Building to Action Understanding the barriers to urban agricultural developments
Building to Action Andrea Brown Thesis Publication Master of Arts in Social Design Maryland Institute College of Art Baltimore, Maryland, USA Spring 2014
Table of Contents
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Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
Introduction 6 7 About Me 9 Thesis Question Phenomenon 11 Research 13 15 Research Methods Baltimore Food Hub 16 Gather Baltimore 17 Whitelock 18 Cornerstones 20 Intervention 25 26 Methodology Action Initiative 28 Food Parks 29 Workshop One 30 Workshop Two 32 Volunteer Day 34 Implementation 37 Evaluation 39 Next Steps 40 Credits 42
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Introduction MICA Social Design Application Essay January 15,2013
I was twelve when I came to the realization that my parents could not cook. After one too many spaghetti nights and McDonald’s meals, I began to read cookbooks in earnest, practice techniques, and eventually got my first job at a neighborhood bakery. My parents promptly gained 20 pounds. Once I started cooking, I couldn’t stop. It was this love of good, healthy food, coupled with my passion for building trinkets in the garage, which led me towards an interior design education. I attended the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and set on a goal of designing restaurants that inspired people the way food inspired me. However, quickly into my first internship, I realized that high-end hospitality was not the direction that I wanted my career to take. After receiving my Associate Degree in Interior Architecture and Design from AAU, I moved to Toronto. There, I continued my interior design studies at Ryerson University. It was here that I was exposed to The Stop, a community food bank in Toronto, where I learned about the importance of food security and the limitations of municipal government in regards to supporting healthy food initiatives. Senior studio brought me in contact with Professor Taymoore Balbaa, a leader of the Future City Lab project in Toronto. Future City Lab is an open source initiative for designing what a city in 2050 can look like. I petitioned to create a thesis that was based outside of Canada and was granted the opportunity to combine my own Baltimore upbringing with my passion for food. I wanted to take Baltimore’s 45% vacancy and turn it into an asset. My three-phased thesis will revitalize economically depressed areas within Baltimore City and use associated vacancy problems as a catalyst to advance the concept of urban agricultural development. I focused on the neighborhood of Harlem Park; however, my goal is to create a system that could be easily implementable in any neighborhood with similar conditions within the city. For me, localizing food distribution infrastructure means enabling more cost effective fresh produce in under-served neighborhoods. Food systems are connected systems of people, policy, infrastructure and business. My end goal is to work with advocacy organizations on changing public policy, while focusing on the built environment through graphic and industrial design. I feel confident that I will be successful in this tight-knit and collaborative setting at MICA. I am self-motivated, opinionated, and not afraid of a challenge. A great asset of this program is the Center for Design Practice. I look forward to networking with the people involved in associated initiatives and finding avenues for funding. I am very excited about the possibility of this intensive one-year program. It hits close to home in more than one way. The Master of Arts in Social Design will allow me to further develop something I am already passionate about. I believe my biggest asset is that I will not be a passive part of this program. I truly desire a tangible outcome so that I can work towards implementing solutions for some of Baltimore’s most pressing issues through the power of design.
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Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
About Me On the preceding page is the statement of intent that I wrote for my application to MICA’s Social Design program. It is at once ridiculously naive and wholly optimistic. My time at MICA has expanded my education and experience through the lens of social design by testing processes and what it means to be a designer. My initial thesis work focused on translating the design process behind successful urban agriculture projects into practical steps for aspiring green space activists to turn a vacant lot into an urban garden. But along the way, I started to feel that the design process itself might be part of the problem, not the solution. Sometimes the biggest hurdle to making a public green space is stopping the conversation and moving to action to transform ideas into results. My thesis, Building to Action, attempts to distill what I’ve observed about the complex process of making public green spaces a reality through the lens of social design. - - Andrea Brown
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Introduction
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Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
Thesis Question:
How can design thinking reimagine urban agricultural developments and set them up for success?
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Introduction
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Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
Phenomenon: There are countless projects in Baltimore City where individuals have decided to take back portions of the 30,000 vacant lots that make up the Baltimore City landscape. Many of these projects are urban farms, parks, and general public green spaces. However, the sustainability of these projects is limited and many never get fully realized.
