urban shepherding:the architecture of where we live, what we eat & how

Jordan Lane. KTH Arkitektur. Thesis Booklet. Spring 2014

ur·ban shep·herd noun, adj. verb

holistic design and stewardship of productive ecological systems within

urban environments.

what’s inside ?

situating - the world we live in 4

statement of intent - what i want to do 5

research question - what i will ask 6

method - the bag of tricks 7

context + program - what will happen and how 8

site - where it will take place 9

schedule - when it will happen 10

goals + outcomes - what i hope will happen 11

bibliography - who said that? 12

exemplars - architectural practice 13

exemplars - social entrepreneurship 14

exemplars - artistic + critical 18

exemplars - open/crowd sourced 19

exemplars - online publication 20

glossary - choice terms 21

4

Phil McManus, Keith Pezzoli, David Sattherwaite, and others have identified a sustainable city as one that

meets current human and ecosystem needs without compromising the welfare of future generations of

plants, animals, and people, in ways that are economically sufficient, socially just, and respectful of envi-

ronmental limits. Other commentators have suggested this might occur through the reintegration of cities

with the ecosystems that sustain them...Underpinning such suggestions is the need for us to modify our

patterns of production and consumption. (Byrne and Wolch, 2013, pp. 49)

Urban shepherding: the architecture of where we live, what we eat and how, presents an opportunity for inter-

disciplinary exploration into issues of social and environmental well-being, land and consumption, commu-

nity ecologies and future architectural practice.

However the definition of architecture presented here is not directed exclusively towards the professionals

who design our built environment: instead, the term ‘architecture’ encapsulates a broader set of environ-

mentally focused questions about the value of the social and material formation of our built environments

for all. (Rawes, 2013, p.1)

I believe the most exciting architectural projects are those that deeply investigate problems, collaborate with

people from across the spectrum and provide that kind of spatial problem-solving that benefits ecological-

systems.

I do think there are an increasing number of architects who are interested examining the complex social and

material relationships between architecture and ecology, but they’re operating without guidelines or a gen-

eral industry-wide understanding right now. This is what I would like to explore.

situatingthe world we live in

5

My thesis proposal has three key intentions.

1. To extend architectural thinking about ecology beyond current professional sustainable architectural

design practices through interdisciplinary scholarship.

2. Explore architectural ecologies by means of reconsidering food as an ordering principle in the way we

shape our lives and cities.

3. To generate revised modes of engagement, endeavoring to enact principles of ideal cohabitation by

creating a framework for the implementation of urban shepherding.

Urban shepherding investigates the fertile overlap between architecture and agriculture, shelter and food.

I propose urban shepherding as a practical alternative to the way we plan, inhabit and occupy urban envi-

ronments. The world is already shaped by food, so we may as well start using food to shape the world more

positively.

statement of intent what i want to do

6

My research aims to explore the following questions:

1. What is urban shepherding ?

2. What is the potential, scope and practical outcomes of urban shepherding ?

3. Can urban shepherding provide a strategic framework for the design and stewardship of productive eco-

logical systems ?

4. What would the implications and effects of this framework represent spatially ?

research questionwhat i will ask

7

As I intend to extend architectural thinking about ecology beyond current professional sustainable architec-

tural design practices, I will use be lifting alternate practices and interdisciplinary processes of investigation.

I will be exploring alternate practices of architecture, much in the spirit of atelier d’architecture autogeree.

Methods I intend to use include:

• Systems thinking.

• Landscape ecology.

• Interdisciplinary leadership.

• Addressing policy.

• Culinary Cartography

• Case studies.

• Blog and online publication.

• Participartoy processes.

• Workshops.

• Gamification.

• Physical interventions.

methodthe bag of tricks

“the strategy of successful urban generation itself - how you do it - is itself a strategy of premature gratification.

Do the best, most sensual and seductive bit first - and fast.”

(Schonfield, 2001, p.18)

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The environmental movement up until now has been necessarily reactive. We have been clear about what

we don’t like. We need to show where hope is. Ecological restoration is a work of hope.

(Monbiot, 2013, p.152)

I envisage urban shepherding to be very much a work of ecological restoration and hope. It is crucial for my

process that the program designed for any specific site is appropriate and informed by that particular site or

life-place.

