Fruit city is an online application that lets the users map fruit trees in London. The project offers a handful of tools that encourage the collection of fruits within the city. In this way the initiators want to promote the use of available resources, avoid the wasting of edible goods and support an environmentally friendly food system.
A great portion of the fruits sold in cities come from distant places such as Brazil, Chile or South Africa. While this supports the economy of those countries, the transport of goods has a considerable footprint . Growing food locally has gained importance in recent years as a way to create a sustainable food system. The idea of fruit map is to use food sources that are already available in cities and provide helpful information to the citizens on how to do that.
The initiators fruit city are aware that this can not supply the demand of the whole city for the whole year. However they also know that a large amount of fresh fruits goes to waste unpicked. The variety of fruits available is astonishing for an urban environment: Blackberries, Apples, Mulberries, Plums, Strawberries, Figs, Pears and even some secret Kiwis. The map also let the users geo-tag the fruit trees, making of the project a collaborative effort to avoid food waste.
By providing the information and some ideas about picking and using the fruits the project helps to use valuable resources. Fruit map also offers custom-made fruit picking tools, designed to be used in a city. They also have published a few recipes that should inspire the people to collect and cook with fruits. You can also find some species guide and even tree climbing tricks. Visit fruit city and search for a fruit tree near you!
Fruit city credits
Screenshots: fruitcity.co.uk
Fruit city project: Vahakn Matossian