Thriv-e Plein

Background

By the middle of this century, our cities are likely to be hotter, experience more dramatic climate changes, be noisier and have an increasingly strained relationship with nature. Given the trends of urban densification and predictions of the world population growth and resources available, it is essential to begin activating the space we do have in cities to create a sustainable system that encourages a healthy environment and people.

Notable Quotes

“Consumers the world over now demand to know where their food comes from and how it is produced.”

“If the environmental preservation opportunity that cities offer is to be realized, then citizens of the Anthropocene will need to live far more efficiently.”

“Cities will need to incorporate the natural world in new and innovative ways.”

“Urban agriculture has the potential to become so pervasive within our cities that... they may be able to provide its citizens with up to 50% of the food.”

“Before we solve the energy needs we should first correct our behaviour, as this will have the most dramatic impact.”

“We need to link the value of energy to our use of it. The way to achieve this is to decentralise... create it locally... and make us all part of its creation.”

Goal

A growing city's central interstitial space is transformed into an innovative sensory garden that acts as a centroid for interplay between the private and public. The garden captivates interest and motivates change through each sensory interaction. This urban art installation serves to bridge the gap between our private footprints and the public collective's sustainability efforts, altogether creating an enchanting opportunity for the community to interact and live sustainably for each individuals' pursuit of a healthy lifestyle. I call it 'Urban Supported Agriculture' or USA.

Observation & Inspiration (Why?)

Strolling through the city and glimpsing through windows, one might find neglected decorative plants wilting in the sills, and largely underused spaces within. We all have some space in our abodes that can be activated as a natural point of interest. Instead of putting up a bookcase, or third-wall to separate rooms, a vertical garden could pop up, paling plants turn into windows of edible foliage, cut flowers become garlic allium centerpieces. Our homes can become the botanical gardens we pay to seek refuge in from urbanity. Not only does nature improve our attitudes, but it can clean up our indoor air (in contrast to the outside). When it's cold and cloudy outside, our interiors can be a potpourri of color and warmth. With the help of design and tech advancements, our personal ability to grow plants well is now more achievable than ever. To spark the incorporation of nature within the private spheres of our paved cities, I propose a sensory garden construct that inspires and motivates the private transition towards eco-friendly behavior.

In Essence (What?)

Thriv-e Plein (Leiden-based variation on the sensory garden construct) is an accessible centralized sensory garden that acts as a spring-off point for community innovation and visually relays how the city is doing its own small part through each tiny footprint. In this way Thriv-e Plein, wherever it exists, blurs the lines between public and private, connects the disconnected in the digital age, and brings the inside out (and vice-versa!). From the central garden, Thriv-e Plein instigates the formation of a de-centralized garden made up of private home gardens. Our homes become their own oases, our communities create their own local markets, and our cities become enriched with the sense of a collective sustainability effort.

The sensory garden is an interactive network made up of a central node (exemplary greenhouse), connected to auxiliary node access points (flowers containing thousands of seed pouches). The flowering nodes hold the seasons seeds (to be adopted). The garden's responsive interactions are designed to delight and draw in burgeoning gardeners through all senses.

Function (How?)

The garden in the central square/piazza/plein first and foremost serves as a beacon and ambient interaction point for the city. Centrally located, it crosses each passers-by's path and begins the magic. It achieves its de-centralization by first providing the seeds (heirloom/organic) to the public. Any person with a smart-phone can then unlock a seed pouch from a specific plant pop-up. They then become a part of a virtual currency-connected network fulfilled by iota, where they receive the tiniest amount for adopting a seed. As the seed grows, and is photographed with the garden app, users receive iota. The user can then harvest their reward (the juiciness of off-the-window-sill taste) or take their produce to a local greenery to exchange for another vegetal, or simply turn in for iota to be used later for purchasing local produce. The central garden then becomes not just a place of sensory wonder, but an interstitial space that gives a sense of accomplishment. The garden (long-term) actively encourages interest by providing seasonal seeds to the community, visually (and virtually) updates on how the city is doing, and grows in complexity with its community's needs as citizens continue on their gardening journeys.

Motivation

In light of Studio Roosegarde's schoonheid ideal and portfolio innovations, I wanted to propose a project that engages directly with the individual to complement the large-scale impact of their work. With increasing media attention towards climate change and impending statistics, the individual is left with the prevailing notion that there is not much they can do to contribute unless they are rich or a policy maker. I saw a need to provide a metaphorical and physical platform for each individuals efforts to shine; to create something that trickles its way up to changing the status quo, rather than being forcibly applied from above. I grew up without access to dialogue on sustainability and innovative opportunity, but one of my fondest memories was planting a zucchini in our underused suburban back yard, that grew zucchini the size of watermelons: it was magical. To that end, I propose a new re-invigorated concept of the garden for cities to re-inspire everyone living in tiny spaces, and kids who have never seen a plant grow, how to find and nurture their long-lost green thumbs.

Process (Integration)

1. Choose a growing city.

2. Identify exemplary locations of underused public spaces, one central and distributed others.

3. Assess aesthetics of region and sustainable technologies resources for use.

4. Design an indicative greenhouse that optimally performs in region.

5. Design energy-creating technology for sustainment of garden to be integrated with the central greenhouse.

6. Conduct user research to design seed delivery nodes.

7. Design connections between nodes and greenhouse that integrates with the landscape.

8. Design sensory interactions to address: Sight, Smell, Taste, Sound, Touch, Virtual.

9. Construct and Launch Garden with community involvement (from naming a garden to designing its style).

Goal

Leiden is a sweet yet petite city that carries all the markings of a larger complex architectural cityscape. With ~124,000 residents, Leiden is perfect for an initial launch of the sensory garden. The Dutch are arguably quite far along in their sustainability enterprise, producing 40% of the world's produce through innovative greenhouses (Albert Heijn even gives out 'moestuintjes'). For this reason, residents are already becoming interested in how they can live more sustainably, and through user research/testing, Leiden would serve as a small but mighty example in refining the sensory garden construct.

The Leiden concept, 'Thriv-e Plein', models its central greenhouse after the conical form of the near-by windmill de Valk, while its flowers mimic windmill/turbine forms (though tulips would work as well!). The central sensory garden is like a graph, nodes -> edges, and is best located at Beestenmarkt, a vast open interstitial space, that intersects most citizens' everyday transit within the city.