Abstract
Climate change, population growth, and economic development1 make the need for a sustainable FEW Nexus more urgent than ever since the demand for food, energy and water is increased. Urban communities are very vulnerable in the coming changes as 66% of the total population will be urban by 20506 and food security is crucial. In Qatar, a hot and arid country with limited freshwater availability and 99.1% of the total population being urban4, the need for a sustainable nexus is timely than ever. Food security is also a national priority for the State of Qatar, in line with Qatar Vision 2030. Food waste is another big challenge to tackle, as 30% of the total food produced worldwide gets lost or wasted throughout the food chain with respected losses in inputs3 and yet, 795 million people are malnourished2. Urban agriculture could be the key solution to the nexus with effective use of water and energy, new food crops and application of circular economy in the management of organic wastes. This research project abstract is part of the ‘’Moveable Nexus: Design-led Urban Food, Water and Energy Management Innovation in New Boundary Conditions of Change’’ Belmont Forum Project, led by Qatar University and funded by Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF). The short title M-NEX is the acronym of the key concept ‘’the Moveable Nexus’’. The project’s goal is to develop an integrated design methodology and Moveable Nexus that links complex location-specific FEW problems at the architectural, urban, and regional scales. The Moveable Nexus is a participatory design support platform mobilizing natural and social resources by integrating multi-disciplinary knowledge and technology7, which will be implemented by Living Labs in different regions. The M-NEX Doha Living Lab will attempt to design and develop productive and sustainable food systems that increase food security, enhance nutrition and strengthen resilience5. In Qatar, the Doha Living Lab will be implemented at Qatar University Campus, an urban community of over 20.000 students and 1.000 faculty and staff members. The Living Lab facilities will include a production site composed of a greenhouse, an open-field plot and composting units to sustainably manage the organic waste generated within the Campus. Traditional crops and new food crops will be tested, using cultivation methods with effective water use and using the produced compost in open field cultivation plots. Moreover, local stakeholders and the whole QU Community will be actively engaged and participate in various farming practices at the production site. The community members will develop a long-standing knowledge of how to produce, harvest, postharvest manage and store food, acquiring important agricultural production skills, which can be transferred from them to other generations as well, strengthening resilience among people and food systems. University Campuses are urban communities that can be referred to as mini-cities, since the need for food, energy and water is big and they generate waste. Any successful applications and solutions tested on the campus can be applied later on a bigger scale. Besides, the Moveable Nexus can be transferred to different bioregions on shared design principles, co-creative methodology and cybernetic technologies.
