Connected Open Greens

In the open_green rooftopgardens and collective citygardens we blend the organic and the digital in one and the same nature. Here we explore how this fusion takes place: examining through digital means the growth, blossoming and decay of plants and insects submitted to natural elements such as wind, rain, snow, etc.
We explore the implementation of eco-garden-elements into wireless networks, both on micro level and on a city level. We research the physical connections between people, programs, sensor-networks and possible uses of the eco-garden. How can the garden's evolution be generated, controlled, enhanced or imagined in artworks? How does the fusion of natural and artificial matter produce new organisms, new environments, new natures? How does technology animate nature and space and vice versa?

download the first OpenGreens catalogus here:
http://so-on.be/SO-ON/OpenGreen/COG-catalog/v.1.0-smallspread.pdf

Open Green Okno

Open Green so-on

travelling_through_the_OpenGreens, an account of one year working in and with the edgelands …

OpenGreens_at_ChangingTents, about OpenGreens and the gift economy …

article: research on the ecology of urban habitats

article: virtues of a forest rooftop garden

Can we talk about ‘urban permaculture’, as an intrinsic part of this media-ecological system? What is Permaculture? Permaculture is about designing human environments that have the stability, diversity and resilience of natural ecosystems. Permaculture integrates renewable energy systems, energy efficiency, food/gardening systems, natural building, rainwater harvesting, urban planning along with the economic, political and social policies that make sustainable living possible and practical.
Permaculture is an approach to everyday life that integrates all the facets of people’s lives to enhance environmental sustainability within a permanent, sustainable agricultural and cultural system - a diverse, complex eco-system, where all of the elements interact in mutually beneficial ways to produce a whole which is greater than the sum of its parts. It is is a valued way of designing and creating sustainable systems. It has relevance for anyone with a concern to improve the environment and the quality of life.

Why garden on rooftops in the city?
Gardening on rooftops in ever-increasingly dense and sprawling cities is an original way to take back unused and sterile spaces like rooftops, patios and balconies and to transform them into livable spaces that are lush, productive and purifying. In addition to embellishing the urban landscape with food-producing gardens at the tops of buildings and producing fresh food, these new spaces for the community enable us to reduce the ecological footprint of the houses and institutions of which we are an integral part. Recovering and decontaminating water, cultivating organic food, composting organic waste as well as ?ltering and cooling down air are all part of a mindset to make our established landscape more sustainable. Therefore, in the current context of environmental degradation, over-consumption and junk food culture, taking care of ourselves and our environment enables us to take a step down the path to healthy cities and communities.
Rooftop gardening means taking up an inspiring, ecological and productive activity, and developing new links with the food chain, the seasons, the environment and the community. This utopia’s vision is to turn the city into a garden and its inhabitants into gardeners.

plants-lists

garden maps

This is the first attempt to setup a database which covers long-time observation/information of our rooftop gardens and on (wild)plants, animals and technology that populates our citygardens/rooftopgardens/collective gardens/wastland gardening/guerilla gardening …
We would like to develop a relational database in which the most important specific items of the Open Greens are covered in text and images, with links to existing databases for plant information or for data gathering and data treatment (for ex. links to padma).

the finalised connected OpenGreens database: http://opengreens.okno.be

connected Open Greens Database v.01
Connected Open Greens database v.02
Connected Open Greens database tables v. 1.1, 02-09-2010
Connected Open Greens database tables v. 1.2, 05-11-2010

online visualisation of the relational garden database : online visualisation
A little blog on the development of the database http://numuseum.posterous.com/tag/cog - Danielles' COG sketch book

examples of plant databases:
- http://wilde-planten.nl/absintalsem.htm
- http://flora.inbo.be//Pages/Common/Default.aspx
- http://waarnemingen.be
- http://www.leesmaar.nl/cruijdeboeck/deel1/alfabetisch.htm
- http://www.kuleuven-kortrijk.be/bioweb/?page=guide&lang=nl
- http://www.plantaardigheden.nl/aardig/aardigheden/kruidenboeken10.htm

herb spiral

seed_balls : why and how to make them.
http://padma.okno.be/Vfbbh2nc/info - reclaim the urban space: rooftops, wastelands / seedballs
http://padma.okno.be/Vdx5xyai/info - foraging honeybees in the city

seedball workshops:
- http://micronomics2010.citymined.org/?lang=en
- http://thoughtsandtalks.so-on.be/2010/05/01/okno-foam-and-klororfil-micronomics/
- http://thoughtsandtalks.so-on.be/2010/03/25/tubinger-seedballs-for-diversity-graz/

The Open Green is an artificial environment, a hybrid of nature and culture. The Harvest is about scraping data of any kind from the garden and using it for media applications. We'll try to make autonomous sensing devices that network and connect to the internet.

existing longterm projects:
- bees data harvest - see connected hives / data harvesting bees
- windmill construction in st.Erme, France - http://thoughtsandtalks.so-on.be/2008/04/27/a-windmill-and-a-free-network/
- connected domes workshop: a network of geodesic dome instruments, where plants and sensors produce music - http://okno.be/taxonomy/term/71

……..

Open Greens Graz — http://esc.mur.at/tik/opengreensgraz.html
Open Greens Brussels - okno — http://okno.be
Open Greens Brussels - so-on — http://thoughtsandtalks.so-on.be/2010/05/15/the-start-of-a-rooftopgarden-tbc/
Open Greens Frankfurt — see also: urban biotopes @ under-construction.cc (related basic info on TIK Wiki see: Urban Biotopes)
Open Greens Hranicé — Kravín

Jardins collectifs / jardins partagés : Le début des haricots (Brussels) http://haricots.org/jardinscollectifs
Brussel Ecopolis / la Ferme Urbaine
Klorofil
Platform Kanal
Tipping Point
Brussels Transition Town
Micronomics
Navdanya
Barefoot College