Thesis Documented

Integrating Philadelphia’s Urban Agriculture Initiatives Thesis Proposal Fall 2009 Megan Braley & Victoria Perez

The Story of Our Food System When you look back through time, the story of food is one of agricultural development, moving from family-owned farms through the industrial revolution Family Industrialized Global toward a global food system. Farms Food System Food In recent history problems with the global food system have become more apparent and many local food movements have developed.

Opportunities Philadelphia is attempting to follow this movement, and is working toward utilizing urban agriculture as a means of development for blighted land throughout the city. However, the movement is having trouble tipping. Our thesis will address the needed collaboration between the different stakeholders involved.

Thesis Statement The current interactions among food-focused organizations in Philadelphia indicate a need for integrative development, and will serve as a case study for constructing a cohesive plan informed by design tools that reference Malcolm Gladwell’s framework for creating a tipping point.

Project Type Systems. Organizational. Service. DESIGN. This project is concerned with developing an organized urban agricultural system that can be offered to the city of Philadelphia as a service.

The Primary Players Local Food Local Food The stakeholders involved in this project include a large number of Non-Profits For-Profits local food non-for-profit organizations, URBAN for-profit farms, markets, grocery AGRICULTURE stores, restaurants, and schools and a number of city agencies. Each of these stakeholders has a specific reason to promote urban agriculture, and our Municipal job is to design a plan that involves Departments everyone equally.

Design Tools growlots To engage these stakeholders we will use a Growlots is an initial project has acted as a variety of design tools including: presentations model designed to foster further dialogue, to frame a number of scenarios, interviews, test a number of assumptions and create collaborative forums, participatory design, potential strategies by soliciting feed-back discussion cards, a blog for documentation and input from local activists, organizations, and a newsletter that will be sent out twice a and city agencies involved in local farming month to update our progress. initiatives and policy development.

Thesis Committee Director: Michael McAllister Richard Voith Alison Hastings Angel Rodriguez Joan Blaustein ECONSULT CORPORATION Our committee is comprised of Director Angel Rodriguez, Urban Planner and Michael McAllister, Professor at the Executive Director of the Empowerment University of the Arts; Richard Voith, Senior Group; and Joan Blaustein, Director of the Vice President Econsult Corporation; Division of Environment, Stewardship and Alison Hastings, Director of the DVRPC Education at the City’s Department of Greater Philadelphia Food System Study; Parks and Recreation.

Timeline Our projected timeline is divided into Committee Meetings (orange) and Stakeholder Meetings (blue). December January February March April 02 06 15 16 16 19 21 23 21 27 Documentation Research Interviews and Forums Prototype and Receive Feedback Revision to Narrative Suggested Conclusions

Design Process Our first step was to consider how we as designers can contribute to the progress of urban agriculture in the city. We were very influenced by Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point,” so we are looking at this thesis as a way to test a combination of Gladwell’s laws for creating a tipping point and our design process on a systems’ issue. Defining the Collaboration Refinement Execution Right Problem Municipal Government Departments Non-For-Profit Organizations For-Profit Organizations

The Tipping Point as defined by Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point" the dramatic moment when ideas, messages, behaviors, and products suddenly become so popular that they transform into social epidemics.

The social epidemic we are trying to create is urban agriculture in Philadelphia. To accompish this, we must break down the barriers to create collaborative progress. The following slides will explain how social epidemics can evolve through the execution of three laws: the Law of the Few, the Power of Context, and the Stickiness Factor.

Laws of Tipping 1. Law of the Few spread by a few extraordinary people The Law of the Few explains that social epidemics are spread by a very few extraordinary people. Our attempts to induce this first law is through interviews and collaborative forums with experts connected to urban agriculture in Philadelphia.

Seattle Portland Eugene Cambridge Milwaukee Boston Detroit Chicago New York City Kansas City Berkley Oakland San Francisco 2. Power of Context Austin sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the specific time and place The green movement has been around for more than a decade. Many successful models exist, and Philadelphia can look to them for suggestions.

Non-For Profits Philadelphia to the best of its ability has chimed into this movement through the creation of a large number of non-for-profits connected to greening and urban agriculture.

For-Profits There are a few key players when it comes to urban farms and farmers’ markets such as: Greensgrow Farm, Weavers Way Cooperative, and Fair Food Farm stand at the Reading Terminal Market in center city.

Municipal Government Departments ZONING Matters Philadelphia Zoning Code Commission A number of city departments are now pushing urban agriculture for separate agendas as varied as public health to zoning codes.

Discussion Cards During the Collaborative Forum we held at the minutes discussing each one. We gained a lot of valuable Univeristy of the Arts on November 20, 2009, we had information that pointed us in the direction of integrative everyone in attendance take part in a card activity. We development.There is a great need for the stakeholders asked each person to place the cards on the wall in in urban agriculture to better understand who exactly is the order they felt the topics should be discussed. It involved and what exactly everyone is currently working is easy to see that everyone had a different order in on so that we can eliminate the redundancy of efforts and mind. We then chose the top three and spent twenty finally move urban agriculture forward.

Present Narrative The present narrative is that each of the players within a group is either collaborating on a small scale or is in competition with one another. Disconnections exist and result in miscommunication or no communication at all. Non-Profits For-Profits URBAN AGRICULTURE Municipal Departments

The process of participatory design is our most important design tool. Participatory design enables the stakeholders to contribute to the final design, which allows them to gain emotional investment. This ensures that the future system is irresistible to the stakeholders involved because they helped construct it.

Participatory Design 3. The Stickiness Factor information is packaged in a way that makes it irresistible Participatory design is a process Interaction makes messages stickier that involves all stakeholders to because contributors become a create the most relevant solution. part of the message.

Integrative Development Projected Outcome: A cohesive framework demonstrating how all of the stakeholders involved in this movement can work collaboratively to re-write the narrative of Philadelphia’s urban agriculture movement.

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Thesis Documented

by mkbraley on Jan 22, 2010

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