Another studio project was to design for re-service. We were to identify an existing under-utilized resource within the urban environment and re-think the way in which it could exist as a service to a community. My idea (below) was to take bio-waste from supermarkets and plant/flower wholesalers and growers and compost it into nutrient rich soil for reuse at a community level, i.e. local farms, creating a loop in the cycle between waste and food/plant production.
"Most cities are linear metabolic systems in which resources flow in and wastes flow out, unlike natural ecosystems in which resources are cycled in the system. Thus, cities need to close material cycles and adopt a more circular metabolism With the recycling of paper, glass, metals, and plastics, thetreatment and reuse of wastewater, and the composting of organic wastes on local farmland. For cities to be more autotrophic within their bioregions, their inputs and outputs should more closely match bioregional capacities. That is, more inputs should be gained locally and bioregionally, and wastes should be recycled at the local and bioregional scales." (Girardet 1992, 2001)
"In a bioregional world we would see much more of our needs met through a local and regional food supply system based on low input and organic agriculture. The food would be produced on local, efficient, mixed farms, producing a diversity of crops, and where animal manure can be used as fertilizer for crops. The food produced on these farms would be delivered through efficient regional packhouses to regional distribution centers for delivery to supermarkets, or direct supply to consumers. Composted food waste and sewage would be returned to these same farms to create a closed-loop cycle." (Desai and Riddlestone 2002)
