What it is: Slow Food Foundation support projects which involve producers and local communities growing biodiversity and traditional food. Some of the projects are: 

The Ark of Taste identifies and catalogues quality food products at risk of extinction. Today products on board number more than 5,000 from over 120 countries. 

The Slow Presidia: The Presidia sustain quality production at risk of extinction, protect unique regions and ecosystems, recover traditional processing methods, safeguard native breeds and local plant varieties

Where it is: around 100 years

Why is relevant: The Foundation’s projects are tools to promote a model of agriculture that is based on local biodiversity and respect for the land and the local culture, is in harmony with the environment and aims to provide food sovereignty and access to good, clean and fair food for all communities.

URL: https://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/

ING_libretto_arca

I’m still working on the majority, but that is the current version.

poster_draft

Tricycle package

As discussed, here is my poster: plakat_Hyperfood. The back ist just a concept, I have to rearrange everything, but just for the fist hand …

WHAT: The Hyperfood is an approach to redesign the traditional distribution system for local and seasonal food by implementing it into existing infrastructure and using environmentally friendly technologies. Local farms are connected through an underground tube system that transports capsules with pneumatic power to pick up points that keep food cold with a minimum use of energy due to the fact that they are placed underground. To be easily accessible and so that several people can benefit from the system pick up points are placed in the most condensed and easy reachable parts of the city.

WHY: Todays food distribution system does not work on his highest efficiency level due to many touchpoints between producer and consumer as packaging, logistics, transportation and similar. Additionally, the volume of traffic increases especially in densely populated parts of the cities and traffic jams occur due to freight transportation. Consequently, emissions are increasing. As cities have to deal with less infrastructure in the future and the significance of technologies and digitalization is still rising, a new way of transportation is necessary.

HOW: My future approach of transportation tries to tackle these obstacles by implementing an underground transportation system into CGN’s existing infrastructure as unused tunnels from the roman empire or KVB and used metro tunnels. Since the capsules in which the food is transported have a capacity of 6kg and thus a diameter of about 30cm, the transport system is place-saving and can be placed in tunnels, even in those that are still in use. The capsules are transported from the farms to the pick-up points with the use of air pressure that pushes the capsules trough the underground tube system. Hubs between the tubes and the microchip, which is implemented in each capsule and that stores the target location of the capsule enable the capsule to reach the desired destination.  The whole food ordering process is managed through a digital platform where farmers can insert their daily offers and consumers can place their appropriate orders, track their order, see recipes corresponding to the farmers offers, book a farm visit, rate farms and the food and pay digital.

What it is: Foodsharing is an internet platform that gives private individuals, traders and producers the opportunity to offer or collect surplus food free of charge. This is done in FairTeilern which has set up rooms in publicly accessible places in various parts of the city, such as here in the Bürgerzentrum Ehrenfeld e.V. The aim is to share surplus food with others instead of throwing it away and making it available free of charge to anyone interested.

The core idea is people sharing food. There should be no money involved, because sharing also has an ethical dimension. In this way we give food an idealistic value again, because it is more than just a commodity.

Where it is: Cologne, Germany

Why it is relevant: The FairTeiler can act as an example for how food sharing and resource conservation can work in cities. It is also a good start for everyone to use their remaining food wisely instead of throwing it away. It is both money and resource saving and at the same time environmentally friendly

URL: https://foodsharing.koeln/?page_id=123

POSTER_SPEISEWALD1

Die Tafel

What it is: Die Tafel–The charitable boards create a balance: they collect surplus, qualitatively perfect food and distribute it to socially and economically disadvantaged people. With their fast and unbureaucratic help, the Tafeln alleviate the consequences of poverty in a rich society – and stand for solidarity and humanity.

Where it is: Germany-organisation

Why it is relevant: The table also works with surplus food that is still of high quality and edible. However, in this case, support is given to the needy who often cannot afford the weekly shopping for their family.

