The month-long London Festival of Architecture aims to celebrate and generate debate about the future development of London. During June and July, a series of events will take place in five defined “hubs” across London.
The Short Continuous Picnic develops the festival's theme of FRESH in relation to food. The idea for the picnic comes from Bohn & Viljoen’s work exploring the negative environmental impact of remote food production and the possibilities and benefits arising from the introduction of urban agriculture into cities.
The Short Continuous Picnic aims to generate discussion about how London could reduce its ecological footprint by introducing urban agriculture as an element of a sustainable infrastructure and draws directly on Bohn & Viljoen’s Continuous Productive Urban Landscape concept. It demonstrates how open urban space could be used differently and explores issues related to local food production and its potential impact on urban design.
The Short Continuous Picnic will happen on Saturday the 5th of July 2008 along Malet Street and Montague Place (behind the British Museum) and Russell Square, a route of approximately one kilometre. Roads will be closed to traffic and up to 20,000 people are expected to join in a day-long celebration of food and the city. An “inverted market” will run during the morning, at which members of the public are asked to bring rather than buy fruit and vegetables for the picnic. These will be categorised in relation to the distance they have travelled from farm to market. The picnic proper, which runs during the afternoon, will be followed in the evening by a community composting event.
Undergraduate students from the School of Architecture and Design, local schools and community organisations are involved with setting up the event. Apart form funding for the event by LFA08, Bohn & Viljoen Architects have been successful in securing funding from the London Development Agency's Small Grants Scheme “Sustainable Food for London”.
