Connected Seeds and Sensors: supporting sustainable food-growing in the city

In this proposal we investigate the ways in which Internet of Things can support more sustainable food production and consumption in the city. Using participatory design methods, we will co-create, conduct, and evaluate our research with Spitalfields City Farm , an urban grassroots food-growing community. We will use connected sensors and tracking technologies to support the telling of stories of seeds and plants, as well as the people who grew them. Through the development of a smart seed-bank we will interrogate how the combination of smart sensors, data collection, and participatory co-design can help raise awareness, empower communities and increase participation in sustainable urban food practices.

A report of The World Health Organisation on urban agriculture found that the ways in which London's residents feed themselves are fundamentally socially, economically and environmentally unsustainable, and that the city of London requires the entire surface area of the UK in order to feed itself (Petts, 2001), which is certainly not sustainable. Sustainability here refers to the definition of the World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

To further compound the problem of unsustainable food-practices in the city, proposed changes to EU legislation will make it more difficult for small-scale farmers to save and exchange seeds. The new laws favour distinct, uniform and stable varieties, and require an annual registration fee for each type of seed. Some such as the Soil Association argue that this will favour large corporate seed monopolies such as Monsanto, and will impact negatively on biodiversity.

Seed banks (also known as seed libraries) exist as a way to preserve genetic biodiversity, (Tanksley & McCouch, 1997) in the face of dwindling numbers of plant varieties sold by seed companies. They provide a resource to people wishing to grow their own food from seed, without having to rely on buying them. Despite relative affluence and food security, consumers in the West are described as living through an 'age of anxiety' provoked by a range of food scares and farming crises (Jackson, 2010). Seed banks provide a sense of security due to knowledge of provenance and reduced risk of disease, GM and chemical contamination. Gardeners can choose seed from plants that have adapted to local climates and micro-climates. Seeds are shared as part of the gift exchange (Mauss, 1954), therefore contributing to social, economical and personal well-being.

We will work with Spitalfields City Farm to identify how best to capture information about food-growing practices with a focus on seeds. Together with the farm community we will create an interactive seed-bank for connecting users to the stories of the seeds on the farm and across the web in simple, accessible, and intuitive ways. We will iteratively build, refine and evaluate the smart seed-bank prototype in collaboration with the farm, exposing the research solutions to the end-users at a number of workshops and seed-swap events. We will use qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods (including thematic analysis of interviews; statistical analysis of user and sensor data). We will disseminate our findings through a public exhibition, a toolkit, a short film, a panel discussion for the food and food-technology industry, and an academic workshop to seed the growth of a UK network of researchers interested in Internet of Things for sustainable urban food practices.

Communal and individual food-growing is a rapidly growing phenomenon. The number of community gardens in England in 2010 was four times greater than in 2005. Allotment growing is thriving in Britain, with demand far outnumbering supply. Research into the Internet of Things for sustainability has thus far paid little attention to urban and small-scale agriculture, despite the fundamentally unsustainable food practices in urban centres such as London.

Our project seeks to increase the participation of both novice and more experienced gardeners in urban food growing, thereby helping UK cities to become more sustainable. It will provide opportunities for people to interact with other gardeners at a series of workshops and seed-swaps, where they will help to develop, test and refine a smart seed-bank prototype. During seed-swap days, the wider public who is interested in urban food-growing will have a chance to influence the development of the tool and share knowledge. The final tool is aimed to increase people's skills and knowledge about growing diverse crops in a UK climate. In turn this will help empower communities by connecting them to their heritage through stories around food. It will decrease their reliance on consuming shop-bought produce, and help contribute to a healthy diet of freshly grown local vegetables. Such practices also help reduce CO2 emissions by reducing the miles that food must travel from the site of production to the supermarket shelf.

The farm is located in the inner-London borough of Tower Hamlets, which is one of the most deprived economically in the UK. It has been characterised by high population density, large-scale immigration, ethnic diversity, and poverty and huge divides between rich and poor. Adults in Tower Hamlets are more likely to have diabetes compared to the rest of London and England. Gardening provides opportunities for people to get together and engage in gentle exercise in co-located space. It has been shown to contribute to mental and physical well-being, as well as increase a sense of community. Spitalfields farm, and other urban community gardens offer opportunities for people to recover from illness, overcome social isolation and improve their mental and physical health. Our research aims not to replace opportunities for face-to-face interaction, but to support the already existing work that the farm does to bring people together in shared gardening activities. By designing a connected seed bank that is accessible, intuitive and inclusive, our project has the potential to benefit a wider range of people than if we were designing a smart-phone app. The results from this research have potential to impact on information and communications technologies for diversity (of age, ability, language) as well as for rural regions (where people may not have access to mobile phone networks). We also believe the research will encourage inter-generational and inter-ethnic learning, providing opportunities for older participants, who may have greater experience and knowledge of food-growing, with younger participants who are keen to learn how to grow.

Part of our public engagement strategy includes producing a professionally curated high-quality art exhibition that will engage a broad audience with our research and raise awareness around food-growing and seed-saving, and the Internet of Things as a possible mechanism for empowering food-growing communities. As part of our strategy to impact on others wishing to get involved in urban agriculture, and build their own smart seed-bank, we will design and print a toolkit document. We have allocated resources to hire a professional film maker to make a film about the project. The film will help us disseminate the research to a wide audience by sharing it through online media, as well as showing it at the exhibition.