URL: https://www.tafel.de/

 

Hey guys

Check out the new poster here. The pdf also has an A5 factsheet where we put the keywords, stakeholders etc. which will go below the poster. Now I am going to take the content of the poster you will post today, and put it into the new template. And then give the poster back to you if you want to change anything. We have decided to give the user story appropriate space, but it should make ideal use of these dimensions: 

380mm by 540mm or 38cm by 54cm

That’s the amount of space you get on your poster for your user story. Please have your final one ready by Wednesday evening 29/01 So I can put them in the new poster on Thursday. (As you notice, quite some attention now is going to your question and text How/What/Why, so it might be worth spending some extra time on that!)

On Monday 03/02 prof. HK and I want to meet you in R240 at 10:00, with the exact built-up exhibition pieces you are using. Every student can get the key for room 058, so organize yourself and get your exh. systems at 09:00. We can then shuffle the pieces around and make good use of the space (and clean it up when necessary).

Let’s get readyyyyy! I have asked for the foodlab on Thursday for a final dinner together, after a hopefully successful presentation 😉

The Good Food

What it is: The Good Food sells products of all kinds that would otherwise have been destroyed as waste. The owner (Nicole)  goes into fields after they have been harvested and collects the vegetables left behind. Some of them are deemed too big, some too small, some just too ugly to sell. In her shop, the organic food then becomes accessible to everyone using a “pay what you think” system. Buyers can also find non-perishable products from big manufacturers which have passed their sell-by dates.

Where it is: Köln-Ehrenfeld

Why it is relevant: We planned a cooperation with The Good Food concerning the transportation of the vegetables from the farmer to the shops. The shared costs of renting a van, pay for petrol or buying a new vehicle would lower the costs on both sides, make the process easier, faster and products cheaper for the consumer.

URL: https://www.the-good-food.de/

 

NeuLand

What it is: NeuLand is an urban community garden that is using an uncultivated area by planting diverse vegetables, fruits and other plants in transportable boxes. They grow in transportable boxes, because the soil is contaminated and therefore unusable for gardening and also their time is limited, as there are probably some plans coming up in the next years for construction concepts from Stadt Köln.  

Where it is: Bayenthal, Köln

Why it is relevant: The area they use fits perfectly for putting our concept of Echt Essbar into place. As the area they use is the city’s property and they don’t mind sharing a small part of the space, it gives Echt Essbar a relaxed and natural environment to settle in. Also Neuland profits from a cooperation, since they might get more attention for their own projects.

URL: http://www.neuland-koeln.de/

 

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

In our meeting last Tuesday we had 5 students so for next Tuesday we need all on board sharing their topics and concepts – your projects – to work on so that we are able to fix this from Dec 3 on.

So please make up your mind and be clear about the question you want to work on, about an idea what you might develop, about people (farmer, retail, market staff, restaurant chef, community kitchen owner, CSA organizer etc.) you need to interview, about cases you are referring to.  You need to know about your context. I suggest next Tuesday to make a joined start of the meeting with all of us and then proceed with the individual projects you are working on. If you should not be able to join – for which reason ever – please make sure that I can have access to your approach (through posting it, material, video etc.).

A last word from the students still being in Taiwan: they are all traveling, attending farms and farmers and for sure will gain a lot of new insights. They all left their computers in Taipei so no time to make a posting now. They will share their information latest Monday so that we are all on the same page next Tuesday.

Looking very much forward to this next phase of our exciting project!

In our next meeting, we aim to reconnect the current work on the projects in Cologne to the 6 topics realized in Taipei. Please all (Kalia, Maria, Sarah, Anastasia, Diana, Kira, Kojiro) prepare a short presentation of the current status and to which group / topic it might relate. This includes your updated question (I am sure you will like it).

Last week I was aksing you to share your CASES. Thank you Kalia, Maria, Sarah-Yasmine for doing so – and where are your CASES Samia, Anastasia, Diana, Kira, Kojiro? Please do this latest tomorrow. If anything should be unclear – no, I think everything must be clear.

