The climate crisis is a food crisis.

Predictable and sufficient access to healthy food is a cornerstone of a healthy society.

But stable food production is threatened worldwide by cascading disasters like war, disease, resource shortages, supply-chain disruptions, economic volatility, and topsoil depletion. Food security and the climate crisis are connected.

Tiny Fields connects people with land and people who want to grow food.

Tiny Fields, my design proposal for community food production meant to withstand environmental, social, and economic turmoil, helps people in suburbs and cities grow more of their own food. And it doesn’t need complex legislation or massive government funding to work.

As phase I of Square Mile, an ongoing collaborative design project for decentralized regional agriculture inspired by the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, Tiny Fields connects people with gardens and people who want to grow food.

INTERVIEWING USERS

My initial research goal was to understand the behaviors, needs, and problems faced by people who want to grow food but can't (or aren't growing enough).

I talked to two groups of people:

1. Those who have space but aren’t growing food.

2. Those who want to grow food but don’t have gardening space.

MAPPING RELATIONSHIPS

In 45-minute interviews, people expressed their hopes, frustrations, and desires with growing food. They asked questions. They shared what they needed.

By mapping their current and potential food-related transactional relationships with companies and public organizations, I saw design opportunities. Patterns began to emerge.

A (MOSTLY) SIMPLE IDEA

Our current model of domestic food production is extractive and linear, with mostly corporate-owned farm holdings in rural agricultural zones growing food on one end, and food manufacturers and suppliers selling highly processed food to people in population centers on the other end.

This model maximizes yield and corporate profit at the expense of soil health, genetic diversity, traditional foodways, environmental resilience, and animal and human rights—the list of economic externalities goes on and on.

Tiny Fields introduces small, circular regional economies of food production at the population-center end of this line.

People who want to grow food in small garden plots live in the same communities as their hosts, people who have space but unproductive soil, most likely covered by grass on a residential plot.

Gardeners share a portion of their harvest with their hosts. And hosts share a portion of their land with their guest gardeners. Cities incrementally but measurably increase their ability to grow food. Soil health improves. People make friends. Nobody gets exploited.

Its vision, approach, and benefits are clear.

VISION

Short of actually building something, creating a simple landing page is a bracingly efficient way to clarify, edit, and call bullshit on a basic concept.

The Tiny Fields vision: To support small-scale urban food production by connecting people with gardens and people who want to grow food.

APPROACH

Participants use Tiny Fields one of two ways.

1. People who need a garden can use it to meet a garden host, or

2. People who have a garden can use it to share their space.

BENEFITS

All participants have the chance to grow food, share their skills, build soil, and make friends.

In short—to put down roots.

STRESS-TESTING THE USER JOURNEY

To figure out how Tiny Fields actually works as a digital service, I first outlined a user journey map, based on my interviews.

Then, using investigative rehearsals, I interviewed potential gardening hosts by asking them to conduct a mock search for people who want to garden.

I paid special attention to the interviewees’ primary selection criteria, asking follow-up questions to clarify or elaborate. What mattered most to them about sharing garden space? Safety? Sharing tools? Bathroom facilities? Connecting with other people?

REFINING THE SERVICE DESIGN

These interviews led to a series of useful generative “how might we?”-type questions that sparked insights, possible design solutions, and eventually, a prototype digital service.

One interesting suggestion was a method for weeding out low-effort or exploitative participants. How could I mitigate imbalanced transactional relationships on the Tiny Fields platform while maintaining clear, practical, and safe boundaries for each participant?

DEFINING THE USER EXPERIENCE

Guided by these inquiries and the problems they raised, I sketched a rough wireframe for a prototype digital platform.

In particular, I focused on the challenge of bringing together the right participants, which happens soon after people start using the Tiny Fields platform.

Could including certain characteristics in the platform’s user profiles—what plants people are interested in, how experienced they are, or what they need help with—improve the quality of their connections?

PROTOTYPING IN FIGMA

I’m currently building a progressive registration experience for Tiny Fields.

MVP USER TESTING

When the prototype is ready, I see three opportunities to refine Tiny Fields.

1. Test it. Observe how people use the Tiny Fields beta platform in the real world. Synthesize these observations. And refine the platform accordingly—taking care to avoid feature creep.
   

RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS

2. Research organizations as potential participants. How might hospitals, municipal departments, and nonprofits use Tiny Fields?

EXPAND JOURNEY MAP

3. How might Tiny Fields serve people’s needs before and after they engage with the digital platform?

Tiny Fields is food sovereignty.

Agribusiness in the United States is built on a chemically intensive, monopolistic, and exploitative production model that’s especially vulnerable to environmental and economic shocks. It is not the most egalitarian or resilient way to feed people.

How can the fourth agricultural revolution prioritize stability and accessibility along with yield?

How can we make food production safer, healthier, and more equal without exploiting people, other animals, and future generations?

Gardening is a nurturing and predictive act, an investment in future abundance.

You bury a seed in soil. Add a little water and sunlight. And just wait.