Here you find the pictures of the presentation that I, and the ones who used my camera, took. I didn’t set the shutter speed right it seemed, so some movements are blurred. Apologies for that! There will be more pictures available on the KISDphoto page soon from someone else. (under ‘Services’ at the top)

Hey guys,

for everyone who’s interested: we’ll do a cooking and chill session in the food lab at 6pm tonight!

Please comment if you’re in so we know how much to buy!

Cheers, see you tonight! 

…David and I will be around at and it would be very good to have you there as well. The last day(s) are the finish…the most efficient days, so use the energy…

See you tomorrow!

I printed the factsheet in 120gr in the C-lab, maybe it’s interesting for the other groups. 🙂

The Friday AG just informed all presenting groups that the time is limited to 20 minutes per group. This is extremely short! So maybe we open our doors for interested students after the presentation for another 30mins in the afternoon before you rebuild everything in room 240?

We will have a feedback meeting on TUE 11 at 3PM for about 1.5 hrs. We will critically reflect and talk about the project, the process, our outcome, about next steps. And the documentation.

Once you finished the documentation we will have a final meeting – most likely at the very end of March. Long way to go – but just to give you a perspective.

Sorry for not showing up at the meeting tomorrow morning, I was finishing general details. Here is my poster both sides, hope everything is ok with them. Poster front Poster back

To do for Tuesday / Wednesday

Today: Update and fix your user stories. Remember – the user story has the purpose to communicate a dedicated “use” (and user experience) of your concept, the system and products you designed. No single step in the user story should be a commonplace, always tell what is special and important was the user experiences your concept and design.

Think of the requirement to make your concept and food “tangible”.

Tuesday: All bring your 2 posters (or more if you have more, the second poster shows additional material to make your concepts accessible) as paper printout, A3 or a stitched together A1 based on A3 to get a sense of the proportions. If you are a team, it is ok when only one of you joins the meeting, the other(s) can proceed working.

You have to print out your two posters in the CLAB that Tuesday in the afternoon before it closes for the KISD talk. So start printing around 3.3o latest

Look at your small A5 cards and look especially at the data. You remember, that one of the criteria of your work was and is ” to provide (useful, necessary, feasible and digestible) data and information about food/ingredients and farming products, make intelligent use of information and information technology”. So now as your idea of the concepts are fixed (due to time), please once again make up your mind and let us know which data is used and necessary to make your idea working – and which data is created for your concept and through its use. I have the feeling that you still take too much to be obvious…but it isn´t. mention it! Detailed, so if you write “Crop data of farmers” let us know which, if you write “Season products in Germany” write what that means etc.

All have your exhibition element built up and fixed so that we can arrange all of the single elements in space.

All have your artefacts and/or screens/digital prototypes ready to show and share.

What all of you are sharing are prototypes. Prototypes are used in the iterations of a design process to articulate assumptions or insights and to inform the design process and support reflection and critical inquiry. They are not used to sell your product. In general, be very aware if your prototypes and visualisations are designed for a schematic understanding (like a wireframe or function drawing etc.) or if it is a prototyping to be looked at formal questions (formal design parameters like colors, forms, proportions, sizes, movements, dialogues). This is a big difference, I gave comments on that to all of you today. All the works should come up with a design articulation / artefact / prototype that shows your ability to work with basic formal design parameters (like mentioned above).

Wednesday: 3 PM all have their exhibition contributions ready and we can all together walk around and have a short presentation of each group of 3-5 minutes (share the core ideas of your concept, guide us through your poster, share what is the most important aspect in your concept etc. to start a dialogue and q&a with your audience.

We are in the final phase and please dedicate all possible time now to make things happen! If there is anything unclear, let me know, if you need more feedback and help I am also around tomorrow afternoon!