I will be in 303 tomorrow latest 10.10 so please all seven be there! See you!

Dear Workshop participants

In order for the valuable materials which were produced during the workshop not to get lost, I have created this drive folder in which you can upload your presentation, interesting research, visuals and documents. 

This way, we can retrieve your input at a later stage in the continuing project in Cologne. Thank you!!

A late-night post from the team! 

Here is a recap of the day by each team, we’ll try to update you throughout the project. We are still searching for the appropriate format, but this we can also discuss with you tomorrow. How would you like to be updated? In the videos, each one of them is holding a summarising A3, which I will take a clear picture of tomorrow and upload it under this post. (Cause people are sleeping already now!) Apologies for the sound quality, this is also something I’ll try to fix. Anyway, enjoy!

Team 1 Future Consumption

Designing scenarios for a new eating out experience  (food stall / pop-up / restaurant / farm to plate …) in a specific location with a specific type of food.

Maxime

Team 2 Future Distribution / Retail

Designing scenarios for a specific market / retail (food / agriculture market / pop-up store) experience in a specific location and a specific type of food.

Matea

Team 3 Future Distribution / Sharing

Designing scenarios for a new food sharing experience in urban space creating communities of practice using hybrid platforms (including three specific places).

Jeldrik

Team 4 Future Farming / Agro-Communities

Designing scenarios for new types of Agro-Communities in / around Taipei

Clara

Team 5 Future Farming: Relationships

Designing scenarios for interaction with / accessing information about food and ingredients to establish new (food) values and (key stakeholder) relationships.

Anna-Luz

Team 6 Future Food: New Products

Designing scenarios at a specific place to present and experience relevant information as a “food exhibition” by appropriate means and (hybrid) media

Sarah

Today we had the Kick-Off of the Taipei Workshop  so I want to share the presentation PDF with all of you both in Taipei and Cologne.

For the Taipei students the overview of Criteria might be of relevance so I repeat it here to make it easier to find:

(Future) speculations about food and the city will lead to countless opportunities. In order to narrow down your focus and being able to relate your outcomes toeach other, a set of criteria for your work and our evaluation are given:

  • Connect the city with the rural: people to food and build communities
  • Create awareness, engage, educate
  • Provide data about food/ingredients & farming products; make intelligent use of information technology
  • Use characteristic and specific places in the city
  • Find possible distinction criteria of your product and create a narrative relevant for consumers.

We have started the workshop now and have no access yet to your research. Please post your cases and research on spaces as soon as possible and upload the files of your flashcards onto the drive. Thanks! This way it’s there for everyone.

Also, how is it looking for tomorrow? Surely it would be interesting for you to check in with what we are doing over here, therefore I’d like to ask who will attend the Zoom-meeting tomorrow. And who’s computer could you use? Just respond to this post if you’ll be there and who’d be up to download zoom to enable the meeting. Download zoom here: https://zoom.us/

To organise that, we will check in at 09:45 Cologne time, to test if everything is working. From 10 onwards, you can hear the current state of the research of the different groups. 

I have already scheduled a Zoom meeting which you can access under this link:

https://zoom.us/j/204961328?pwd=TFpKN1Fhb3lmM2J2SzU4bVpEMUNWQT09

Meeting ID: 204 961 328
Password: 042178

If there are any complications, you can reach me via WhatsApp on the number +447480694205

Hi everyone, we have arrived safe and sound here in Taiwan. After a good night of rest, we are now out exploring and investigating interesting different sites.

Besides that you can continue working on your topics, I would like to ask everyone to upload the files of their flashcards, both the InDesign as well as the pdf in this drive folder. 
And also, in a similar way, could everyone upload their research onto spaces? Instead of the cards itself, make a post where you use the same contents as you developed for the cards. Use the title as the post-title, use your description to share the content of the post and add in some images and links! Don’t forget to use some tags when posting so we can easily retrieve your research.

DEADLINE: SUNDAY MORNING (17/11) for both uploading the cards into the drive, as well as making your research posts. I will then format them together and print them out as materials to be shared during the workshop. Thanks! 

