With Microbes: From Germs to Companions in Urban Harvests | Members and Patrons

I believe that design is a field defined and dominated by complex relationships. We live in a world designed to influence how we relate to other people, products, spaces, or nature—for instance, architecture and urban design shape what one gets to experience daily. When we bring ‘Care’ into the design process, we can start to be more deliberate about what kinds of relationships we want to see in the world. We can understand that design is not neutral and often perpetuates the same extractive logics that led to the climate crisis and its disproportionate impact on disenfranchised communities. But caring design can also push for equity and climate action.

Ioana Man

After most of us have lived with a daily fear of a virus and at the same time have discovered the importance of access to green spaces, my project is positioned to bring care into these conversations. How can we start to have a relationship with microorganisms based on care rather than fear? And how can microbes shape a relationship of care to urban nature via food production? Using new scientific technology, I have designed a series of interactive walks that make visible the microscopic ecologies of urban green spaces. They reveal food gardens as spaces for mutual care and imagine a future where urban agriculture is essential to public life.

Ioana Man

_With Microbes_ is part of a long-term body of work aiming to bridge between design, the built environment, and biology started during my studies at the Architectural Association. In order to expand who gets to have caring, hands-on encounters with biodiversity, I am looking for partners and opportunities to further incorporate food growing into the public realm. Moving forwards, I am excited to expand on how DNA sequencing and metagenomic technology can help push for biodiversity in the city by bringing it out of the lab and into local communities. These technologies are now reconfiguring the intersection of biology with design, planning and development and it is key to co-develop them in dialogue with diverse stakeholders, like many members of the Design Museum.

Ioana Man

The coronavirus pandemic dramatically brought microbes into the public imagination. Simply put, it got us a lot closer to the key take-aways of With Microbes: our lives are tied to the microorganisms around us and design shapes what those relationships look like. Homebound, I have also started to better cooperate with microbes by learning from family traditions how to make compost, sourdough bread and pickles. My ’work from home’ setup is quite telling of the kinds of work I did this past year: a laptop for many video calls with collaborators, a computer with a high-power graphic card for simulations, rendering, and data visualisations surrounded by many stacks of books.

Ioana Man