Workshop on a collaborative project between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nati

On November 29, 2019, the International Conference on Collaborative Urban Design: Food Systems and Sustainable Urban Creation was held at the School of Fine Arts, Tsinghua University. This conference is jointly organized by the School of Fine Arts of Tsinghua University and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and hosted by the Art and Technology Innovation Base of Tsinghua University and the Service Design Research Institute of the School of Fine Arts. Dean Lu Xiaobo of the Academy of Fine Arts serves as the chairman of the conference, founder of the Social Innovation and Sustainable Design Network, and Professor Ezo Mancini of Milan Polytechnic University serves as the co chairman. Experts from Italy, Belgium, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and China discussed sustainable urban and food system issues at the conference.

Dean Lu Xiaobo of the Academy of Fine Arts pointed out in his welcome speech that in 2015, the United Nations proposed 17 sustainable development goals, many of which were related to food, such as sustainable cities and communities, climate change, etc. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations defined "urban agriculture" as an important expansion target, advocating for environmentally friendly food production and distribution models, and reducing food waste through rethinking and constructing food systems, Promote the accessibility of healthy food among vulnerable groups, ultimately using food as a medium to develop new relationships between people and between humans and nature. As the first college in China with a focus on art and design, more and more teachers and students at the School of Fine Arts at Tsinghua University are paying attention to the issue of sustainable design, including the Department of Information Art and Design, the Department of Industrial Design, the Department of Environmental Art and Design, and other different majors that have carried out related teaching and research projects. This conference is a major initiative of our institute to expand the field of sustainable design.

Dr. Dong Le, Poverty Reduction and Innovation Officer of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, conveyed congratulations from Chinese representative Dr. Ma Wensen to the conference in his speech. Dong Le pointed out that "urban agriculture" was the main task of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2019. With the development of urbanization, there has been a serious disconnect between food production and consumption in the region. The high division between the production and consumption ends will lead to a large amount of environmental, social, and economic problems such as food waste and unfair distribution of food. Introducing agriculture into cities, building harmonious urban-rural and production sales relationships, is of crucial significance for increasing agricultural production income, reducing food waste, improving fair distribution of food, and ultimately building more resilient and sustainable urban spaces. When facing complex issues such as urban agriculture, design is a crucial innovative force.

Professor Mancini gave a keynote speech at this conference, introducing the importance of food for sustainable urban development; Urban agriculture is not a traditional design object, but so far, a large number of designers around the world have conducted active and beneficial innovative explorations. For example, designing landscapes and facilities for urban agriculture, designing services for new food circulation and distribution methods, integrating food with other public services in the community, and so on. In these explorations, the teaching and research practices of the Social Innovation and Sustainable Design (DESIS) network in multiple universities in Europe, America, Africa, and China have caused significant social reactions and are an important driving force for active design.

As an interdisciplinary conference, in addition to researchers and practitioners in the field of design, the conference also invites professionals from other fields engaged in food system innovation to engage in crossborder dialogue. In the first half of the meeting, Fran ç ois Yaku, the founder of Belgium's Strategic Design Vision, introduced the EU URBACT urban agriculture project being carried out in dozens of cities in Europe; Ms. Kristen Larson, founder of the Australian Open Food Network and Honorary Researcher at the School of Design at the University of Melbourne, introduced how information technology can support innovative collaboration in the food industry; Associate Professor Bai Junxiang from Yonsei University in South Korea introduced the use of social network research to design more collaborative citizen networks.

In the second half of the meeting, Japanese 2018 winner of the "Good Design" award, Yasuhiro Matsushima, the abbot of Nara Anji Temple, introduced the "Temple Snack Club". He mentioned that traditionally, the selection criteria for the "Good Design" award were the uniqueness of the work, but in the future, a design project that allows everyone to participate will be a more important criterion. The real case of temple monks participating in social innovation left a deep impression on the audience. Afterwards, Associate Professor He Congzhi from China Agricultural University introduced the "Nest Market" that connects universities with rural areas, Ms. Varapa Van Willenswald from Thailand introduced Thailand's innovative food network, Ms. Yan Ping, the founder of Yunnan Housewives Circle, introduced Kunming's Urban Rural Mutual Aid Market, and Ms. Bai Huishu, an urban agriculture expert from Seoul Agricultural and Fisheries Company in South Korea, also introduced her urban vegetable garden project in the second half of the meeting.

After the guest's speech, Dr. Zhong Fang, the co head of DESIS Laboratory, presided over a roundtable forum to explore how design can be integrated into agriculture and what design opportunities exist in the field of agricultural food.

Finally, Professor Fu Zhiyong, the academic chairman of the Information Art and Design Department, gave a concluding speech at this conference. This conference is a major initiative of our institute to vigorously expand international cooperation and interdisciplinary exchanges. The School of Fine Arts at Tsinghua University has participated in the DESIS network and established the DESIS laboratory since 2009, and has produced a large number of related teaching and research achievements over the years. Since 2016, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has been collaborating with our institute in teaching and research, including workshops, courses, exhibitions, and more. At the same time, domestic partners such as the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation have been introduced to actively bring design innovation into complex backgrounds such as agriculture and rural areas, exploring the use of design concepts and methods to solve non-traditional design issues such as agricultural product sales, rural revitalization, and agricultural poverty alleviation. In the spring of 2019, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations began discussing a strategic cooperation agreement with Tsinghua University, with the School of Fine Arts as the core, and multiple departments such as the School of Environment and the School of Public Administration participating together to promote interdisciplinary innovation in agriculture and food. At present, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two parties is in the process of signing.

At this meeting, Dean Lu presented a letter of appointment to Professor Mancini, inviting him to become a consultant for the Sino Italian Design Innovation Base and Milan Design Institute, laying a foundation for Tsinghua University School of Fine Arts to better expand its internationalization path.

Nearly 300 design teachers, students, and guests from other fields participated in this conference. After the meeting, a large number of attendees expressed that the involvement of design in agriculture is highly innovative and of great significance for the sustainable development of China's environment, economy, and even society. The guest's speech is rich in content, diverse in perspective, and has an international cutting-edge perspective.

Prior to this conference, the School of Fine Arts at Tsinghua University and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations jointly held a workshop on "Reducing Food Loss and Waste" from November 23rd to 24th. On November 30th and December 1st after the conference, the conference guest Fran ç ois Yaku also hosted a workshop on "Community Garden Design" at the School of Fine Arts, Tsinghua University. The series of activities jointly organized by the School of Fine Arts at Tsinghua University and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations have come to a successful end!