Edible Ecologies : An Architecture for the Social Life of Food

Abstract

People have become disconnected from the producing, preparing, sharing, and celebrating of food that is such a fundamental element of identity and culture.

The global industrial food system has reduced the social connections surrounding food as well as our connection to the natural ecologies that sustain us. Indeed, rather than sustaining us, this wasteful system is actively working against our wellbeing. It has become essential to reconnect cities to food by reimagining where and how it is produced, prepared and shared.

By creating a new urban food system as a layer within the city of Edmonton, this thesis aims to transform urban waste into the productive and experiential framework of a complete local food culture. In this way, architecture can help to reconnect people with food so that they can once again enjoy the social, economic, and environmental wellbeing of a city shaped by an engaging relationship with food.