Farm in a box aims to provide a nutritious and sustainable food source for disadvantaged groups. Social challenges are getting bigger. Food is one of these major challenges. Access to nutritious and good quality food has become a major global problem and correcting this imbalance is seen as the single most important, cost-effective means of advancing human well-being. (The Copenhagen Consensus) We aim to create a break from the main stream food model moving from a centralized distribution to a horizontal distributed system. (Manzini 2010) To integrate into communities and create sources of local nutritious and sustainable food models with those communities. The thought behind this is to create a new kind of economy. (Thackara 2010). One that has ownership and is not dependent on the old model of needy: receiving gifts, hand-outs and charity. Where local communities have a quality of life that at a minimum provides the basic elements to survive and at the same time are able to manage this with a balance of economy, environment and social development. This may be thought of as a move towards a restorative or social economy (Thackara 2010) and a move towards resilience. Our role in this is, to apply our 6 years experience of design thinking applied to social innovation towards sustainability in rural and urban china, to develop a prototype eco system, system tools and install physical components and use this system to integrate community actors, support active learning, with a focus to provide a nutritious and sustainable source of vegetables for disadvantaged groups.

1. Farm in a
box
Eco System: nutritious
and sustainable food
source for
disadvantaged groups
Good to China project
Tongji Desis Lab
China

2. Promoter
Local press
Includes: Shanghai Daily,
weeklies incl. Time out,
That’s shanghai,
government press, local
TV channels
Funder
Acknowledgements
NYU Shanghai BioFarm

3. Context: Nutritious food is often not where it is
needed
40%
of
children
in
rural
China
are
stunted
as
a
result
of
maternal
and
childhood
malnutri5on
Unicef
Under
nutri5on
is
devasta5ng.
It
blunts
the
intellect,
saps
the
produc5vity
of
everyone
it
touches
and
perpetuates
poverty
Unicef
Taking
ac5on
on
under-­‐nutri5on
is
the
single
most
important,
cost-­‐effec5ve
means
of
advancing
human
well-­‐being
The
Copenhagen
Consensus

4. The project.
Design,
configure
and
implement
an
eco
system
to
provide
a
nutri5ous
and
sustainable
food
source
for
disadvantaged
groups
The
system
design
will
explore
ways
to
integrate
the
immediate
community
into
the
process
of
growing
and
benefi5ng
from
a
local
and
organic
source
of
fresh
nutri5ous
vegetables
and
provide
system
tools
to
support
and
enable
the
opera5on
and
newly
formed
people
interac5ons
and
rela5onships.
Design
an
open
sourced
package
for
others
to
implement
and
to
support
and
enable
scalability,
innova5on
and
crea5vity
NB:
disadvantaged
groups
can
include:
orphans
in
residence,
displaced
people
due
to
natural
or
man
made
disaster,
migrant
workers.

6. Governance and Policy Making
Model changing
Bottom up – prototyping solutions
Bringing communities out of
poverty
Decrease urban rural divide
Provide local sustainable 21°
century behaviours
Providing policy makers with a tool set to roll-out to disadvantaged groups increasing resilience by providing
communities with a means to support themselves: Role changing from dependence to independence

7. Activism and Civic Participation
Open source
Communication tool set to create
awareness and engage wider community
Inclusive Model to create change: Urban + Rural, new community model, influence & reach wide, ability to
replicate

8. New relationships, actions and network encompassing many levels of society
Closed loop Eco
system
Social Interactions and Relations

9. Social Interactions and Relations
New relationships, actions and network encompassing many levels of society
Closed loop Eco
system
Tools to support
social interactions
and cohesion

10. City and Environmental Planning
Urban farming
Disaster and preventative food re-sources
Urban farming : local organic and conscious food sources 21st century urban rural relationships, food revalued.

