Submission: November 30, 2018
Registration: November 20, 2018
Language: English
Location: Concept
Prizes: A total of 4000$ worth rewards to be won.
Type: Open
Food is one of the most fundamental elements of human existence. Looking back, the way we produce, store and consume food has evolved greatly. Humans have thrived because our ancestors learnt how to gather, produce and consume food, all with their bare hands. And mankind has sustained due to these crucial elements of knowledge passed through generations. With industrialization came mass production, and with mass production came an influx of consumers – who started paying instead.
Skills and crafts related to agriculture and food production are now mostly obsolete in the urbane environment. Mass consumerism through supermarkets and even online mediums is slowly changing how we perceive, acquire and consume food.
This has raised issues like overconsumption, poor quality, high wastage and an over-dependence on manufacturing agencies. In the long run our perception of fresh foods/fruits will be completely eroded by advertisements and fancy packaging, which can have irreversible impacts on health, and hence, the human evolution cycle.
The time to intervene is now.
As a designer how can you bring farming to the cities where people can see, participate or celebrate cultivation – and understand what they eat, much better? Where not only awareness related to food is available, but as a community we become more responsible for our actions. How can you change the image of cities as the ones that only consume, to ones that contribute too? Or make farming so easy for people using technologies of today that makes it easy for people to grow it in their homes? Urban meal mine1(n), is a place where people can generate/learn/contribute to grow food for their city. This is usually located in the heart of the city where skilled labour + abundant transport + short distance logistics + faster production technologies can break even revenue over the high cost land it occupies.