ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to discuss some of the broader themes surrounding circular economy principles through a personal retelling of a design-and-build project at an allotment site in Brighton, UK. Utilising this specific context, it intends to expand upon the simplified notion of reduce, reuse, recycle, and remanufacture with a focus on both construction and food in response to the ‘Brighton and Hove Circular Economy Route Map’. In doing so, posing the question: could allotments become the ideal test-beds for the circular economy?
Starting with the allotment plot, how it evolved, collaboration with others, and then reflecting upon the bigger picture – this chapter aims to reveal the reciprocal relationships and humanness necessary in the making and exchange of such an economy and how this learning may apply to broader contexts.
What becomes clear is when it comes to the circular economy, it is not a simple loop but many overlapping systems at play relating to time, speed, scale, slowing down, being present, reducing and observing; to site specific, contextual, narrative-based, holistic and collaborative; through to the transient, unpredictable, uncanny, ad hoc and serendipitous …
