7.1. Conclusion of the thesis
7.1.1. Conclusion of the process of planning
VII.CONCLUSION & DISCUSSION
Firstly, the thesis shows the general process of how to facilitate the circular food system in Gothenburg, the process can be summarized as four main steps. The four main steps are: step1: Investigation of current linear flow model and find the demand between actors in the system(see chapter 2 and chapter 4). Step 2: Speculate and experiment new flow model based on the analysis results (see section 4.3). Step3: Finding criterias for locating different new actors and supporting systems based on the design concepts in 4.3 and relevant production models, policies(see chapter 4.4). Step 4: Using GIS to do scenario planning based on the criterias summarized in 4.4 (see chapter 5), then zoom into a typical area to see how a circular system changes the urban landscape.(see chapter 6). The most important findings are: From a circular flow’s perspective, after bringing new actors into a system, the demand gap may occur between different actors, and the balance strategies can be proposed after comparing the demand gap with the actor's actual demand. Also,In order to plan an efficient urban circular system, it is
important to think about the circular production model and business model at different scales before planning. Meanwhile, for locating urban circular food systems, it is important to categorize the spatial indicators into “fixed” and “variable”, the fixed indicators can help selecting suitable location, while the “variable” indicators means the relevant facilities for food production can be improved to become a supporting system and the new actors can benefit from the improved system. Secondly, this thesis explored the methods of “ design with flow” specifically. One of the important methods is to experiment the new circular flow by bringing new actors (see section 4.1), and see how the data of the material flow are changed. This method is important in setting new flow models and finding balance strategies (especially at the urban scale). The other important method in flow design is “ zoom in and out” (see section 4.4), which means designing and investigating the flow of actors in different scales based on how a food production model can be circular. These methods are important in helping understand the circular flow spatially and can help find criterias for locating actors and supporting systems. In this thesis, the potential food production model of four main types of actors are analyzed and became a stepstone for more precise scenario planning.
URBAN (CIRCULAR) FOOD SYSTEM
URBAN (CIRCULAR) FOOD SYSTEM
Based on the whole planning process of the urban circular food system, in this chapter, the results of the thesis and how the results have answered the guiding questions of the thesis are discussed below.
7.1.2. How can the final results contribute to the city of Gothenburg? The final results of the thesis shows that for all of the new actors, there are still potential suitable sites for local food production. There are mainly 3 contributions of this thesis, the first contribution is to provide a general circular food production system for Gothenburg at urban scale (mainly answered about the what is the flow of the new system in the city). The second contribution is to provide the circular food production model for different food production actors at local scale (mainly
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answering how to implement the flow & system specifically in urban space). The third contribution is providing a scenario of a circular food system in Gothenburg. In all, this work can support the city of GBG to make a more self-sufficient circular food production system, linked to current strategies and initiatives. and the methods of planning can be used by other cities that have similar social and natural conditions.
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