My second stage of the Urban Farm Cart Project led me to focus more on material and form. It was, at this point, that I wanted to go screaming into the night. I felt stuck and started to realize that I really needed to grow some things in order to push the idea and design in the direction that I wanted it to go. I wanted something meaningful, functional and as a result, beautiful because of its logic and intent. I still want these attributes as the foundation of the Urban Farm Cart and this middle stage was the critical, albeit incredibly frustrating part of the process I needed in order to gain important insight on the project.
As oil prices continue to rise and with it the price of food; as the safety of our food continues to be a serious concern, other alternatives to the current system of production are needed. The goal of this project is to design the Urban Farm Cart for those people who want to start their own urban farm, whether it takes the form of a window box, a multi-acre enterprise or somewhere in between.
The objective of the Urban Farm Cart Project is to learn by doing, by observing and absorbing. The end goal is to design a meaningful product that allows the user, or urban farmer, to plant, grow, harvest, and sell produce in the city in a way that is environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable.
(for a full description of the project, check out the first blog post from June 22, 2008)
About the Author
Born in a rural community in New York State, Sarah di Nicola Tranum grew up surrounded by family, nature, art, politics and humour. The goal to combine her passion for art and design with a desire to create social change, has given Sarah the opportunity to explore many different disciplines. She graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Policy Analysis and Management. She completed the one year interdisciplinary design program, Institute without Boundaries, in Toronto and is currently pursing her masters degree in design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. More of her work can be seen at www.sarahtranum.com. Sarah hosts World House Radio, a series of podcast interviews about housing and design that can be listened to at www.worldhouseradio.blogspot.com.
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