Now it is up to you to connect with a member in Taipei and share with them specific questions you are having to progress with your personal projects. Besides receiving updates through spaces, there are already two specific moments we will connect to you “Live” via Zoom. More info later about how we will exactly do that. For now, just schedule these two dates in:

TUESDAY (19/11): 10 AM – 30 MIN Zoom Meeting The groups will update the Cologne side on their progression.

FRIDAY (22/11): 08:30 AM – 60 MIN Zoom Meeting This will be the final presentation of all of the groups. 

Have a good Friday and get back to you soon.

After our intense collaboration work today I was suggesting 6 domains and assignments for the Taipei workshop week. I spent this morning to make them easier accessible for the students joining the workshop – as they don´t know about our process and and context. So I hope this reads more easy now, that everybody can imagine possible directions and outcomes for the end of the week – and I am sure you will all find the questions you had (and the stuff you were interested in)…and now we also have a consistency and it is clearer that the outcome will be scenarios based on specific places in the city (or around), on specific (food) products, on a specific us of data and information (technology), and on specific people or communities.

We will do it! And see you on Sunday and stay connected via spaces!


Team 1 Future Consumption
Designing scenarios for a new eating out experience  (food stall / pop-up / restaurant / farm to plate …) in a specific location with a specific type of food.

Context: In the future, the concepts of restaurants will proceed to change. How can we re-think our understanding and concept of “restaurant”? Where – in the neighborhood – would such a place be? What would be the experience, depending on a very specific type of food they are offering? What type of specific (food) products would be available? How will it connect (to) consumer/citizen and farmer? Which information is relevant for the food, for the cultivation process, which communities might emerge? What do people (need to) know about the food they eat?  Are restaurants embedded in (specific) communities?
Team: Maxime,

Team 2 Future Distribution / Retail
Designing scenarios for a specific market / retail (food / agriculture market / pop-up store) experience in a specific location and a specific type of food.

Context: Designing a new market / retail experience to meet emerging customer´s needs.
Where will those places be? What are best places and why? Who will be the customers?  What will be “sold”? How will this match new shopping behaviors you see emerging? Which information is available about the products and how will people use this information, get in touch with it? What is the new experience? How can we address very specific cultural acceptances?
Team: Matea, Florian

Team 3 Future Distribution / Sharing
Designing scenarios for a new food sharing experience in urban space creating communities of practice using hybrid platforms (including three specific places).

Context: How can we learn from cases like food banks all over the world and avoid that food to good to be wasted will reach new people / customers? How can we design this setting to make it accessible? Where and how in Public space can this happen? How will it be organized that people accept it, like it and maybe even build communities around it?
Team: Jeldrik

Team 4 Future Farming / Agro-Communities
Designing scenarios for new types of Agro-Communities in / around Taipei

Context: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) as a success model in Taipei and what are opportunities, activities and challenges when implementing new technologies emerge? How to connect citizen and farmer, what is the benefit for them? How can the process of farming be monitored? Which data are / might be available? How are digital media used to strengthen communities? How to build and strengthen communities, which communities emerge? How and what to share and work together?
Team: Clara

Team 6 Future Farming / Relationships
Designing scenarios for interaction with / accessing information about food and ingredients to establish new (food) values and (key stakeholder) relationships.

Context:  What kind of data would be valuable from the different perspectives (consumers, farmers / producers) and how can sharing this data influence their relationship and bring new values to food? According to the different types of data, how can future technologies be applied to carry this information, which interface could this imply and what could this mean for food “packaging”?
Team: Anna Luz,

Team 6 Future Food: New Products
Designing scenarios at a specific place to present and experience relevant information as a “food exhibition” by appropriate means and (hybrid) media 

Context: What are  typical Taiwanese agricultural products (define three!), how can we analyse it and use available data to both inform customers and come to new use of all possible byproducts? How can value be created, how can customers get a new attitude to a product through this knowledge? This includes every possible step in tracing back the growth and processing of the product. Designing the information layers of a food product and emerging opportunities based on this knowledge
Team: Sarah, Helena

Here I am sharing the criteria for the Taipei workshop -. and of course they are related to our work here. So please have them in mind as criteria for your individual project topics to work on.

