Mapping
- Systemic research
- Combinations
- Diagrams
- Visual research
(Oogstkaart)

Magical Thing research method

Empathy tools
- Simulating physical impaired situations


Design probe
- Speculative designing for the future

Design research examples

Ai Wei Wei
- Observation & documenting

Collage technique
- Visual language research

Microbial home
- Philips design probes

Population is growing, but agricultural land degrating.

The industrial food system disconnects people from food and food production.

Farming is not natural - we are the only species that purposely destroy the ecosystem in favour of food production. - Despommier

The industry produces according to the cities demand.

Fresh produce will always be possible through indoor (vertical) farming.

Building “voedselflats” in remote areas - why?

The food system - need for a new paradigm (standard)

Food packaging

Local food production means:

Innovating Metropolitan Agriculture

China - Netherlands

The Netherlands are the 2nd largest food exporter in the world, second to the US.

Why do we grow large amounts of food in a sustainable way, but sell it for export?

Jan-Willem van de Schans (Wageningen University)

The client asks for specific size/weight/other demands for vegetables. This can be controlled through “high-tech” farming (algorithms etc.)

Hans Hassle - Plantagon (Sweden)

Transition to:

Will cities be planned according to food production, using food as a leader?

When it comes to living on Mars

- “You can’t go there unless you do it here first” - Despommier

Square Roots - Brooklyn

Whole Foods urban farm

Aerofarms

UrbanFarmers - Den Haag

Rooftop Philips building

- Bestaande vertical farming projecten uitbreiden met het sociale/ruimtelijke aspect?
- Hoe ga je het project aan de man krijgen? Waarom zouden mensen dit willen?
- Hoe combineer je dit project met de Spatial Design major?
- Wat is de doelgroep?
- Wat voor bedrijvigheid vindt er plaats in de hub? Long/short stay?

Even though I haven’t written it in my blog or anywhere else, the past few weeks I have reflected a lot. Especially since it was such a difficult and slow process throughout this minor.

To be honest, this was the first project I have done that was so strongly based on research. Which is partly the reason why I struggled a lot. Filtering all the research and converting it into a creative process I think was the hardest part. Within my major - spatial design - all projects where very conceptual and not a lot of research was required or asked from us. 

Next to that, as I have mentioned before, this has been a difficult year. Dealing with private circumstances and not being able to start up a creative process was very hard and something I haven’t really had to deal with like I have the past few weeks. I probably could have done a lot of things differently, but in the end I am satisfied with what I was able to do in the amount of time I still had left. This semester was quite a learning experience and I will take this into account as I move towards graduation. 

At last, I had a fun experience during the expo today and I am thankful for being able to join in the end. 

To do:

The future of food and agriculture - FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations), 2017

This is a section from a research document written by the FAO. It is clear that food systems have changed significantly through the years with the help of agricultural developments and the Green Revolution. However, this also increased the use of land and water, resulting in exploitation of natural resources. The agricultural developments back then shaped civilisation to where it is today, but with urbanisation progressing, these techniques are now becoming outdated and this way of producing food is unsustainable.

Technological improvements are needed and many innovative systems are being or have been realised as we speak. Like the FAO mentions in their research, vertically coordinated production provides food for urban areas. My question as a designer then is: how do we shape this into the city? For me visibility and transparency are important aspects of bringing awareness to, as well as creating, a sustainable food system. How can we showcase this?

Key factors:

The future of food and agriculture - FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations), 2017