals celebrating the seasons and local food. Farmers markets showing and selling the local products, sharing their knowledge of the products. People enjoying their own produce in their backyards with the neighbors.
Wergeland has started its transformation.
This could be (y)our alternative legacy,
Laura Ve,
MA Diploma
Bergen School of Architecture, 2010
lørdag 7. august 2010
fredag 6. august 2010
BERGEN THE FUTURE CITY FOR AGRO TOURISM?
Ever heard of agro tourism?
It´s been going on for decades, going to Lofoten for fishing cod, Hardangervidda to harvest blueberries, Ulvik to see the fruit gardens, stay overnight in a cabin and get plums and apples, Austevoll to find Chanterelle in the forests, while the wild sheep scare you to death surprising you behind a tree. If you grew up with an eager mother or father chanses are you have been an agro-tourist your self.
UNESCO is working, along side world heritages lists, to establish areas and sites to become BIOSPHERE RESERVES. The purpose of creating Biosphere Reserves is to encourage sustainable development and economic development in areas of particularly high landscape values.
The Moors with extent from Austevoll to Lofoten along the coast of Norway, and from Portugal to England on the other side of the Atlantic has a cultural history of 5000 years. Wild sheep is part of keeping this landscape healthy, and the sheep raised on moors is exceptionally tasty.
Will the Moors of the West coast of Bergen achieve Biosphere Reserve status and can this and other projects become attractive targets for agro-tourism in the 22nd century?
Will Bergen become known as the city of rhubarb, potatoes and forest gardening rather than "the city of rhododendron"?
It´s been going on for decades, going to Lofoten for fishing cod, Hardangervidda to harvest blueberries, Ulvik to see the fruit gardens, stay overnight in a cabin and get plums and apples, Austevoll to find Chanterelle in the forests, while the wild sheep scare you to death surprising you behind a tree. If you grew up with an eager mother or father chanses are you have been an agro-tourist your self.
UNESCO is working, along side world heritages lists, to establish areas and sites to become BIOSPHERE RESERVES. The purpose of creating Biosphere Reserves is to encourage sustainable development and economic development in areas of particularly high landscape values.
The Moors with extent from Austevoll to Lofoten along the coast of Norway, and from Portugal to England on the other side of the Atlantic has a cultural history of 5000 years. Wild sheep is part of keeping this landscape healthy, and the sheep raised on moors is exceptionally tasty.
Will the Moors of the West coast of Bergen achieve Biosphere Reserve status and can this and other projects become attractive targets for agro-tourism in the 22nd century?
Will Bergen become known as the city of rhubarb, potatoes and forest gardening rather than "the city of rhododendron"?
tirsdag 3. august 2010
URBAN FARMERS SAN DIEGO_2
“It’s pretty hard to grow all your food, but you can grow a percentage of it,” Paul Maschka said, an urban farmer at City College’s Seeds at City.
Aside from growing vegetables, Maschka makes cheese, sauerkraut, kimchi, tempeh, honey wine and honey at home.
“Part of food production is the preservation, drying and canning of food which is becoming a lost art,” Maschka said. “It’s uncommon to Americans. But it’s so easy to make, and it’s healthy and delicious.”
URBAN FARMERS SAN DIEGO
(from the san diego news network.com)
"About a year ago, Karon Klipple, a mathematics professor at San Diego City College, took a long, hard look at the campus lawn.
With all the talk about global warming, the benefits of eating local and organic food, not to mention San Diego’s drought worries, it seemed the land and resources might be put to better use. So Klipple, who is chair of City College’s Environmental Stewardship Committee, founded Seeds at City, a thriving sub-acre farm smack dab on the downtown campus.
“Industrial agriculture isn’t going to support us indefinitely because it’s unsustainable,” she said while walking in between rows of oak leaf lettuce and Chioggia beets on a cool Tuesday morning. “There’s no way we can continue to use more resources to create fewer.”
"About a year ago, Karon Klipple, a mathematics professor at San Diego City College, took a long, hard look at the campus lawn.With all the talk about global warming, the benefits of eating local and organic food, not to mention San Diego’s drought worries, it seemed the land and resources might be put to better use. So Klipple, who is chair of City College’s Environmental Stewardship Committee, founded Seeds at City, a thriving sub-acre farm smack dab on the downtown campus.
“Industrial agriculture isn’t going to support us indefinitely because it’s unsustainable,” she said while walking in between rows of oak leaf lettuce and Chioggia beets on a cool Tuesday morning. “There’s no way we can continue to use more resources to create fewer.”
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