 

 

 

 

 

We will meet around 10am in R240. I kindly ask all of you to get your (needed) part(s) of the exhibition system in the basement (R58) and bring it to 240 so that we can see how exactly the individual elements will look like and how they can be put together to get a coherent spatial experience and maybe create connections. Pleae also all bring your posters in 2 A3 printouts (if necessary each side in 2 A3 landscape so that things are better readable). We will fix the post and give last feedback to the user stories, I think there needs to be done some work…

I have a meeting early outside of KISD and hope to be there by 10, but sou should all be there! See you!

Find the folders here. So I’ve been putting your content into the new poster template and the A5 factsheet. Now, I gave myself quite a challenge to try and put it in for you, aiming to maintain a unified form/feeling. 😉  Along the way, I have played around with your text, got out typo’s and changed things when I thought it didn’t make too much sense. I will give the template back to you now and you can add in your final user story and tweak the text accordingly. Look at the poster from the others and try to write some more if you are lacking text (Yasmine) and try to reduce when you have too much (Matea). For Maxime and Samia, I couldn’t get your body text in because it is vectorized, so please have a look and change that. For some, writing a precise and easy to read text is challenging, but words are important. Reread it a few times and ask peers whether what you have written makes sense! I don’t want any typo’s in the final presentation. 😀

The backside of the Poster, or your second poster, can be used freely with imagery and system map if you decide to show that.

For the factsheets, find yours in the template folder and tweak it if you want to. 

Kalia, I didn’t make your one as you didn’t post any poster but you can do that yourself when adding an extra page in Indesign, it gives you the ‘A-Master’ that you can access by clicking on the objects while holding shift and command.

Tomorrow, we can print the posters out in A3 to test it. The final posters can be printed on Tuesday on prof. Heidkamp’s budget! But only if they’re ready on Tuesday. 

A domani!

Food is increasingly getting on the agenda of design and designers. And there is need for new approaches!

In this international project, we will research and analyse structures and processes related to food production, distribution and consumption in (future) cities (Cologne/Taipei).

We will develop possibilities of future approaches, especially in the context of increasing digitization (AI, IoT, blockchain, traceability, bait to plate, farm to fork) – and question them critically.

  • How can we design a different relation to food, its ingredients and values, its production and culture, its habits and processes?
  • How can we create new relations and values to ingredients of food?
  • How can we connect (us to) different stakeholders, especially to build relations between farmer/producer and consumer.

A part of the project team – max. 6 students – will be able to work in Taipei for a week in November, supported by students from SCID Taipei and the project group in Cologne. Details will be clarified in the first project meeting.

In Cologne, we work together with local experts and stakeholders.

At the end of the semester, both the analysis and drafts / prototypes will be presented.

In the project we refer to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular to SDG 11 and 12. Due to the topic, it might be possible to submit the results to the Cumulus Green Award (and I will encourage and support you to do so).

We will approach the project by questions we want to explore. In the beginning, we will have the opportunity to find a huge variety of questions and then discuss them – amongst us and with others . in order to find out the most relevant ones. Relevant in terms of the need to approach them and relevant to approach them from the perspective of design.

Pre-meeting: if you have questions or want to make sure that you are really in the project – or want to influence the character of the project even before it started please try to join our pre-meeting on Thursday September 26 at 12.30

First official meeting: This is mandatory for all that want to join – it will be on Tuesday October 22 at 10.00. In this meeting I want to see what your specific interest in this project is – so please subscribe to this space, contribute with some relevant questions and maybe cases as well…

Regular meetings: The regular meetings are always on Tuesday at 10.00. As I mentioned due to some travel activities we won’t meet every Tuesday, but there will be weeks where we meet twice or longer during the Tuesday meeting. There is a GoogleDoc with all our meetings (always updated). If you are not available we can arrange to connect via zoom – but always let me know before. 

Taiwan trip: the workshop in Taiwan is scheduled for November 18-23. The core group not traveling to Taipei will proceed meeting here and we will remotely collaborate via our KISDspace and zoom (see above).

