The Moveable Nexus: Design-led urban food, water and energy
management innovation in new boundary conditions of changeInternational Consortium
Wanglin Yan (Lead PI) and Bijon Kumar Mitra, Japan
Andy van den Dobbelsteen(PI), the Netherlands
Greg Keeffe(PI) and Kevin Logan, UK
Geoffrey Thün(PI), USA
Sami Sayadi(PI), Qatar
Rob Roggema(Co-PI), the Netherlands

1

The Moveable Nexus is
Design Platform

Evaluation platform

Participation platform

toCo-Deliver

Co-produce

Co-design

FEW solutions at 6 Urban Living Labs

Amsterdam

BelfastDetroit

DohaSydney

Tokyowith transdisciplinary stakeholders
A12A2

A3

B1

B2

B3

De1

De2

De3

Do1

Do2

Do3

S1

S2

S3

T1

T2

T3

WP.1 Project Management (Milestones & Deliverables)
M-NEX develops the three research platforms through participatory workshops in a row.
WP.1
WP.2
WP.3
WP.4
WP.5

Project management
Design Platform
Evaluation Platform
Participation Platform
Living Labs

WP5.1
WP5.2
WP5.3
WP5.4
WP5.5

Belfast, UK
Doha, Qatar
Detroit, USA
Sydney, Australia
Tokyo, Japan

WP5.6

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Note
KO:
SP:
FSP:
wiki1-6:

3

Kick-off;
Strategic Plan;
Final Strategy Plan;
incremental M-NEX platform by wiki-like ICT tools.

The Principles of Design-led Nexus Approach
Nexus Principles

Moveable Nexus

Design Solutions

Investing to sustain
ecosystem services

Mobilizing FEW resources fromrooftop to farmland and greyfields

Visualizing ecosystem services
for FEW & green infrastructure

Creating more with lessresources

Integrating technology/ knowledge
on traditional and innovative farming

Designing urban agriculture inurban new/re-development

Accelerating access,integrating the poorest

Delivering alternative solutions topolicy realm and market

Redesigning urban food life withless FEW-print（Yan and Roggema, 2019)4

Hypothetical what if’s

WP.2 Design MethodExploration

FEW-print

Hypothetical what if’s

Iteration

Communication

Instant FEWprint

54First encounter

32Site visit

E12Visualisation and mapping

Design the ultimate

Design definition

16

Plasticine exercise
E

7

10EE

13

Design integration

9Reporting and presentation

11

Integrated design
Detailed FEWprint

Final FEWprint

8

M-Nex Methodology

8-12 October ’18, Belfast
524-28 Feb ’19, Doha

30 Jun-5 Jul ’19, Detroit

3-8 Nov ’19, Sydney

2-6 Mar ’20, Groningen

WP.3 Evaluation Tool: FEW-print
Measuring the costs of Food, Thermal energy, Electrical energy, Mobility, Water, Waste in ecological print.

FEWprint

Select pre-set years:
Present, 2030, 2050 or 2080

Food, Energy & Water carbon footprint
The Netherlands

Scenario comparison:
Status-quo vs. Future scenario

Amsterdam
Amsterdam Kanaleneilanden
Kattenburg
Households:

1801
1001

Future scenario

2030

Population:

FEW-print:
Calculate shares of CO2 emission
Where lies the potential for improvement?
Carbon emission, future scenario

Carbon emission per person
3000

kg/cap/yr
2500

7%1%3%

2000
Food
572

Food

21%

21%

1500

Energy, Electrical
1000849

Energy , Electrical
31%

500###
Energy,Thermal

Energy, Thermal
37%

0Mobility91

Waste

WaterWater 30

37%

201

30

Mobility

91

Energy, Thermal

1038

Energy ,Electrical

849

Food

572

Waste201

6

kg/cap/yr

Food

Mobility

3%

Water

1%

Waste

7%

Energy , Electrical

Energy, Thermal

31%

Mobility

Water

Waste

Business as Usual

Future scenario

tonton

1518
1529
1869
163
55
620

Food
Energy , Electrical
Energy, Thermal
Mobility
Water
Waste

1030
1529
1869

5754

Total carbon emission [ton]49683195
100%

Difference [ton/yr]
Per capita [kg]Difference [%]Carbon sequestration [hect]
Forestry - Newly planted