11. Production, JANUARY
一月
Distribution and Consumption
五月慢
Qingcai
五月慢
Qingcai
草头
Alfafa
五月慢
Qingcai
草头
Alfafa
五月慢
Qingcai
草头
Alfafa
生菜
Lettuce
冬瓜
Wax gourd
菠菜
FEBRUARY
二月
MARCH
三月
APRIL
四月
MAY
五月
JUNE
六月
JULY
七月
AUGUST
八月
SEPTEMBER
九月
OCTOBER
十月
NOVEmbER
十一月
DeCEMBER
十二月
菜花
Cauli!ower
菜花
Cauli!ower
菜花
Cauli!ower
生菜
Lettuce
芹菜
Celery
芹菜
Celery
芹菜
Celery
芹菜
Celery
芹菜
Celery
生菜
Lettuce
生菜
Lettuce
生菜
Lettuce
生菜
Lettuce
生菜
Lettuce
南瓜
Pumpkin
生菜
Lettuce
小黄瓜
Cucumber
冬瓜
Wax gourd
生菜
Lettuce
米苋
Amaranth
米苋
Amaranth
米苋
Amaranth
刀豆
Swordbean
刀豆
Swordbean
刀豆
Swordbean
小青菜
Little qingcai
小黄瓜
Cucumber
小黄瓜
Cucumber
小黄瓜
Cucumber
小青菜
Little qingcai
洋葱
Onion
洋葱
Onion
洋葱
Onion
洋葱
Onion
小番茄
Cherry tomato
小番茄
Cherry tomato
小番茄
Cherry tomato
Local – low footprint
小番茄
Cherry tomato
小番茄
Cherry tomato
小番茄
Cherry tomato
小番茄
Cherry tomato
As needed – no waste
小番茄
Cherry tomato
山芋
Sweet potato
山芋
Sweet potato
山芋
Sweet potato
山芋
Sweet potato
山芋
Sweet potato
山芋
Sweet potato
洋葱
Onion
南瓜
Pumpkin
南瓜
Pumpkin
南瓜
Pumpkin
豇豆
Asparagus bean
紫云英
Chinese milk vetch
紫云英
Chinese milk vetch
樱桃萝卜
Cherry radish
樱桃萝卜
Cherry radish
樱桃萝卜
Cherry radish
细葱
Shallot
细葱
Shallot
细葱
Shallot
大头菜
Kohlrabi
大头菜
Kohlrabi
大头菜
Kohlrabi
小白菜
Pak choi
小白菜
Pak choi
刀豆
Swordbean
冬瓜
Wax gourd
冬瓜
Wax gourd
刀豆
Swordbean
菜花
Cauli!ower
胡萝卜
Carrot
胡萝卜
Carrot
胡萝卜
Carrot
生菜
Lettuce
生菜
Lettuce
米苋
Amaranth
米苋
Amaranth
米苋
Amaranth
胡萝卜
Carrot
胡萝卜
Carrot
胡萝卜
Carrot
菜花
Cauli!ower
菜花
Cauli!ower
annual planting PLAN ょㅰ㺸㺔㴨⺈
plot 㝥
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
10 M
1 M 1 M 1 M 1 M 1 M 1 M 1 M 1 M 1 M 1 M
WALL 1 墙 一
WALL 2 墙 二
WALL 1
WALL 2
Spinach
草头
Alfafa
菠菜
Spinach
草头
Alfafa
菠菜
Spinach
草头
Alfafa
菠菜
Spinach
草头
Alfafa
菠菜
Spinach
草头
Alfafa
洋葱
Onion
山芋
Sweet potato
菠菜
Spinach
草头
Alfafa
萝卜
Radish
紫云英
Chinese milk vetch
香菜
Coriander
紫云英
Chinese
milk vetch
大白菜香菜
Chinese
cabbage
Coriander
紫云英
Chinese milk vetch
香菜
Coriander
紫云英
Chinese milk vetch
紫云英
Chinese milk vetch
萝卜
Radish
紫云英
Chinese milk vetch
萝卜
Radish
紫云英
Chinese milk vetch
萝卜
Radish
紫云英
Chinese milk vetch
萝卜
Radish
紫云英
Chinese milk vetch
菠菜
Spinach
草头
Alfafa
菠菜
Spinach
草头
Alfafa
菠菜
Spinach
草头
Alfafa
豇豆
Asparagus bean
大头菜
Kohlrabi
菠菜
Spinach
草头
Alfafa
五月慢
Qingcai
草头
Alfafa
刀豆
Swordbean
菜花
Cauli!ower
小番茄
Cherry tomato
紫云英
Chinese milk vetch
小番茄
Cherry tomato
地瓜叶
Sweet potato leaf
大白菜香菜
香菜
Coriander
紫云英
Chinese
milk vetch
Chinese
cabbage
大白菜香菜
Coriander
紫云英
Chinese
milk vetch
Chinese
cabbage
大白菜香菜
Coriander
紫云英
Chinese
milk vetch
Chinese
cabbage
Coriander
紫云英
Chinese
milk vetch
大白菜
Chinese
cabbage
空心菜
Water spinach
空心菜
Water spinach
空心菜
Water spinach
空心菜
Water spinach
空心菜
Water spinach
空心菜
Water spinach
地瓜叶
Sweet potato leaf
地瓜叶
Sweet potato leaf
地瓜叶
Sweet potato leaf
地瓜叶
Sweet potato leaf
地瓜叶
Sweet potato leaf
Way to plant Option to plant outdoors
种植植物方式户外种植选项
║㙭 li S i
Seedling Sowing Outdoor
1 2 3
Add in-house compost & local goat
Mix well with soil
Add a thin CONSIDERATION 允许在地基放养鸡(or other) manure (mix well with soil)
ground surface 添加自产堆肥及本地山羊（或其他）肥料
和土拌匀
添加薄薄的一层稻AT CROP
ROTATION
轮作时注意事项
legend & suggestions
草头
Alfafa
五月慢
Qingcai
草头
Alfafa
五月慢
Qingcai
草头
Alfafa
五月慢
Qingcai
草头
Alfafa
Allow chickens on plots
Rotation plan set to grow a balanced nutritious diet to feed the number of people in the community. To be
evaluated and adjusted based on system metrics.

12. Skill Training and Design Education
Infrastructure
Soft System
Soft system tools
Skill training is part of the system and evaluative metrics. The success, growth and scalability of the project is
nested in skill training

13. 21° century needs: Local
organic, safe & secure
food system
1° Case study
Job Creation

14. Storytelling and Visualisation
Co-Learning & building
Target boundary 2 : extended community : Project success in the rural environment is economic
Target kids: learning skills, eating well, enjoying outside life on the farm
Target founder and staff: benefits of food, kids learning activities, respect from local community, sharing knowledge with local
community
Target organisers: others to copy and evolve this model “the story of how to do” and what to avoid or look for ways to do differently
Target Press: local environmental impactful ways to support rural urban and marginalized groups

15. Susanevans@goodtochina.com
Tongji Desis Lab
China