We can learn a lot from existing cases and studies. Here we are collecting relevant cases how digitalisation  influences and affects food farming, production, distribution and consumption. How farmers/producers are connected to consumers, the rural to the urban.

Cases are structured around 3 core questions: What it is, Where it is and Why it is relevant. In addition, cases have tags / keywords to made them more accessible and findable. It would be great to use the comment function about the use of cases to create additional information

Here we will collect interesting experts: individuals, organisations or initiatives who are doing something we consider valuable in the context of the project. They can be (preferrably) from the area Cologne or Taipei with the purpose to meet them for an interview, invite them for a talk or a workshop, or to go for a visit or a field trip.

This is the page where we share our digital communication – in this case video messages between Cologne and Taipei to figure out what’s the best way to keep in touch. And for live connections please use https://zoom.us/j/5505005500

POSTER_SPEISEWALD1

Hello,

Here is the picture of our main artefact, the touchpoint to the Speisewald platform.

Sorry for the delay.

It will be tangible by the 30th and we will also have a 1/100 model of the Speisewald next to it.

We will share the exhibition element planning for our  meeting tomorrow.

See you then!

What it is :

IVC – InVisibleCities is an open community advocating urban 
research and innovation. Members from different professions, 
cities and regions share the same enthusiasm on cities and 
exchange creative ideas on urban living.

By working collaboratively we aim to tackle with city’s complex issues, and open up the conversation for the public. With new tools in hands, we believe that cities are to be seen differently, in the way that is more sophisticated, intriguing, and humane. It is in cities that we learn, we engage, and we innovate.

Where it is :

International

Why it is relevant :

Data visualisations can be very useful to convey information and this collective has a very creative way to do that.

The focus on Taiwanese cities like Taitung and Taipei can provide us precious resources for our research and open this new possibility of visualisation.

https://ivc.city/project

 

 

What it is: 

In Taoyuan, we visited Ann, a middle-aged Taiwanese woman who told us about her projects in her four year-old rice transformation factory. The small factory is equipped with a high-tech milling machine coming from Japan, the secret of Ann and the biggest investment of her business.

Through processing rice into flour and derived products as pre-mixes, she collaborates with local farmers (providing them packaging and private labelling) and aims to educate Taiwanese people about the value of the rice culture, that got forgotten with the invasion of the wheat-based western culture. Her initiative started when she found out that her kids were reacting to gluten. Through rice processing, she wants to show how versatile and healthy rice-based baking can be and she already published a book of recipes, is currently giving cooking lessons and communicates regularly through her website.

Her process is very labor-intensive because everything is packaged manually but she employs local mothers and offers them working times suiting their need to go home to their children.

In the future, Ann plans to become a famous You Tube chef and to open her own bakery in the area, as well as maybe manufacturing frozen food to reach an other market. In the meantime, Ann sells all of her produce on her website because she doesn’t want to collaborate with supermarkets and their industrial mode. She believes that a shopfront is not necessarily needed anymore, also because of the expense that it represents for small businesses.

Ann is confident and believes that she should be honest with the customer to make them trust her more. She decided to stay in the city for convenience with her kids and because she doesn’t want to destroy farm land.

Where it is: 

Taoyuan, Taiwan

Why it is relevant: 

This case shows how the middle man, the processor of the food can have a double impact on the food chain because it connects with the consumer to educate and inspire as well as opening the opportunity for the farmers to choose healthier ways of producing and to increase the biodiversity thanks to a curated product range.

What it is: 

I visited three different food forests in Hsinchu before flying back. The city is located in the South-West of Taipei, close to the airport and not far from the sea. Its name “Hsin-chu” means “new-bamboo”, it used to be the land of many bamboo species. The city is one of the most prosperous in Taiwan because it is the place of production of many electronic devices (chips etc), so this richness makes it according to Claire, my guide, a successful place to implant food forests, because funding can be provided usually from those companies who are looking for “greenwash” strategies. She introduced me to the principle of a food forest, and the seven layers of vegetation necessary to imitate this ecosystem, as well as landscape design elements that would ease its maintenance.

