Nurturing food inter-structures: Mobilizing interdependent and transnational care methodologies in design practices through community kitchens strategies and technologies

Abstract

Nurturing Food Inter-Structures is a collaborative project developed by the Institute for Experimental Design and Media Cultures (IXDM) at the FHNW Academy of Art and Design in Basel, the FHNW Academy of Design and Technology, the Center for Architecture and Urban Research (CIAC) at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru PUCP in Lima, and the Chair of Architecture and Social Care at ETH Zurich. Based on the increasingly prominent concept of agroecological urbanism (Deh-Tor 2017; 2024), researchers from the participating institutions will document how grassroots movements shape sociomaterial worldviews, collective cooking practices, and architectural and urban technologies for food provision. Building on intersectional and trans*feminist approaches, we will work with our project partners—the women-led movement comedores populares CONAMOVIDI (Lima), the queer BIPOC agricultural collective FUBU (Basel) and the Indigenous-led institution CHIRAPAQ (Lima-Ayacucho)—to develop a participatory process for mapping community kitchens and analyze how community kitchens in Lima (Chillon Valley) and Basel (Rhineland) emerge as strategies of resistance in a context of crisis, mutual aid, care and support at different levels.