Exhibition is centrepiece of the Zhangyan Harvests Festival in Shanghai ( 3-23 November). Theme: From oil age to soil age: What comes next after urbanization? Located in a beautiful high-tech agricultural dome, Urban-Rural features a dazzling array of real-world projects
.“We’re in a transition from the oil age to the soil age” says Thackara, “and the projects in Urban-Rural are leading the way”. 

Urban-Rural features apps that enable urban people become part-time farmers; streaming platforms that connect farmers directly to the city; and an algae lab that produces 3d cups out of bioplastics. Zhangyan Harvests is the brainchild of professor Lou Yongqi, head of design and innovation at China’s prestigious Tongji University. “We’ve been innovating new links between city and rural for ten years now” Yongqi explains., ”but Zhangyang Harvests takes this work up to a new level”.


1. 2019 Zhangyan Harvests Festival
Urban-Rural
exhibition curated by @johnthackara
- personal slide 13.11.2019 -

4. Purpose:
preview of the kinds of activities to expect
on this “learning landscape”

5. Location: Zhangyan Village 200 years ago and now

6. Location (next to village):
Zhangyan Agricultural Research Facility

7. Our venue: the Dome
(inside Zhangyan Agricultural Research Facility)

8. one week before opening

9. 24 hours before opening

10. Opening

11. Urban-Rural: the content zones

12. herb-lined entrance

14. SOILS ZONE

15. Soils zone: on the table, “smell the beauty of healthy soil”
Images at the back: “Man’s internet and nature’s internet”
Wall on left: “ten ways to restore soil”

16. “Smell the beauty of healthy soil”

17. “why Soil?” - explained

18. @simonsublimet billions of bacteria in a spoonful of healthy soil

19. Jenny Hill | Unsplashwe are connected

20. “The health of the soil, and the health of
people, are the same story. With that in
mind, here are ten ways to restore soils:
1Read ‘From The Soil’
2 Soil Restoration checklist
3 Large-scale ecological restoration
4 Ten elements of ecological agriculture
5 Ecological Restoration Practice
6 AgTech
7 Permaculture
8 Citizen Science (Sectormentor)
9 Feed the soil with food waste
10 Bring nature into the city

22. Soil Restoration
Four indicators of healthy soil
structure,
microbial life,
nutrient density,
carbon levels
Five farming principles
maintain constant ground cover,
increase microbe populations,
encourage biological diversity,
reduce the use of agricultural
chemicals,
avoid tillage.
Five Citizen Actions
Reduce Impervious Surfaces
Plant Rain Gardens
Restore Wetlands
Plant Buffer Strips Along Stream
Banks
Restablish Forest Cover
(Dr Christine Jones)
Open Source Compost Sensor | KindaSmith (Farm Hack)

25.
37 Monitoring the health of the land with Artificial Intelligence
(= Video simulation of every farm in China - i.e. this display, but green. Inset = map of High Nature Value farming in Ireland)
Source: Alibaba/Taobao Rural (via Lou)
Ireland leads in High Nature Value Farming - so we posed a challenge to Alibaba:
why not re-purpose their real-time online sales dashboard as a way to monitor
the ecological health of the land, field-by-field.

26. MAKING ZONE

33. Atelier Luma:
Algae Platform

35. FEEDING ZONE

36. farm_2_plate - video live streaming
Source: Alibaba/Taobao Rural

37. China's 230 million small-holder farmers are the backbone of the rural economy and
the country's food systems. Farmer live-streaming connects them directly with
urban citizens. Source: Alibaba/Taobao Rural

40. Microscopic organisms - our ancestors and allies -
transform food and extend its usefulness.
Fermentation is found throughout human cultures.
Hundreds of medical and scientific studies confirm
what folklore has always known: Fermented foods help
people stay healthy. Many of your favorite foods and
drinks are probably fermented. For instance: Bread,
Cheese, Wine, Beer, Mead, Cider, Chocolate, Coffee,
Tea, Pickles, Sauerkraut, Kimchi, Miso, Tempeh, Soy
Sauce, Vinegar, Yogurt, Kefir, Kombucha.
http://www.wildfermentation.com/
Fermentation workshop at Urban-Rural curated by
Francesca VAlsecchi

41.
2d images Source: Andrea Paoletti

43. Nick Fuentes
The back story of Urban-Rural is the transition “from oil age to soil age”. For a few decades,
unlimited energy enabled global flows of people and resources. The soil age, in contrast, will be
multi-local. Shown here, multi-local geography anticipated by Walter Christaller in 1930

44. Multi-local is not a retreat into isolation. New forms of global, open-source governance platforms are
emerging that enable diverse forms of peer-to-peer collaboration and sharing

45. the example of Shanghai’s BIOfarm

51. CLOTHING ZONE

55. LIVING ZONE

56.
47 School for Village Hosts: System
2D large backdrop image Source: Casa Netural, Italy

57. Wonder Grottole, Italy
Andrea PAOLETTI, Creative Director

59.
School for Village Hosts, Italy/China
Source: D&I student

62. LEARNING ZONE

63. LEARNING TOPICS
Ecological Literacy and Earth Repair
Local Economy Blueprint
Urban-Rural Reconnection
Place-Based Design
Feeding
Adapting buildings and infra
Local renewable energy
Care and health

66. Kunshan Organic Farm

67. Little Donkey Farm, Beijing

72. Rural Social Innovation Centre CLARA, Portugal
(Maxim Dedushkov, CEO)

76. Atelier LUMA, France - Jan Boelen, Creative Director , Maja Hoffman, Founder

77. Pontio Innovation, Wales | Rural innovation hotspot | Dr Andrew Goodman Founder/Director

81. “experiments that can help is envision a possible future”
Prof Dr Lou Yongqi, Design Harvests Founder