Here is the manifesto for the Food Forest project.

More than half of the world population live in cities, and this number is expected to increase. Cities raise many environmental and social issues such as poor biodiversity, urban heat island effect, lack of resilience, food insecurity and many more. Our integrative solution is to build food forests in cities. A food forest is a sustainable design which mimics the ecosystem of a natural forest, with food production in mind. It started in Seattle, U.S. where people came up with the idea to build a food forest on a public lawn. We introduced the concept into Taiwan and built the first public food forest in Hsinchu where a partnership was created with the local government and community. Work parties and educational events are held to engage people in holistic learning and to share the harvest with all, including nature. Our solution has provided affordable healthy food for the community and demonstrates an ecosystem-based adaptation that can care for people and land at the same time. 

Three food forests :

  • the first one was located in front of a residency for old people, that take good care of it but form a closed circle occupying this space, sometimes disrupted by school visits. A real pedagogic impact can be found there.
  • the second one was part of a sort of “village” funded by a local company, including a food forest, a restaurant, a plant shop and an occasional local market. The forest was very dry because of the lack of rain in the last months and of the bad management of volunteers. The ONG taking care of the Hsinchu food forests collapsed recently, leaving Claire without a job and the forest without a functioning management system. There would be an opportunity here for self-management of the citizens themselves, and that is what Claire believes will work in the future.
  • the third one was located very close to the Hsinchu High Speed Rail station. It was bigger and we arrived at the same time as a group of volunteers maintaining the area, which allowed me to see an other side of the network, led by students and middle-aged women. Part of the forest had been bought by a local company that has left it without any crops.

The biggest issue for Claire with food forests in Taiwan was that Taiwanese people were very focused on the aesthetic aspects and the ecological/social impacts of a food forest, and not so much on the perspective of food sufficiency.

Where it is: 

Hsinchu, Taiwan

Why it is relevant: 

These initiatives are in line with many STG goals and they could provide self-sufficiency for cities in the future, allowing consumers to avoid buying from corporate companies and control the origin of plant-based ingredients.

https://panorama.solutions/en/solution/urban-food-forest?fbclid=IwAR32uqTkDthOO3rEIRk_Bj2DRTEuA1uLED-RsUdkqdChqDdOvHkzu8Mj2D0

What it is: 

In the outskirts of Hualien, close to the mountains, we went to knock on the door of an independant couple of farmers, growing organically since 1993 in a region where everyone around them uses pesticides. They are 80% self-sufficient with their harvest but they don’t produce enough to really make a living out of this activity. They sell part of their harvest to local organic shops and markets. They are giving out the leftovers to charities and nursing homes. They consider farming more as a hobby, after they got fired from their job because they were too old.

Where it is: 

Hualien, Taiwan

Why it is relevant: 

These small-scale, family owned businesses can provide high quality products through an organic, slower process led by the old generation.

What it is: 

We came across few small urban farms/community gardens in Taipei or in Hualien.

Every time, we tried to interact with the people gardening there.

It was hard to understand the system precisely but in both cases, the people there (collecting Papayas, watering or maintaining) were volunteers (usually quite old) that were also neighbors, participating and collecting for themselves.

Those initiatives work like traditional herb/vegetable gardens and are different in that sense to food forests that reproduce the ecosystem of a forest.

In both cases, the land seemed to belong to the government and to be public.

Where it is: 

Taipei, Taiwan & Suburban Area of Hualien

Why it is relevant: 

In terms of social involvement of citizens, those initiatives show a real potential, as well as being a ressource for the area.

It would be interesting to know if it works the same in Germany.