Living-in-place means following the necessities and pleasures of life as they are uniquely presented by a par-

ticular site, and evolving ways to ensure long-term occupancy of that site…It is not, however, to be thought

of as antagonistic to civilisation, in the more human sense of that word, but may be the only way in which a

truly civilised existence may be maintained. (Berg, 1995)

I aim to create site specific, scalable and appropriate solutions to each challenge I choose to address.

These interventions can range anywhere from small growing beds in a shared garden space, to city wide

animal migratory movement mapping and design.

Urban shepherding includes all ecosystems within an urban environment. Urban shepherding is urban ecol-

ogy stewardship.

context + programwhat will happen and how

9

The site for my thesis will be Stockholm.

I have chosen Stockholm because it is where I live and where I can have the strongest and most effective im-

mediate impact.

Components of my research will address the entire Stockholm region, some will address a larger region

again, and some will be much smaller, site specific interventions.

It is important that I allow myself the freedom at this stage of investigation to transverse between meta and

matter, wide and acute, pattern and detail in order to discover the most fertile sites of investigation and

exploration.

sitewhere it will take place

10

I aim to keep a dynamic schedule, following a typical design thinking sequence of milestones.

• EMPATHISE

• Mapping of historical food systems in Stockholm.

• Mapping of current food systems in Stockholm.

• DEFINE

• Identification of areas/sites/moments of potential.

• Systems diagramming and mapping.

• IDEATE

• Participatory workshops and processes.

• PROTOTYPE

• Physical interventions.

• TEST

• Recording of outcomes.

• Reiteration.

I aim to repeat these steps at various stages throughout the process at different speeds.

schedulewhen & in what order

11 goals + outcomeswhat i hope will happen

A blog.

During the thesis I plan to keep a blog of my research, writings, drawings and discoveries. I hope this blog

will extend beyond the obvious readership of the thesis project and become a resource for others pursuing

similar lines of thought.

Workshop techniques and resources.

I plan to host a series of workshops regarding urban shepherding. These workshops will vary in format, size

and intensity. In order to facilitate these workshops I will create a body of work and resources.

Tangible Physical outcomes.

I will create actual interventions in the fabric of Stockholm. These interventions will vary in scale and perma-

nence and are crucial in understanding urban shepherding. This project can not be purely theoretical.

Publication.

I plan to publish either from my blog, or to have a stand alone text worthy of print by the end

Media coverage.

I hope that my work will attract media attention in the form of interviews, articles, photographs etc.

Passing.

Naturally.

12

Atkins, Peter. Animal cities. Farnham [u.a.]: Ashgate, 2012.

Berg, Peter. Discovering your life-place. San Francisco: Planet Drum Books, 1990.

Bonnevier, Katarina. ‘Fatale Critical Studies in Architecture’ in Nordic, Vol. 2, 2012, 90-96.

Brown, Lori. ‘Introduction’ Lori Brown, ed., Feminist Practices: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Women in Architecture, London:

Ashgate, 2011.

Byrne, J. and Wolch, J. 2013. International Encyclopedia of Human Geography Urban habitats/nature (MS number: 1091). pp. 46-

50.

Cixous, Hélène and Deborah Jenson. Coming to writing and other essays. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1991.

Conley, Verena Andermatt. Rethinking technologies. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993.

De La Salle, Janine M and Mark Holland. Agricultural urbanism. [Winnipeg, Manitoba: Green Frigate Books, 2010.

De Landa, Manuel. A thousand years of nonlinear history. New York: Zone Books, 1997.

Deleuze, Gilles and Félix Guattari. A thousand plateaus. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987.

Diller, Elizabeth. Flesh. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1994.

Diller, Elizabeth. ‘Bad Press’ in Francesca Hughes, ed. The Architect Reconstructing her Practice, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996,

pp. 74-95.

Patel, Raj. Stuffed and starved. New York: Melville House, 2012.

Petrescu, Doina . ‘Altering Practices’ in Altering Practices: Feminist Politics and Poetics of Space, London: Routledge, 2007.

