Redundancy and Resilience: Alternative economies of urban framing in the Detroit Regional Food System

底特律的城市农业系统的一个独特之处在于其本身的低效。该市的大多数农场都是高劳动力、低产量和缺乏物流协调的农场。然而，农民们辩称，正是这些特点导致他们生产出独特的经济产出。该项目探索了一种替代经济，可产生一系列积极的经济、社会和政治成果，如可持续性、社区粮食安全和有弹性的粮食系统。该项目对产生这种盈余的组织机制(独特的经济组织形式)特别感兴趣。一个例子是农民声称，低效的生产加强(而不是破坏)了区域粮食安全。根据有关生态弹性的文献，农民们认为，虽然高效的系统降低了成本，但它们是脆弱的：当一个部分发生故障时，整个系统可能会崩溃。他们辩称，冗余的系统预计会出现故障。当一个人崩溃时，其他人(做类似或相同的工作)将使系统继续运行。从这个意义上说，人们可能会争辩说，冗余和低效构成了一种独特的经济组织模式，即‘生产’独特的经济产出(具有弹性的食品系统)。该项目关注底特律城市农业的替代经济，包括社区食品安全、城市转型、食品正义和区域弹性方面的项目。这名学生将在Aberystwyth大学的DGES工作，并将在底特律进行为期9个月的实地考察，直接与当地城市农业组织合作，并得到密歇根大学的额外支持。该项目涉及教育部门工作人员的一些兴趣和主题，包括文化地理、城市地理、社区和区域粮食安全、创新地理、文化和政治理论以及关于可持续性、城市转型和复原力的问题。

One distinctive aspect of the urban farming system in Detroit is itsinherent inefficiency. Most farms in the city are high labour, lowyield and lacking in logistical coordination. Yet, farmers argue thatit is precisely these characteristics that lead them to produce theirdistinctive economic outputs. This project explores urban farmingas an alternative economy that yields a range of positiveeconomic, social and political outcomes, such as sustainability,community food security and a resilient food system. The projectis particularly interested in the organisational mechanisms (thedistinctive forms of economic organisation) that produce suchsurpluses. One example is the claim by farmers that inefficientproduction enhances (rather than undermines) regional foodsecurity. Drawing upon the literature on ecological resilience,farmers argue that while efficient systems reduce costs, they arefragile: when one piece fails the system as a whole can collapse.Redundant systems, they argue, anticipate failure. When onepiece crashes, others (doing similar or the same work) keep thesystem going. In this sense, one could argue that redundancy andinefficiency constitute a distinctive mode of economicorganisation 'producing' a unique economic output (a resilientfood system).This project focuses on the alternativeeconomies of urban farming in Detroit including projects oncommunity food security, urban transformation, food justice andregional resilience. The student will be based in DGES at AberystwythUniversity and will have 9 months of fieldwork in Detroit workingdirectly with local urban farming organisations with added supportfrom the University of Michigan. The project intersects with anumber interests and themes among staff in DGES includingcultural geography, urban geography, community and regionalfood security, creative geographies, cultural and political theoryand questions about sustainability, urban transformation andresilience.