Food, its production, consumption, impact on environmental degradation and resource consumption is once again on the agenda. Local food production, organic agriculture, permaculture, urban agriculture, bioclimatic design, till recently all these have been fringe issues and are now being discussed at the highest levels and influencing policy. At the same time, as a society, we are apparently going to reduce our Carbon Dioxide emissions by 80% over the next decades. One wonders if anyone really understands how our lives and ways of living will change. Can we create more experience with less consumption; can localisation provide us with a culturally and socially enriched experience?

Content

In this extension study we will explore in a practical and “lived” way one aspect of a less resource and energy intensive lifestyle, we will do so by introducing urban agriculture to the Grand Parade site, growing fruit, vegetables, edible and medicinal flowers.

Initially we will set up a growing infrastructure, germinate plants, build systems for composting, water collection, irrigation and growing, all within the context of making space for people. Growing food will be an essential part of this extension study and our aim is to see if we can establish and sustain urban agriculture on the Grand Parade site in the long term. If you sign up for this study, please understand that it will require a commitment to keep the project running across the academic year.

Central to this project will be exploring the social networks linked to food and we will be inviting staff and other students, including graduates to participate in an “urban farming club” we are establishing contacts with groups external to the University, for example, Transition Town Brighton and Hove and local neighbours including an old persons home. 

In this unit of study topics will be examined through practical urban farming. At student led seminars, over a meal, we will consider how communities, artists, activists, designers and architects have engaged as “change agents.” We will make reference to and learn from the Edible Campus project run by McGill University, see: www.mcgill.ca/mchg/projects/ediblecampus

Aims

This unit aims to encourage students to:

Gain a practical insight into possible future living scenarios.

Gain insights into collaborative practice and their own disciplinary practice.

Develop an understanding of “no waste” design.

Gain a direct understanding of food production and its possible wider cultural and social impact.

Explore methods for documenting and communicating physical and social environments.