Petrescu, Doina, Constantin Petcou and Nishat Awan. Trans-local-act. [Paris] (15 rue Marc-Seguin, 75018): Atelier d’architecture

autogérée, 2010.

Rawes, Peg. Relational architectural ecologies. London [u.a.]: Routledge, 2013.

Shonfield, Katherine . ‘Premature Gratification and Other Pleasures’ in This is What we do: a muf manual, London: Elipsis London,

2001.

Sofia, Zoe. “Container technologies.” Hypatia 15, no. 2 (2000): 181--201.

Steel, Carolyn. Hungry city. London: Chatto & Windus, 2008.

Thayer, Robert L. LifePlace. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.

Virilio, Paul. Popular defense & ecological struggles. New York: Semiotext(e), 1990.

bibliographywho said that?

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atelier d’architecture autogeree - paris, france

R-URBAN: practices and networks of urban resilience.

R-Urban is a bottom-up strategy that explores the possibilities of enhancing the capacity of urban resilience

by introducing a network of resident-run facilities to create complementarities between key fields of activ-

ity (economy, housing, urban agriculture, culture). R-Urban initiates locally closed ecological cycles that will

support the emergence of alternative models of living, producing and consuming between the urban and

the rural.

R-URBAN is an inspiration for how I can use alternate practices to achieve architectural outcomes.

exemplars architectural practice

2. Resource Pole and platform eco-construction.1. Three poles and short networks.

3. Cluster Cooperative Ecological Habitat

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stadsjord - gothenburg, sweden

- City Pigs

Since 2009 Stadsjord has used pigs inside the city to transform space. This provides a base for exploring how

a pig in urban space can generate value for individual farms and the lifespace. City pigs provide a biological,

culinary , educational, experience-oriented and practical example of the value of urban livestock.

City pigs has three main goals.

1. Providing the city with ecological land contracts implementing the power of pig instead of fossil fuel.

2. To explore whether the small scale farming can supplement business. Can pigs be a way to keep the land

open while providing high quality locally produced products to restaurant industry?

3. To explore small-scale pig farming based on marginal land, offering food , nature conservation , experi-

ences, and environmental benefits.

2. City pigs at work.

2. City piglets.

1. City pigs.

exemplarssocial entrepreneurship

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stadsjord - gothenburg, sweden

- three storey growing with goats.

Stadsjord was invited by the Gothenburg city architect to build a unique growing area on the city’s most ex-

pensive abandoned plot. Stadsjord is built an urban “alps” environment showing how goats and sheep can

turn abandoned plots to exclusive city-chevre. During the summer of 2012, the urban herds delighted and

surprised 1000s of visitors.

Stadsjord is inspiration for practical applications of urban shepherding that are possible in Sweden.

1. Goats expressing their “goatness”.

2. Avid “goat-watchers”

3. Three levels of growing.

exemplarssocial entrepreneurship

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bee urban - stockholm, sweden

for business on a living planet

Bee Urban was founded by two environmentally conscious biologists, Karolina Lisslö & Josefina Oddsberg

whose purpose is to spread awareness, knowledge about pollination and bees and their impact on the local

as well as the global scale.

Bee Urban offers sponsorship of beehives to companies in the urban environment. The hives are places

primarily on rooftops around the city, either on the property of the sponsor or locations that Bee Urban

has sought out. Bee Urban caters for the upkeep of the hives and the honey is accrued by the sponsor. The

honey is packaged in a format that conveys the sponsors initiative for helping the environment in a positive,

innovative and tangible manner.

Bee Urban is inspiration for finding a viable business plan for a social entreprise.

2. Hive inspection.1. Sponsored hive.

2. Kulturhuset Honey

exemplarssocial entrepreneurship

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ridgedale permaculture - värmland, sweden

Ridgedale permaculture is a pasture and perennial crop based beyond-organic local food producer and

dedicated educational hub in Värmland, Sweden. A flagship project for the region, Ridgedale permaculture

is Scandinavia’s first Keyline designed farm and education provider in the fields of Permaculture & Regenera-

tive Agriculture. Ridgedale permaculture aims to demonstrate viable regenerative economy and livelihood

while operating government subsidy free farm.

keyline - P.A Yeoman

Keyline design is a collection of design principles, techniques and systems for development of rural and

urban landscapes.

