10th Mar 2024
After talking with our tutor, we stuck to our original idea and changed the original speculation from the next 200 years to the next 50 years.
After our instructor’s analysis on Monday, we worked in groups to think of the differences between the three farms (the present and the past are interconnected), and we will imagine what the farm will look like in the next ten years. Evelyn and I researched Spitalfields City Farm, and our results after speculating ten years later are：
1. Because it is close to primary schools, there will be more opportunities to cooperate with primary schools in the future, and future construction content will be more biased towards primary school groups.
2. There will be more sponsorship from social groups (especially from schools).
3. There will be more gardens, not so much a single city farm but Farm & Garden 4. There will be more and more types of animals. Finally, we presented our ideas to the group.
On Tuesday, we had an offline discussion on the most critical question, “How can animals and humans co-exist in a working space?”. Our team finally decided to create a scenario where people and animals work together – a city farm around every office area, because people and animals need each other (people need contact with animals to feel relaxed, and animals need people for food and medical care, etc.) so that animals can also play the role of workers instead of just “animals.” This is also related to our thoughts on animal rights.
After the meeting, everyone in our group was assigned the case study task. I watched the movie “Zootopia” to get some inspiration on building a peaceful coexistence scene. On Wednesday, I talked with my team about what the movie could reflect on our project: 1. Animal Rights: The Animal City in the film shows that animals have their own rights and social status. Prohibit cruelty to animals, protect wild animals, and promote animal welfare. 2. Ecological balance: Protecting wildlife, maintaining the natural environment, and sustainable development aim to ensure the ecosystem’s balance and stability. 3. Each animal species has its suitable living environment.
In the evening, we worked together on Thursday’s pop-up showcase. We planned to ask the classmates/teachers some core questions after exchanging ideas about city farms with everyone, using a questionnaire as our secondary research.
[The questions are: 1. How do animals and nature impact you? 2. Why should animals be considered workers in the city? 3. Do you believe city farms impact education? 4. Do you think city farms will exist in the future? Everyone who walks by is invited to draw an idea for a future city farm.
After interacting with many tutors and classmates on Thursday, we learned how to improve the project by adding consideration to the scene address, animal excrement, animal medical environment, etc., based on the investigation.