EDIBLE INFRASTRUCTURES CONCLUSIONS
60. Jacobs, J., 1961.
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
CITY AS PROCESS
BUILDING THE SYSTEM
Approaching the city as a process suggests a different strategy for planning. One that is capable of handling problems of complexity, of which the city is surely one, as Jane Jacobs60 identified half a century ago.
In considering the various ways to structure an algorithmic design tool, we have chosen to build our system in a series of sequential 'layers', each building on the last.
This was our starting point for using an algorithmic design approach. At the core of our system, is a relationship between population and the surface area required to feed them followed by the movement of energy/resources through a system. In place of planning maps, we a working towards a procedural model for development which respects the relationships required to sustain a city. This method acknowledges a multiplicity of solutions and allows for individuals to act on their own motivations, while providing a framework that maintains those key relations.
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Edible Infrastructures
Each step involves, identifying the key relationships at the various scales and hierarchies, testing various parameters for their effects, and evaluating. The strength of this approach lies in the ability to focus each step on one problem, isolating the variables involved in solving that problem, and building on emergent properties from the layer below.