An Ecosophical Inquiry into Digital Mediation and Design in Relation to Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) in an ‘Expanded Field’ of ‘Agri-culture’

Urban Farm DB summary

This theoretical essay spans agriculture, art, digital media, design and philosophy to reframe Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) as part of an "expanded field" of agri-culture. Tracing experimentation in alternative production systems from medieval times through the rise of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) from the 1980s onward, it applies Felix Guattari's concept of ecosophy to ask how AFNs mediate their activities online and how they might construct new producer-consumer relations. It is an exploratory conceptual paper examining design's potential contribution to scaling AFNs, and presents no empirical data.