The Working Landscape
This project uses two sites (a city underpass and a nearby community farm), that by design, are connected through work, with the intention to initiate food waste collection in Knoxville.
During this studio, I was able to think about the city and its people, how to integrate labor into landscapes, and the potential for compost in the city.
This design takes place in the state of anxious discomfort that the urban environment of Knoxville is prone to and which also fascinates me. I believe that the future must include working landscapes, especially those that create stability in the food system, seek to use our own urban metabolism (in this case rotting food), and address urban planning voids that do not serve the greater good.
This was an exercise in rethinking how landscapes can help us do work in order to contribute to our collective survival. I wanted this project to set the stage for urban composting in a space of the city that could accommodate multiple uses with little input structurally or financially, and become known for the job it’s doing...
A year after this studio project, having presented this idea to the City of Knoxville, this design was implemented at a manageable scale:
