Brief

Climate change and increased environmental conscience are beginning to change the way we think about land and how we use it. Agriculture is one of the largest uses for our land, and our quest for large expanses of cheap fertile lands has pushed food production further and further away from it’s largest consumers, cities. Our cities are still growing, so in turn, are their appetites, unfortunately the viability of these far-reaching agricultural catchments are shrinking. With the age of fossil fuels coming to an end, long distance, fossil fuel dependant logistics and distribution will no longer be cheap or convenient. New, sustainable, transport options will develop to replace some of the traditional fossil fuel powered distribution, however so to will the opportunity for localised production and consumption. New transport technologies are unlikely to be as cheap to run as fossil fuels once were, so energy conservation is going to become a priority to keep the cost of any product down. Not only do cities have the capacity to satisfy part of their hunger within their own boundaries but also ingrained transport infrastructures that could be incorporated into a vast network of food production, distribution and consumption.

Brief

Climate change and increased environmental conscience are beginning to change the way we think about land and how we use it. Agriculture is one of the largest uses for our land, and our quest for large expanses of cheap fertile lands has pushed food production further and further away from it’s largest consumers, cities. Our cities are still growing, so in turn, are their appetites, unfortunately the viability of these far-reaching agricultural catchments are shrinking. With the age of fossil fuels coming to an end, long distance, fossil fuel dependant logistics and distribution will no longer be cheap or convenient. New, sustainable, transport options will develop to replace some of the traditional fossil fuel powered distribution, however so to will the opportunity for localised production and consumption. New transport technologies are unlikely to be as cheap to run as fossil fuels once were, so energy conservation is going to become a priority to keep the cost of any product down. Not only do cities have the capacity to satisfy part of their hunger within their own boundaries but also ingrained transport infrastructures that could be incorporated into a vast network of food production, distribution and consumption.

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About:

This is a blog for my Major Project Thesis.

A place for my ideas, developments, side tracks, research and feedback.

The theme I wish to explore is our relationship with land, particularly our traditional land ownership models and the culture that comes with it. Perhaps in reaction to these traditional relationships, a more nomadic and adaptable architecture could emerge with particular importance to production and consumption. Food production is of course necessary to sustain life, a system particulary complex in urban environments, and until now it has been dependant on secuirty of arable land and extentive transport and logistics systems. Both of these elements are becoming increasingly unsustainable with climate change and our burgoening population. So I am exploring the possibilites of adaptable, nomadic and parsititic farms, ranging from small private urban insertions to larger suburban co-operatives as an alternative to 'permanent' land development. The project may even explore the possibility of creating more nomadic cities, where civilisation can begin to move, as it once did, with climate and land mass changes.

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