Organised by the Design Museum
Join this online panel on the role of food-growing in the city supporting social and ecological resilience.
This conversation will explore how urban food growing can help shape forms of citizenship. Buildings and nature are shaped by everyday human encounters. Yet, even today, architecture and biology are defined by exclusionary language and institutional gatekeeping. Many practitioners operating within and outside conventional design disciplines are challenging the status quo by protecting and restoring nature in the city to benefit the lives of those who inhabit it. This conversation will bring together global perspectives for a discussion of the role of food-growing in the city supporting social and ecological resilience.
FACILITATORS
Ashley Gripper
Ashley’s research at Harvard looks at the impact of urban agriculture on mental health, spirituality, and collective agency for Black people in Philadelphia. Her work focuses on Black folks' connection and re-connection to the Creator, ancestors, each other, and the land. Founder of Land-Based Jawns, a spiritually rooted organisation that educates Black women on food sovereignty, building, land-based living, self-defence and community healing.
Aslıhan Demirtaş
Aslıhan is a practicing architect and co-founder of KHORA, an experimental spatial and visual practice that involves trespassing, crossing and inhabiting the boundaries of creative and thinking disciplines. She holds a Master of Science in Architectural Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, lives in Istanbul and is an active member of the Initiative for the Protection of the Historical Yedikule Urban Gardens.
Dr Gwynne Mhuireach
Dr Gwynne has a multi-disciplinary background, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, a Masters in Architecture, and a PhD in Landscape Architecture. With a unique perspective, Gwynne studies relationships between nature contact, environmental microbial communities, and human wellbeing. Her broader goal is to design healthier and more equitable cities, neighbourhoods, and homes.
Ioana Man
Ioana is a designer and researcher working between architecture, strategic design and critical practice to develop tools, experiences and multimedia narratives that highlight the importance of microbial biodiversity in the built environment. For this residency, Ioana has designed a new body of work exploring how architecture can collaborate with biology to create a more sustainable built environment that embodies health and justice.
Tayshan Hayden-Smith
Tayshan found therapy through horticulture as he revitalised spaces in his community, given the nickname the Grenfell Guerilla Gardener after the Grenfell Tower fire. His experiences prompted Tayshan to explore how we could change the perception of horticulture - using it as a tool to benefit communities rather than just a past-time. He has since set up non-profit Grow2Know to engage a younger audience through horticulture.
Designers in Residence 2020
The Designers in Residence programme at the Design Museum is a core part of the museum's activity, supporting emerging designers, from any discipline, with time and space away from their regular environment to reflect, research and consider new ways of developing their practice.