Possible reasons this phenomenon happens: Project scope too large No ownership of project Mismanagement of funding Unrealistic timelines Lack of designated city officials Community push-back Toxic land
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Research
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Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
Initial Question:
How can we facilitate an integrated food system strategy to help cities support successful agricultural developments?
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Research
Investigation
Different avenues and questions were initially explored
How might both entrepreneurship and agricultural knowledge take steps toward a more integrated middle? What if urban agriculture didn’t look like urban agriculture? What are the possibilities of developing an urban agriculture design pattern book? Can we reimagine local farms and encourage companion planting practices?
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Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
Top: Product design was explored as it relates to accessible forms of food security. Bottom: Initial conceptual sketch of what Whitelock Community Farm could implement if they considered companion planting.
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Research
Baltimore Food Hub Coordination Meetings
“The Baltimore Food Hub is a planned campus of facilities, services, and programs focused on enhancing Baltimore’s local food economy. Supported by a team of business partners, nonprofit organizations, state and local agencies, the vision is to build a vibrant local food system that creates employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. The Food Hub will be located at 1801 E. Oliver Street, a 3.5-acre campus containing the historic Eastern Pumping Station—glorious though sadly decayed 19th-century buildings that will be brought back to life. The Food Hub will play a major role in revitalizing East Baltimore, creating jobs and opportunities for neighborhood, while serving as an asset that will benefit the city and region.”
Image Credit: baltimorefoodhub.com
(Excerpt from the Baltimore Food Hub’s Website)
Greg Heller - Director, The Baltimore Food Hub Sarah Landon - Program Director, American Communities Trust Maya Kosok - Farm Alliance of Baltimore City Spike Gjerde - Chef, Woodberry Kitchen Haile Johnston - Co-Founder & Co-Director, Common Market I had the opportunity to sit in on a meeting with Sarah Landon, then the Program Director at American Communities Trust, where many of the collaborators for the Baltimore Food Hub were deciding next steps. Mainly production schedules and distribution schemes were discussed. Momentum on the project ended up stalling and has yet to pick back up.
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Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
Gather Baltimore Introductory Meeting
“Gather Baltimore is a volunteer-based program, created by OSI fellow Arthur Gray Morgan, that collects unsold vegetables, fruit and bread from the Baltimore Farmers’ Market & Bazaar in downtown Baltimore and other sources for redistribution to local meal programs, faith communities, and others in need. The baked goods, fruit and seasonal produce collected would otherwise be thrown away as it will not stay fresh until the next market. Gather Baltimore insures that this food does not become waste but instead is made available to financially challenged families in communities where fresh healthy food is not readily accessible.”
Image Credit: Gather Baltimore Facebook
Image Credit: Grist.org
(Excerpt from Gather Baltimore’s Website)
Arthur Gray Morgan - Founder, Gather Baltimore Mira Azarm - Fellow, Robert W. Deutsch Foundation Mike Weikert - Director, MICA Social Design
Arthur reached out to MICA social design because of MICA’s past relationships with Real Food Farm and urban agriculture theses. Arthur was so busy gleaning crops, transporting, and delivering them around the city that he had no time to deal with organizational issues. His greatest need was with building communication materials. He had a great program but needed to raise more grant money or more volunteers. Mira Azarm was able to collaborate with Gather Baltimore to develop such materials.
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Research
Whitelock Community Park Integration Meetings
Teddy Krolik - Environmental & Sanitation Program Director, RHIC Erin Bowman - Healthy Foods Coordinator, RHIC Alison Worman - Farm Manager, Whitelock Community Farm Joyce Kelley - Neighborhood Design Center Byron Banghart - True North Guide Lab Communication with Teddy Krolik at Reservoir Hill Improvement Council started in early February where he introduced me to the project Whitelock Community Park (while it hasn’t been named yet I will be referring to it as Whitelock Community Park). He explained the scope of the 30,000 square foot project, their partnership with the Neighborhood Design Center and local community boards. The project broke ground in 2011 and has hit many roadblocks along the way. Factors such as unforeseen excavation costs, weather set backs, and coordination issues were all cited as problems that the project had come across. Many small scale solutions were proposed that ranged from built environment, communication strategies, and brand identity. Because of my background in build environment design Teddy and I agreed to address interventions that fell under that scope. The initial conversations established that the custom design of modular seating and a public fire pit would be pursued. The partnership with True North Guide Lab was an easy fit as the workshops could serve as learning opportunities for young adults in the neighborhood.