What it is :

I met three members of this collective during the workshop in Taipei. They had gathered in an abandoned house – rehabilitated into a restaurant by Taiwanese architects – to bake cookies and tempeh (an Indonesian fermented dish) with okara (the residues of Soy milk production, incredibly popular in Taipei and sold fresh amongst food stalls). They were planning to sell it on a local market that I will be mentioning in the post about food forests. Here is the manifesto of their work.

Ferment the City! is a group of people who share the common interest in fermentation and have practiced it in various ways as a natural process, which creates the conditions for good bacteria to interact, collaborate, multiply, and enhance the inherent nutritional value and taste of ingredients.
Most of them have experimented with kimchi, kombucha or ginger beer before and were all amazed by the capability of fermentation to turn organic (surplus) ingredients into delicious foods and beverages.
They bring “Ferment the City!” into being as an initiative to explore fermentation as a way to transform wastes into resources.
 
Ferment the City! 發酵城市 is supported by 2019 CREATORS program of the Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB) in Taipei.
I also have their contact if needed!

Where it is :

Taipei, Taiwan

Why it is relevant :

They are keen to further investigate biological fermentation for transforming and recycling organic wastes into new resources, such as fermented food, animal feed, compost, urban gardening, craft and building materials.

Their concept of “social fermentation” could also inspire many of us, as it symbolizes the slow process of collective ideas maturation to work towards positive futures.

 

Please listen to the videos if you are interested, they explain better than I do 🙂

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Y7An8s8n2kdRm-4ks_wAgoPCgQetNyiE

 

 

What it is: 

Pierre Loisel, a 70 year-old farmer from Quebec, living in Taiwan for more than 50 years that tells people everywhere they should eat healthy produce grown with kitchen scraps. He originated the collection system of organic waste of Taipei city twenty years ago.

He created a compost system for the city and built a farm based on this extremely rich compost. He lives in San Zhi in the north west on Taipei, I could not visit his farm because he is old now but his story is very inspiring and he offers a powerpoint presentation to understand the challenges of family-owned land in Taiwan. I have access to his contact if anyone is interested in the topic.

Where it is: 

San Zhi, Taiwan

Why it is relevant: 

This case is not very recent but it informs on this side of organic agriculture in the Taiwanese context. Loisel’s can be a good example to look at, and even to consult for our project if we intend to work along with the Taiwanese governement/ system.

Organic farming is the future in agriculture … If developed into a field, it could be one of Taiwan’s biggest sources of income,” Loisel said. His method “revolutionary agriculture” is supporting that people should eat good food to stay healthy, adding that his produce, grown with kitchen scrap compost fertilizers, is unique.

Chinese table scrap compost is the most nutritious in the world. The vegetables grown with it develop defensive capabilities against bugs. So there is less work with spraying pesticides, and the vegetables are healthier. Also, [though many say salt in the soil is a barrier] my compost has bacteria that takes salt and makes it accessible to plants,” Loisel said.

The net result, Loisel said, “is that I come up with a product unique to the world.”

I want to increase the price for good quality produce in Taiwan, since Taiwanese are not paying enough for good quality” he said. In the organic market, the most expensive vegetables sell for NT$96 per 600g, but farmers would get about NT$48 out of that, he said, adding: “This is not enough to cover cost, especially if you take into consideration natural disasters like heat or typhoon.”

If the organic farmer cuts out the middleman and sells directly to customers as Loisel does, he can earn higher profits and maintain a buffer to stay honest without cheating with pesticides.“With my farming model, a couple can earn a good living … Farming is never easy, but it is not slave work,” Loisel said.

This is sustainable farming — you pick up kitchen waste locally, compost it, and turn it into food,” he said.

To read the full article, this way!

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2008/09/30/2003424613?fbclid=IwAR3neE_Fsqs5iGy70S657xo3yUZuekaDDWR4wED8yBP9bf0Mv_MMBdVqo4k

Hello,

just sharing this interactive documentary about design ethics

https://ethicsfordesign.com/

Enjoy!