786
2758-14%42612355363368

WP.3 Functions of FEW-print in Design-led Approach
FEW-PRINT COMPONENTSSPATIAL•••
AREA m2•DETROIT URBAN FEW ACCESSTOKYO 14 MAJOR VEGETABLES
DUTCH STANDARD DIETCOMPONENTSSYSTEM MATRICS/INPUT-OUTPUTANALYSIS=FEW BASELINEUSETECHNOLOGY EFFECTS

2D SURFACEFURTHER RESEARCHFEW SOLUTIONS IN DESIGN%EFFICIENCY

WASTE

USE / PROCESSPROCESS / SYSTEMS•••

CLOSE THE CYCLESSYNERGIESINTEGRATED URBANFEW SYSTEMSVOLUME kg-7CONTEXTLOOPSGREEN HOUSESHYDRO PONICS
AQUA PONICS
MIXED SYSTEMS- FOREST- PERMACULTURE- NEW FOOD LIFE

=FEW -WASTE

VOLUMEOTHER INPUTS-NEXUS EFFECTS=FEW SYSTEM --WP.4 Participation Tool: Actor-Network (ANT) Map

8

WP.5 Amsterdam Living Lab: Developing the FEW-print Calculator
Angle of approach:enhance quality of life by FEW
Nexus interventions and reduce
environmental footprint
Theme:
energy transition
Coming up:
stakeholder design workshopM-Nex Living lab:
October 2020

Continue from right

9Continue to left

WP.5 Belfast Living Lab: Adapting the Post-industrial City

10

WP.5 Detroit Living Lab: Mapping FEW access and actors

11

WP.5 Sydney Living Lab: The Growing Future City, West Sydney

11Define
315Explore
2Visit894Visualise

67Design

12Finalise

Integrate

10Assess
Iterative process

WP.5 Tokyo Living Lab: Adapting the New Boundary of Growing and Shrinking City
Transition of Landscape in Tokyo

City Center
30km
12.0

Required Area(m2/cap/year)

10.020km
FE10km

FEW-print of major 14 vegetables in TokyoW

8.0
6.0
4.0
2.00.0Design the new food life in suburban garden city  

Co-design with residents

13

Data collection of actors

Actor network by place,program and people

Reserved farmland

Population in day and night

Grocery shops

Flat rooftops

Transdisciplinary Actor Network in Tokyo @ WISE Living Lab
Region scale「Platform」

Utility Company(Tokyo Gas)

Waterworks

City scaleOpen ResearchForum

High School

Future Suburb,
WISE Living Lab

Keio Univ.

Keio Univ.

M-NEXTokyu Company
WISE Living
LabResidents
NPOMorinooto14

Technology Center for
Agriculture

Companies

Yokohama City

Yokohama SDGs
Design Center

Neighborhood scale

Kanagawa Prefecture

Wat Inc.
(People WISE Café)M-NEX Platform onlinel

Web sitell

Web wiki –knowledge platforml15

m-nex.net

m-nex.net->wiki

M-NEX Design Workshops in a row

M-NEX Consortium Kick-off: Sydney[2018.05.12 – 2018.05.16

M-NEX Design Workshop: Qatar[19.02.22 – 19.02.28]

M-NEX Design Workshop: Belfast[2018-10.08-2018.10.12]

M-NEX Design Workshop: Detroit[19.06.30 – 19.07.05]

M-NEX Design Workshop: Groningen[2020.03.02 – 2020.03.06]+ Active Living Lab activities with stakeholders
16M-NEX Design Workshop: Sydney[19.11.02 – 19.11.09]

