ABÔDE R+D
"Empowering Communities Through Research and Innovation in Food and Housing Systems"
REWORLDING the “REAL WORLD”
Community-led Interventions in Food and Human Settlement Innovation
ABÔDE R+D is proud to offer and embed in our practice a PhD scholarship supporting research and development projects that prioritize and harmonize community and ecological benefit in the built, landscaped, and social environments.
Our current project, Reworlding the Real World: Community-led Interventions in Food and Human Settlement Innovation, explores how minoritized or lower-income community members can more effectively advocate and collaborate on projects intersecting food and housing system innovation.
Project Scope & Outputs
This comparative research project spans two key field settings—Western Sydney, Australia, and Minneapolis/St. Paul, U.S.A.—where ABÔDE R+D operates as a registered business. The outputs of the project include:
Mission-Oriented Design Research
Validated prototypes of socially desirable, financially viable and technically feasible food and human settlement solutions.
Podcast interviews engaging people across societal sectors in food and human settlement system innovation.
A research soundtrack that creatively communicates the project's findings and recommendations.
Interactive Prototype Designs
Permabôde Food + Housing + Community Space
The interactive 3D model below imagines a development that provides BIPOC and low income communities in the cold climate of the Minneapolis / St. Paul region with an asset that combines affordable housing, year-round access to fresh food, and eco-social health and wellness amenity.
Prototype Platform for Connecting Landholders + Growers
Below is clickable prototype of a website where landholders and managers interested in transforming their space into a site of fresh food and medicine production can list their projects. Nearby fresh food and medicinal growers and designers can also showcase their skills and expertise.
Draft Systems Map for Community-Owned Farming in Western Sydney
Below is a gigamap modeling some of the social, economic, ecological, technical, and political components for a new community-led mode of urban farming to increase the food security and therapeutic amenity available in the Western Sydney Parklands. Please take ~10 minutes to expand and review it starting at the very bottom and working your way up; then respond to the questions below.
Make a Way Mixtape
Scroll below to find a rap song lyric video that provides in verse 1 a critique of the public participation opportunities provided in typical top-down town planning processes, and in verse 2 community-led planning and development alternatives. Below the video is text of the lyrics which provide hyperlinks to key terms embedded in the lyrics. Please take ~10 minutes to listen to the song and read along with the lyrics; then respond to the questions below.
Get Involved
Help shape food and housing innovation by connecting with solutions that empower marginalized communities. Your support and engagement is critical for driving sustainable, community-led change with lasting social and environmental impact.
Join the Project
Fill out the form to express your interest or forward an invitation to collaborate on this innovative research and development initiative.
