CLIENT: IIT DESIGN STUDIO UNDER MARTIN FELSEN
PRODUCED AT: IIT

SUMMARY: As part of an academic studio each student competed in the 2008-2009 Green Community Competition, which challenged students to critically rethink their communities. The competition encouraged students to consider environmental sustainability dependant upon collective, community-scale efforts and to examine ways of reducing the impact of our built environments on the Earth. Students in this particular studio focused on 31st street, an adjacent street of the IIT campus, a direct route from the campus to Lake Michigan and an area in need of gentrification.

The problem I wanted to address in my project was food security in the Chicagoland area. I proposed using public park spaces that were not utilized to cultivate food bearing plants, the fruits of which could be used to address this problem. Beside a food security problem Chicago also suffers from a food desert problem, where vast areas don't have access to healthy food, but have plentiful access to unhealthy food such as popular fast food chains. Studies has proven that residence's health in these areas can suffer greatly without access to healthy food. My plan also suggest that in order to distribute the healthy food produced on site, the very successful fast food drive thru model be adopted. This would give those who are accustomed to this model at least one healthy alternative without drastically causing them to change their lifestyle, and it could open up a new sector for investment of the fast food market. The goal with this project is really to reach as many of those in need as possible, and to do this by repurposing existing resources and models of food distribution in a more productive manner.