Urban micro farming: growing vegetables in sacks

Posted on May 4, 2009 by tkproject


Sack gardening is a low cost way to overcome the common problems that prevent food production in slums or other densely populated urban areas: lack of cultivatable space, no land ownership, no or low income; thus providing means to increase food security. Sacks can be placed in almost every corner, are easy to set up, resemble and rearrange, require only inexpensive materials and no technical knowledge for their preparation.

We would like to investigate the whole process chain from setting up a bag until the harvest of vegetables in order to get a concrete impression of the amount and number of harvests to gain, necessary resources like irrigation water, building materials and costs. We may use two arrangement setups with three sacks each: a horizontal arrangement on the ground and a hanging setup in order to utilize as less space as possible. Vegetables of choice are: tomatoes, carrots, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and maize.

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Growing Spirulina algae in PET bottles

Posted on May 4, 2009 by tkproject

Spirulina platensis
is a blue-algae/cyanobacterium which has been used as a rich
food-supplement in east Africa (and Mexico) by the local population
for hundreds of years. In recent years its quick growth
characteristics and ease of cultivation has led to a “rediscovery”
by several development aid organisations. However their focus was
mostly of medium to large scale local production, which was shown to
be effective.

In contrast we would
like to investigate if a small scale cultivation in discarded PET
bottles with household level means can produce a sufficient amount
for personal consumption.

Posted in Experiments, Food | Comments Off on Growing Spirulina algae in PET bottles

Water-purification with Moringa olifera seeds and other uses

Posted on May 4, 2009 by tkproject

The Moringa tree
originates from central Asia and has a long history of being used for
multiple purposes. Not only are its leaves eat-able and the seeds
yield a high value oil, but it has also one amazing feature which was
discovered in ancient times: It seeds contain a coagulant which is
highly effective in purifying turbid waters (and thus reduce pathogen
levels).

Therefore it has spread
to various parts of the world, and is used traditionally in Sudan to
purify water, and has recently even appeared as a plantation tree in
Nicaragua.

We would like to
investigate, if the seed coagulant can be easily used, and if it is
possible to produce seedlings for planting in gardens or on the
streets.

Posted in Experiments, Water | Comments Off on Water-purification with Moringa olifera seeds and other uses

Experiments proposed for the duration of the Semester Project

Posted on May 4, 2009 by tkproject

To prove that the
techniques proposed in this show-case building concept are really
usable (with next to no funding and expertise), it was decided to do
some practical experiment with them. The following proposals show a
small selection of what is currently being investigated for
experimentation.

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Literature Reference

Posted on May 4, 2009 by tkproject

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Posted in Literature | Comments Off on Literature Reference

Sub-Objective: Storage

Posted on May 4, 2009 by tkproject

Loss
of food sovereignty has been one of the major developments in this
millenniums. About 40 % harvest of Agricultural Products are lost
yearly due to poor food security and lack of storage facilities. Our
focus on food storage lays o:

  • finding the appropriate technology
    to rescue or to reduce the rate of lost in food crops.

Posted in Objectives, Storage | Comments Off on Sub-Objective: Storage

Sub-Objective: Food Production

Posted on May 4, 2009 by tkproject

What traditional farming techniques
that can be adjusted for urban farming? How can people grow food
using minimal space (urban micro farming)? Are there traditional ways
to create communities around this concept of farming? What special
traditional plants could have an unusual high value for disadvantaged
urban communities? How can these concepts be used to harness urban
gardens for other means? We want to investigate on:

  • low cost urban micro farming
    concepts like sack and container gardening.

  • food supplementation by small
    scale Spirulina
    algae growing in PET bottles.

  • roof gardens and their impact on
    increasing food security, house cooling.

  • fertilizer production by using
    biomass from gardens and others sources.

  • growing Moringa trees and
    use its seeds for water purification.

Posted in Food, Objectives | Comments Off on Sub-Objective: Food Production

Sub-Objective: Construction

Posted on May 3, 2009 by tkproject

The living conditions of
billions of people in rural and urban areas are very poor in
some developing countries and post war regions because of
improper building concept; lost of heritage due to civil wars;
natural catastrophes; insufficient of financial support. Technological know-how
and poor organised burials as well as non-functioning burial
institutions and conventions. We want to focus on:

  • implementing a building concept to
    improve the atmosphere through natural cooling technologies, to
    facilitate the sanitation standard and to make use of different
    regenerative and sustainable technologies as to develop and upgrade
    conditions of living in the rural areas.

  • finding low cost building
    techniques for earthquake regions.

Posted in Construction, Objectives | Comments Off on Sub-Objective: Construction

Sub-Objective: Energy

Posted on May 3, 2009 by tkproject

The use of hydropower, windmills and watermills are known as as clean
production of energy. Windmills and watermills have been used for
centuries, and storage of water is widely accepted for energy
storage. Moreover, the concept of hydro power is recovering focus due
to decentralization of electricity production. It all together could
be mixed for a small scale clean production of electrical energy. The
main points to reach it trough traditional technology, is:

  • harnessing the power of wind and
    water for pumping water trough means of traditional
    watermills/windmills for micro hydro power generation, irrigation
    and other water demands.

  • determining
    a optimal low cost, high effective traditional windmill and water
    mills to drive a pumping system.

  • conceptualizing
    a Pelton Turbine fabricated on low-cost, natural and widely
    available materials, capable of being set into motion through means
    of low water flow.

  • Locate
    a traditional pumping system of high head capacity to gain potential
    energy for power generation purpose.

  • Search
    for other means of traditional technologies that allow for power
    generation, and allow for diversification of energy resources.

Posted in Energy, Objectives | Comments Off on Sub-Objective: Energy

Objectives [outdated]

Posted on May 3, 2009 by tkproject

For a structured approach to the main
topic we initially agreed on one overall objective:

“Find a set of low-cost
traditional knowledge systems applicable for a concept building, as a
show-case for multiplicator-end-users in a slum/urban (sub-)tropical
setting.”

Subsequently this main objective was
divided into four main sub-objectives (energy, construction, food and
storage) and an overview graphic was created (see diagram on next
page). This diagram has the four main sub-topics as a central
reference around which the progressively more specialised individual
topics are arranged as circular layers. Additionally individual
thematic interactions are drawn as arrows and a selection of the
out-most topics are described in small text-boxes.

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