Proposed interventions:
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Built Environment
Communication Strategies
Brand Identity
transition space design meeting spaces tree well design engaging park structures grill space signage lemonade stand style kiosk tables for meetings and potlucks functional seating
neighborhood newsletter storytelling signs pamphlets
name for park logo cohesive blog
Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
Top: A neighborhood resident utilizing the paved path that passes through the Whitelock Community Park . Left: Sketch of the organizational structure and individuals involved in the Whitelock project. Bottom Left: Weather has been one of the largest hurdles in terms of progressing the park’s development. This showcases the drainage issues the park faces after a heavy storm. Bottom Right: A tree well bench designed and built by Will ,a MICA graduate that collaborated with RHIC.
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Research
Ideal Scenario
Resources needed to make a public green space a reality:
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Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
COMMUNITY COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT INVOLVEMENT
PUBLIC PUBLIC FUNDING FUNDING
The state of the relationship between the public and a organization.
Involving a community in planning, operation, and control of a development.
Money that is generated by the government or from community funds.
PROS + Engaging the public will motivate action + Catch the attention of larger entities to get involved
PROS + Understanding of people and neighborhood, which your space serves + Community takes more ownership because of sense of place
PROS + Application processes and deadlines are public information and very firm. + Use prescribed formats for proposals
PUBLIC RELATIONS
CONS - Costly and spreads resources too thin - Sets expectations that may be hard to shift when project changes
CONS - Needs lots of people to agree to move forward - Many different personal goals come to the project
SKILLED SKILLED TRADES TRADES
VOLUNTEER VOLUNTEER LABOR LABOR
Jobs that are completed by people that specialize in one hands-on skill set.
Individuals that freely offer to take part in an enterprise or task.
PROS + Higher level of craftsmanship + More efficient work + Work can happen mid-week
PROS + Lots of workers available on projected workday + Work done predominantly on weekends
CONS - More costly - Less flexible schedule
CONS - Coordinating fundraisers and benefits take more upfront cost - Lower all around budget - Accountable to elected official, changing political trends affect security of some programs, availability of funds can change rapidly.
CONS - More chaotic build days - More general tasks handled
PROJECT PROJECT MANAGEMENT MANAGEMENT
PRIVATE PRIVATE FUNDING FUNDING
The process of organizing, planning, and motivating to achieve specific goals.
Investment from a private entity without government support or guarantee.
PROS + Understands and organizes process from start to finish + Can oversee the basic goals of the original plan/idea CONS - Most likely a volunteer position or need to allocate for position in budget - Not easy to keep same person in that role for entire duration
PROS + Full length, complex proposals not always necessary. + Can be much more flexible in responding to unique needs and circumstances. + Able to avoid bureaucratic requirements for administering grants. CONS - Priorities can change very rapidly, continuation of support can be difficult to predict - Many stakeholders to keep happy 21
Research
Realistic Scenario
Resources needed to make a public green space a reality: “ Action requires prioritization and sometimes sacrifice. Can you juggle the many resources necessary to realize a public green space? Rank each resource in order of projected importance.”
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
MOST IMPORTANT
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PROJECT MANAGEMENT
PUBLIC RELATIONS
PRIVATE FUNDING
VOLUNTEER LABOR
PUBLIC FUNDING
SKILLED TRADES
LEAST IMPORTANT
Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
AMOUNT OF VOTES 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
2
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RANKINGS
Ranking of resources in projected importance This layout represents a more realistic allocation of resources when starting a development. The ranking on the opposite page was determined by participants at the MICA MA Social Design thesis exhibition. The breakdown of all data collected is shown on the graph on this page.
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The goal was to start a dialogue around the sacrifices and oversights that happen in the beginning stages of a project. While there are no right or wrong answers participants were encouraged to acknowledge and justify the resources they ranked as least important and thus realize the sacrifices that need to be made on any project.
Community Involvement Private Funding Project Management Skilled Trades Public Relations Volunteer Labor Public Funding
6 1
6 0 1 0 0
5 2
3 0 1 1 2
4
6
7
0 3
3 1 3 3 1
2 2
1 2 5 1 1
1 2
1 2 1 6 1
0 2
0 3 3 2 3
0 2
0 6 0 1 5
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Intervention
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Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
Think. Talk. Act.
The goal is to prioritize action over stable plans. By championing iterative and incremental development we can easily support rapid and flexible responses to problems that arise; an ideal scenario for projects with dynamic and non-linear characteristics.
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Intervention
Building to Action’s Methodology: By better understanding the factors that cause gridlock in projects we can target specific issues and build action through small bets. This initiative is a plan to get things moving. Over designing can create atrophy in projects that are neighborhood based. Large-scale plans and renderings halt progress because they require high levels of commitment and funds to get started. Over design can also lead to members of the community looking to specialists for the answers.
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Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
Audience: The audience for this new way of thinking would be project managers and community organizers that have come across gridlock in their own projects. Challenges: The challenges that have been faced have been
predominantly from the design community. While stating that design can be the problem I am not implying that designers are doing anything wrong. I am just advocating for a change in thinking. Instead of being the specialists that deliver final plans to an audience I see designers as facilitators within communities.
Point of difference: The uniqueness of Building to Action’s
approach is that it emphasizes the use of a loose framework for projects to be lead under. By creating smaller scale workshops and projects within a larger framework more can be done quicker. This also allows the possibility for projects to be helmed by community leaders and for residents within neighborhoods to see actionable change.
Budget: The budget would always fluctuate depending on each
project. However, because small is ideal and easier to implement the average cost for workshops that were conducted were $500.
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Intervention
Using my work with Whitelock Community Park as a case study I built the case for the Design Ignites Change competition. By asking the question, “Is design the problem?” I hoped to open a dialogue about how professional designers can be assets when involved in smaller scale initiatives more as framework facilitators rather than the experts.
Design Ignites Change
2014 Student Innovation Award - $500
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CHALLENGE
SOLUTION
The Action Initiative is a plan to get things moving. Over designing creates atrophy. Large-scale, shiny renderings and plans halt progress because they require high levels of commitment and funds to get started. Our hypothesis is that too many people are looking to others to do something, all in the name of democracy.
Action Initiative’s methodology is “a-design”. You can generate momentum for a project by creating a simple framework of intimate moments that are easy, accessible, and do-able. By not designing the finished product and instead working with a loose framework, the solution evolves and adapts with the energy of the community.
Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
Adobe Voice App
What Kids Think They Are Eating
“ Food parks; connecting food education to the places where children play.”
We had the opportunity to prototype Adobe’s new storytelling app Voice. This platform allowed me to highlight issues revolving around food access and education to have instant online impact. My video titled “What Kids Think They Are Eating” was used in conjunction with the app’s launch as a featured project. “What Kids Think They Are Eating” presents the idea of food parks and how design can play an integral part in reimagining spaces.
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Intervention
WORKSHOP ONE Date: April 12, 2014 Location: Reservoir Hill Participants: 10
SKILLED TRADES COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT VOLUNTEER LABOR
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The first workshop that was held at Whitelock Community Park was in partnership with Reservoir Hill Improvement Council (RHIC) and True North Guide Lab, a program that encourages young adults in communities to participate in volunteer workshops and learn valuable skilled trades. The project goal was to create a curved stone bench by using the rubbled and materials that were left over from the excavation of the site. It was decided that the materials would be too costly to move off of site and that they would need to be repurposed into the landscape. The number of volunteers was appropriate, however, the age range was younger than ideal. Keeping the attention of young boys around 10 years old proved to be difficult. The collection and piling of rocks and the laying of the foundation was accomplished.
Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
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Intervention
WORKSHOP TWO Date: April 19, 2014 Location: Reservoir Hill Participants: 6
SKILLED TRADES COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT VOLUNTEER LABOR
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The second workshop was a continuation of the first True North Guide Lab workshop held at Whitelock Community Park. The significant difference in this workshop was that the volunteers were older and more focused on the completion of the project. We had three volunteers that came back to help from the first workshop. The progress of the wall was much faster because of the age and skill of the participants. Skills like mixing mortar, laying mortar, and pointing were all reviewed for a second time. Many participants were given mason’s trowels to encourage them to take on projects of their own. The project can be viewed as a success in terms of teaching every step of building a stone wall. A final masonry workshop is scheduled for May 17th to complete the last parts of the wall.
Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
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Intervention
VOLUNTEER DAY Date: May 7, 2014 Location: Real Food Farm Participants: 14
PRIVATE FUNDING VOLUNTEER LABOR
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This volunteer day was organized by Exelon Corporation to participate in National Volunteer Week. The volunteers met at Real Food Farm at 8:30 am where there was coffee and donuts and all participants received volunteer shirts that were to be worn during the project. There was also an Exelon photographer there to document the day. While the organization of the volunteer day did not focus on community outreach it did prove to be very successful in raw manual labor. The assignment was to dig a 2’ deep trench for the farm to construct a swale. An added benefit of a large private company participating in a volunteer day was for members of BGE to recognize that they possessed trench digging machines that could really benefit Real Food Farm and the trench digging process. It was agreed upon that BGE would donate some of their equipment for the farm to be able to finish building the swale once the volunteer day was done.
Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
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Implementation
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Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
“Design is not style. Design is not form. Design is the appropriate relationship of things. Design is something everyone is capable of.� - - Anonymous
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Implementation
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Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
Evaluation: Any project of this nature is inherently dynamic
and evaluation of its success will continue to be measured in the future. Our evaluations to date show significant progress and naturally we hope to see tangible results commensurate with our efforts.
Why is this a social design project?
The Building to Action Initiative depends on the development of unique approaches to individual project based community problems. It champions the user in the first stages of development and aims to develop solutions that create actionable change.
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Implementation
Next Steps
Longterm Prototyping and Facilitating If given the opportunity to evolve my thesis work I hope to continue to work at a smaller scale. Partnering with community based urban agricultural projects that suffer from similar types of gridlock will allow me to test more “small bets� to ignite momentum. Professionally, I hope to take the process of social design to the built environment sector. Where large scale developments already have consultants who specialize in accessibility, building code, and sustainability. I see a need for social design to be integrated in the design development phase of the process to insure that human-centered design stays at the forefront of project goals. Social design also has the ability to act as a new driver of change in urban developments. The values of social design reflects the values of the millennial workforce in our cities and a key demographic to appease. I see this as the key bargaining chip when championing the introduction of social design consultancy.
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Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
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Credits
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Building to Action Andrea Brown MICA MA Social Design
This thesis work would not be possible without the guidance and support of the following people:
Amanda Allen - Designer, Gensler Baltimore Elaine Asal - Designer, Gensler Baltimore Mira Azarm - Fellow, Robert W. Deutsch Foundation Byron Banghart - True North Guide Lab Erin Bowman - Healthy Foods Coordinator, RHIC Alison Clarke - Director, Victor J. Papanek Foundation Ross Curtner - Knowledge Exchange Manager, CFCC Lee Davis - Instructor, MICA Social Design Jonathan Erwin - Fellow, Robert W. Deutsch Foundation Spike Gjerde - Chef, Woodberry Kitchen Isaac Hametz - Landscape Designer/ Research Coordinator, Mahan Rykiel Greg Heller - Director, The Baltimore Food Hub Stephen Hendee - Instructor, MICA Pat Galluzzo - Photographer, MFA MICA Arthur Gray Morgan - Founder, Gather Baltimore Anne Marie Jasinowski - Coordinator Baltimore Walk & Talk Haile Johnston - Co-Founder & Co-Director, Common Market Joyce Kelley - Neighborhood Design Center Maya Kosok - Farm Alliance of Baltimore City Teddy Krolik - Environmental & Sanitation Program Director, RHIC Sarah Landon - Program Director, American Communities Trust Janet Mozaffari - Adobe Henry Posko - CEO, Humanim Doug Powell - Studio Lead, IBM Design Becky Slogeris - Administrator, MICA Social Design Kim Walker - Instructor, MICA Mike Weikert - Director, MICA Social Design Ansley Whipple - Design Ignites Change Noel Wilson - Designer, Catapult Alison Worman - Farm Manager, Whitelock Community Farm
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Building to Action Andrea Brown Thesis Publication Master of Arts in Social Design Maryland Institute College of Art Baltimore, Maryland, USA Spring 2014