The Transitional Market
A rebuild Economic project for Greenville after Dixie Fire.
Project developed by Yuxi Chen & Marcelo Miranda
Our project focuses on Greenville’s ranching system and the region’s electrical infrastructure. The food and ranching industry in California faces multiple issues like improper grazing techniques and food waste management. Nevertheless, regenerative ranching practices offer the possibility to transform these landscapes into a network of systems that not only prioritizes the production of clean energy but also protects Greenville’s resilient community and its valuable natural resources.
Our first step in the regeneration process for Greenville was to RE-INVENT the systems that were previously working to create bigger and stronger connections amongst the drivers of the food industry: the ranchers. Therefore we created new agro-districts within the allowable zoning and took advantage of the proximity of the ranches to create a brokerage system where the local butchers act as mediators between Greenville’s downtown and the ranches. Thus RE-ASSEMBLING the whole communal spectrum and its economy. We have redirected the food cold chain to minimize waste and create timely, efficient methods. A mobile slaughter unit can travel with the food products around the Agra district. Once the brokers have mobilized the products to the market, the retail spaces offer freezers to store these goods. The waste is sent to a Biothydro facility that converts the animal waste into energy through a biomass process, and the animal’s leftover bone structure is into fertilizer that goes back to the ranch to maintain healthy soil. Due to the proximity of the Ranches, we also designed spatial opportunities such as a solar shade pathway that acts as a large structure connected by both an irrigation and solar system that not only maintain the ranches but also provide some outdoor leisure to the adjacent residents.
We design the middle of each Market as a snow and water locker to keep the snow and water to cool down the refrigerator with low energy usage. At the same time, most of the market are designed under the ground which allows it to use the ground heating and cooling system for natural energy saving and provides a comfortable environment to the vistas. Also, the middle of the center market can become a place for people to snow fight or having a friday market in the summertime. We show how people can get into the Market by the red lines and the products in Blue. Green line is EV. And the yellow roofs are showing the roofs can gain the best solar power.
By decommodifying non renewable energy for ranching practices in the short term this system can be expanded through every ranch within the whole agrodistrict. The key then is to use it as a collaborative model that allows the ranchers to build equity and restore some losses from the fire, in the hopes that this temporary monetary market structure not only unites ranchers and residents but also provides some economic relief that can also transition to a new system educating the community about the importance of a diversified diet and the animals’ dignity as part of Greenville’s ecosystem.