CRITERIA

(Future) speculations about food and the city will lead to countless opportunities. In order to narrow down your focus and being able to relate your outcomes to each other a set of criteria for your work and our evaluation are set.

 

  • Try to connect people, places and activities in the city with the rural
  • Connect/relate people to food and build communities
  • Create awareness of food/ingredient quality, relate people to food, engage, educate
  • Provide (useful, necessary, feasible and digestible) data and information about food/ingredients and farming products, make intelligent use of information technology
  • Try to relate production and consumption in a closer way!
  • Use very characteristic and specific places in the city (abandoned spaces, green rooftops, (pop-up) restaurants, markets… to make things tangible
  • Focus on agriculture (fruits, vegetables, crops etc.) as this allows the biggest flexibility in involvement and scalability
  • Find possible distinction criteria of your product and create a narrative relevant for consumers.

 

 

And, some hints for your work:

  • Look at Community Supported Agriculture – how can this support (or plug into) the individual projects?
  • Decrease the middle-men in the supply chain
  • Use of digital technology to improve solutions
  • Empowering local products, people
  • Work towards solutions that work in a respectful (check stakeholders!) and scalable (other places, global demand) way
  • Searching alternatives for mass-production and industrial food production 
  • Investigate opportunities for Restaurant / street stall / pop-up food places as a touchpoint where new experiences emerge

Choose farming products which allow enough opportunity for intelligent disposition and re-use (or at least check if there are any) e.g. rice, coffee etc.

Tomorrow we need to fix the six groups for Taipei. As discussed on Friday it would be beneficial for all of us if a) the KISDies in the 6 Taipei groups are both bringing in their experience & interest and push their topic forward in Taipei – with the help of the other students in the intense week and if b) there might be the opportunity to team up with the other 7 students staying here in Cologne. This would be a great match, I don´t know if it will work for all – but I suggest!

As finding the topics seems to be a catch 22 we came up on Friday with the following overview:


Group 1 and 2 Consume: Designing a new restaurant experience in Taipei
In the future, the concepts of restaurants will proceed to change. You will work on this topic here in Taipei, being open to re-think your understanding and concept of “restaurant”. You will think of new types of restaurants. Where would such a restaurant be? What would be the experience, depending on a very specific type of food they are offering? What type of specific products would be available? How will it connect to citizen and farmer? Which information is relevant for the food, for the cultivation process, which communities might emerge? What do people (need to) know about the food they eat?  Are restaurants embedded in (specific) communities?
1. Street stall / pop-up Sarah
2. Restaurant / farm to plate Maxime

Group 3 and 4 Distribute: Designing a new market / retail experience to meet emerging customer´s needs 
Where will it be? What are best places and why? What will be “sold”? How will this match new shopping behaviors you see emerging? How do they deal with waste? What will be sold? Which information is available about the products and how will people use this information, get in touch with it? What is the new experience?
3. Food market experience / pop-up store Mattea
4. Food bank Jeldrik

Group 5 and 6 Produce: Designing a concept for new farming activities for emerging urban farming activities 
How to connect citizen and farmer, what is the benefit for them? How can food be monitored? Which data are / might be available? How to build and strengthen communities, which communities emerge? How and what to share and work together?
5. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) outside of Taipei Clara ( / Sarah?)
6. Connecting consumers to farmer through data Anna Luz
and / or optionally: Urban Farming in a specific location in Taipei


So the challenge for tomorrow will be to adapt your project title (according to the questions you had / I revised) according to the above mentioned 6 subtopics. If there will be a shift from your side – perfect, but let´s see that we are covering the most crucial things and that we stay in the three domains.Hope that works for you…but I am sure.