Ridgedale provides inspiration by following keyline design principles within Sweden.

1. The aesthetic curves of the Keyline layout

2. Bec Helluion- water in the landscape

3. Catchment Area at Ridgedale

exemplarssocial entrepreneurship

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agnes denes - Wheatfield - A Confrontation: Battery Park Landfill, Downtown Manhattan

After months of preparations, in May 1982, a 2-acre wheat field was planted on a landfill in lower Manhattan,

two blocks from Wall Street and the World Trade Center, facing the Statue of Liberty. Two hundred truckload

of dirt were brought in and 285 furrows were dug by hand and cleared of rocks and garbage. The seeds were

sown by hand adn the furrows covered with soil. the field was maintained for four months, cleared of wheat

smut, weeded, fertilized and sprayed against mildew fungus, and an irrigation system set up. the crop was

harvested on August 16 and yielded over 1000 pounds of healthy, golden wheat.

Planting and harvesting a field of wheat on land worth $4.5 billion created a powerful paradox. Wheat-

field was a symbol, a universal concept; it represented food, energy, commerce, world trade, and econom-

ics. It referred to mismanagement, waste, world hunger and ecological concerns. It called attention to our

misplaced priorities.

This project is 31 years old, yet the issues it addresses are just as - if not more - relevant today. This proj-

ect gives inspiration to use art as a design and strategic tool.

exemplars artistic + critical

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fruit map - sweden - fruktkartan.se

fruktkartan.se is an open database of fruit trees. Anyone can add new trees. The information about the trees

saved on the site säsongsmat.nu and can be used with articles and seasonal information about the fruits

there.

open source ecology - international - opensourceecology.org

a network of farmers, engineers and supporters building the global village construction set (GVCS). GVCS is

a modular, DIY, low-cost, high-performance platform that allows for the easy fabrication of the 50 different

Industrial Machines that it takes to build a small, sustainable civilization with modern comforts.

plants for a future - united kingdom - pfaf.org

Plants For A Future (PFAF) is an open database which currently consists of approximately 7000 spe-

cies of edible and otherwise useful plants suitable for growing outdoors in a temperate climate.

exemplarsopen/crowd sourced

3. Fruit map - fruktkartan.se1. Plants for a future - rosehip.

2. Open source ecology tractor

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food print project - http://www.foodprintproject.com/

Foodprint Project is an exploration of the ways food and cities give shape to one another, looking beyond

the plate to the spatial, political, cultural and economic forces that shape the way we eat.

edible geography - http://www.ediblegeography.com/

Looks at the spatial processes and human ecology of food, past, present, and future. It is a lens to under-

stand landscape and culture, as well as imagine alternative futures.

urban omnibus - http://urbanomnibus.net/

An online publication dedicated to defining and enriching the culture of citymaking. Exploring projects and

perspectives in architecture, art, policy, and activism – that offer new ways of understanding, representing,

and improving urban life and landscape worldwide.

exemplars online publication

2. Foodprint Project1. Urban omnibus

3. Edible Geography

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Anthropocentrism Human-centered value system, humans have prime importance.

Biocentrism Value perspective that holds all life as sacrosanct.

Biosphere/Ecosphere The sum total of all life on Earth.

Ecofeminism A range of theoretical and activist positions which connect the oppression of

women with the destruction of nature.

Ecological Restoration The repair of degraded habitats to restore ecological functionality.

Environmental Justice Inequitable exposure to environmental harm and/or inequitable access to

environmental benefits.

Habitat Fragmentation The breakup of habitats through land-use change.

Political Ecology Perspective that links environmental degradation with economic inequity,

social marginality, and vulnerability.

Synergy An additional force or energy produced by working together.

Trans-Species Urban Theory Perspective incorporating animals and plants in dynamics of urbanization.

Urban Shepherd Holistic stewardship of productive ecological systems in urban environments.

Wildlife Corridor Pathways allowing animals to move between segregated habitat patches.

Zoöpolis A city of people and animals coexisting in urban life spaces to their mutual

benefit.

glossarychoice terms

jumping fences and escaping fields.