Arts & Culture

Night School 2 Recap

After Board & Vellum's second Night School, it's officially a series! This time around, we screened Carolyn Steel’s lecture, “How Food Shapes Our Lives,” and followed up with a discussion about the implications of varied food access and food consumption in different areas of Seattle.

We officially have a series! Thanks to everyone who came out to participate; we had a very successful and fun second Night School. Carolyn Steel’s talk, “How Food Shapes Our Lives,” primed our conversation about the hidden forces that shape our cities and influences a food-centric conversation.

The conversation centered on access to food, the equity of good food, and the value we place on what we eat. Seattle in particular is a fascinating place to consider given its geographical situation and current tech-related boom. In Capitol Hill it is easy enough to walk down the street and eat artisan, organic food while shaking the farmer’s hand over a $10 thimble of cold-pressed juice. Two miles south, in Rainier Valley, this is not the case. I will let you decide if this is good, fair, or whether anyone should pay that much for a small glass of kale juice. We discussed the price disparity between high-quality food and low-quality food and some architectural (and non-architectural) interventions to remedy this.

It seemed to make sense in our small group that there were two approaches to a solution: the large-scale, industry-wide approach, and the individual or behavioral shift. In the behavioral shift, we discussed reorganizing grocery stores to promote the consumption of less processed and all natural foods while providing buyers a chance to interface with and learn more about the origin on their food. We also talked about the philosophy where people “shop their values,” or make purchases to support the type of business in which they believe. As a general note, the strategies to change the institution of food from an individual standpoint require a change in how people interact with their food and a commitment to expend more effort in procuring their food. Not everyone, as we discussed, can afford to do this, which brought up larger, systematized ideas of change to our food networks. This part of the conversation involved points about government subsidies and policies to incentivize small businesses to remain in neighborhoods, and a new initiative in the city to allow developments to break height limits of new buildings with active greenhouses to promote self-grown food.

In all cases, the shifts we discussed in our food networks could have great implications on how our cities look. That is exciting. Can you imagine a city where you can see and smell fresh food in every neighborhood, a city where buildings grow food for their residents, a city where good quality food is affordable everyone? We did last week at Night School, and it was inspiring. And for that, I have to say thank you to all of our participants. I was overwhelmed to see the turnout and knowledge base last Tuesday. As we have stated before, Night School has been intentionally left somewhat ambiguous to allow for organic growth and for participants to shape and influence our events. After this past Tuesday, we might be looking at a whole series on the shape of cities, or food, or even grocery store design! Whatever the future holds for Night School, we have been thrilled with the turnout and level of conversation and cannot wait to see you again. Stay tuned for information about our next event in a couple of months, and remember, stay sharp.