Here is a brief description of our proposals for a street food revolution in Bromley by Bow & across London. This has been done as part of the SCIBE (Scarcity and Creativity in the Built Environment) research which is being undertaken by the University of Westminster.
Here's more info about SCIBE and details of the original competition that our proposal forms part of:
http://www.scibe.eu/category/
and here's the full briefing document
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/
BOWNANZA INTRODUCTION
Our project is entitled ‘Bow-nanza’. This is the dictionary definition of the word bonanza:
2) A large amount of something desirable: “the festive feature film bonanza”.
Our project aims to bring a sudden increase in good fortune and a large amount of something desirable to Bromley by Bow. But given the context of the most deprived borough in London the ‘something’ cannot be expensive – these are scarce times. Instead our project intends to unlock potential ‘wealth’ that already exists within Bromley by Bow and bring it to the fore at very low cost.
Our starting question was how can we increase the feeling of wellbeing in Bromley by Bow?
Our answer is to concentrate on 2 key aspects of life there – Food and Community.
The SCIBE competition briefing document (see link above) highlighted that despite being a relatively deprived borough, 91% of residents said they eat outside the home on a regular basis, with 31% eating out 2- 6 times a week. Most often they ate fast food.
In many cases Bromley by Bow’s homes are densely populated, with people sharing rooms and the living room given over to become a bedroom. The kitchen is often too small to accommodate the residents.
The brief also highlighted that 60% of residents were from Bangladesh.
Given these conditions, we asked if there was a way to improve what people eat and at the same create a vibrant street life and sense of community similar to that found in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
Our project therefore concentrates on the promotion of street food as an alternative to the more usual fast food offerings. Our aim is to connect the community through communal eating and to use street food as a potential source of employment and entrepreneurship within Bromley by Bow.
Click here to download our original BOWNANZA Presentation (23/7/12) as a pdf