Publications
ArticlesYan, W., & Sakairi, T. (2019). Geo CPS: Spatial challenges and opportunities for CPS in the geographic dimension. Journal ofUrban Management, 8(3), 331–341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jum.2019.09.005
Sukhwani, V., Shaw, R., Kumer, B., & Yan, W. (2019). Optimizing Food-Energy-Water ( FEW ) nexus to foster collective resilience inurban-rural systems. Progress in Disaster Science, 1, 100005. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pdisas.2019.100005
Mitra, B. K., Shaw, R., Yan, W., & Takeda, T. (2019). Water-Energy-Food Nexus: A Provision to Tackle Urban Drought (pp. 69–86).
Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8947-3_5
Yan, W., & Roggema, R. (2019). Developing a Design-Led Approach for the Food-Energy-Water Nexus in Cities. Urban Planning,4(1), 123–138. https://doi.org/DOI: 10.17645/up.v4i1.1739
Nakayama, S., & Yan, W. (2019). The package redelivery problem, convenience store solution, and the delivery desert: Casestudy in Aoba Ward, Yokohama. Journal of Urban Management, (May), 0–1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jum.2019.08.001.
Roggema, R. (2019) City of Flows – the need for design-led research to urban metabolism. Urban Planning 4(1) 106-112). SpecialIssue ‘The City of Flows’. Editorial. DOI: 10.17645/up.v4i1.1988
McLean, L. and R. Roggema (2019) Planning for a Prosumer Future: Central Park case study. Urban Planning 4(1) 172186. Special issue ‘The City of Flows’. DOI: 10.17645/up.v4i1.1746.

17

Publications
Book in editing
Roggema Rob and Yan Wanglin. (2020). transFEWmation: Towards design-led food-energy-water systems forfuture urbanization. Springer. Main contributors and chapters:

18•

Andy van den Dobbelsteen, The Regenerative City - positive opportunities of coupling urban energy transition with added values topeople and environment.

•Seán Cullen and Greg Keeffe. Spatialised Method for Analysing the Impact of Food.

•Keeffe, G. and Cullen, S. A flexible scaffold: design praxis in the FEW-nexus’.

•Nick ten Caat, Nico Tillie, Martin Tenpierik. Pig farming vs. Solar farming: exploring novel opportunities for the energy transition.

•Thün, G., Sanyal, T. & Velikov, K. Mapping the Food Energy Water Nexus Across Cascading Scales: Contexts for Detroit from Regionto City.

•Wanglin Yan and Shun Nakayama. Redesigning the Urban Food Life through the Participatory Living Lab Platform - Practices inSuburban Areas of the Tokyo Metropolitan Region.

•Roggema, R, Tillie, N, Keeffe, G. and Nakayama, S. (2020) Landscape first: thriving nature-based urbanism in Western Sydney.

•Galloway W, Kevin Logan. A proposal for A Database of Food Energy Water Nexus Projects.

AppendixKey Facets and mid-term AchievementsTrans-disciplinarity-Research team is a combination of architects, planners, analysts, business, and policy consultants.
Stakeholders cover governments, public utilities, companies, NPOs and research institutes.

Co-Design, Co-production, Co-delivery and Collaborative action-5 Int’l workshops and frequent workshops at local
Milestones and deliverables are achieved by teams collaboratively.

Platform and Tools for Action (Living Labs)-Urban living labs are established at each city with support of local stakeholders.
Tools for evaluate FEW print and map actor network are developed and applied local.
Web site ad wiki site are installed (m-nex.net) and contents are developing incrementally.

Sustained Engagement of All Stakeholders-Flexible scheme for establishing living lab.
Collaborative projects with stakeholders at living lab.
Joint project/event with SDGs

M&IE for Sustained Process of Dynamic Adaptation-19

M-NEX platform is flexible to adapt to local context of each city.
Each team is developing supportive projects in cooperated with stakeholders