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--- research_report_sanjeev-shankar [2008-05-01 21:24] – sanjeev
+++ research_report_sanjeev-shankar [2008-05-02 10:22] – sanjeev
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 ===Directions===
-The author would like to conclude with the following directives:
+The project started out with specific focus on urban farming and permaculture. However, the nature of farming and land is highly interconnected and directly impacts other aspects of our society. The insights and lessons through this journey go beyond farming and can inform the growth of more complex and yet to emerge sustainable systems. The author would like to conclude with the following directives:
   * The need for a gradual shift towards a 'we' and 'us' based culture from a 'me' and 'I' based approach. Collective communities like India, are facing a reverse trend with the recent shift towards an individual based, self serving attitude under the influence of 'growth' and 'progress'.
-  * Concious need for information 'exchange' and collaborations between different cultures and contexts to develop greater self reliance and interdependence. All the time striving for the right balance between clear structures and flexible systems, between small self organised clusters and larger fabrics, between independent points of view and a general concensus.
+  * Concious need for information 'exchange' and collaborations between different cultures and contexts to develop greater self reliance and interdependence. Here assimilation as a design strategy has great potential. All the time striving for the right balance between clear streamlined structures and flexible organic systems, between small self organised clusters and larger fabrics, between independent points of view and a general concensus.
-  * Links with tradition should involve the use of past processes of change rather than the maintenance of past structures and patterns. We have to constantly reevaluate and revalidate our responses and ideas of 'growth' and 'progress' in such turbulent times. The metaphor of progress and growth must move towards leaving things inside us rather than behind us.
+  * In cultural contexts, links with tradition should involve the use of past processes of change rather than the maintenance of past structures and patterns. We have to constantly reevaluate and revalidate our responses and ideas of 'growth' and 'progress' in such turbulent times. Such metaphors of progress and growth must move towards leaving things inside us rather than behind us. Having said that, if a thing needs to disintegrate and be left behind, we must let it go and let new systems be born. The aspect of ethics is important in such a situation and should be openly discussed.
-  * We must constantly strive to create fertile systems which bring culture and nature together. This could be through technology, media or traditional mediums.
+  * We must constantly strive to create fertile diverse systems which bring culture and nature together. This could be through technology, media or traditional mediums.
+  * From an urban farming perspective, personal kitchen gardens seem most effective. They are small, dispersed, diverse, flexible, simple to maintain, easily transformed and directly impact the food situation at a family and community level. They can be catalysts for larger green initiatives at community, regional level.
+===Suggestions===
+The researcher would like to suggest the following threads for the future:
-  * //comparison of the expected and the achieved results//
+  * Looking at traditional systems of living in India which are comparable to permaculture as a holistic approach.
-  * //suggestions and comments on the research process and its results//
-  * //description and suggestions around the collaboration process (if applicable)//
+  * Analysing the attributes of community based approaches in countries like India and how can we create such initiatives in western societies.
-  * //suggestions for the future work based on the conclusions of the research//
+  * Creating tangible manifestations of human plant interaction to nudge it out of the speculative zone.
+  * Finding appropriate ways and methods to bring 'ethical' thinking as a core topic in design education and education in general.
+  * Creating an **International Platform for Growth and Resilience**, which works towards a more inclusive, collaborative methodology through a system of integration. One of the intiatives could be to bring apparently polar groups together to find a common ground. These groups could include men with women; young with old; environmentalists with corporate heads; capitalists with social entrepreneurs; secular groups with military regime heads; real estate developers with conservationists; politicians with middle class people; middle class western families with middle class eastern families and so on. At a national level, the model would work in a more bottom up manner with conflicting interest groups being brought together to openly discuss issues.
 ====References====