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This afternoon I met Michael Pollan, author of the Omnivore's Dilemma. His writing about local food systems has already inspired me. The movement toward buying locally grown food ties in well with my own advocacy for open air markets, including farmer's markets and street vendors. I went to an event sponsored by Dosa, Inc. in Los Angeles where I heard Pollan was going to speak, expecting to hear more about local food. I learned so much more than that.

Pollan didn't speak about food per se, but rather about collaboration. He engaged in a converstation with his wife, Judith Belzor, an artist, and Christina Kim, a fashion designer. The theme of the talk was collaboration. Pollan and Belzor shared space while each worked on their own project, and Pollan, an editor by training, would "edit" the artwork being created by Belzor, suggesting an addition here and a deletion there. Kim and Belzor collabored on an art installation, with Kim supplying the space-- an open and airy top floor of an old Broadway office building-- and Belzor supplying the art that fit so well with the space.

"There is a myth that the artist creates in solitude," said Pollan. Artists are part of an artistic tradition and context, and so collaboration is an essential part of the creative process.

Folks,

Kenny Cupers is joining in with much interesting work found at:

http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~cupers/streetvending.html

Please follow his work!

ciao from Florence!

Hello from Berlin Germany!

I'm giving two lectures here at the Tech University of Berlin - found here:

http://www.geschundkunstgesch.tu-berlin.de/fachgebiet_neuere_geschichte/menue/home/

The first is obvious - it has my name on it and went well - the ppt is on Markets Journal.

The second is tomorrow morning - part of a workshop organized by two PhD candidates who are affiliated with the Center for Metropolitan Studies, Noa Ha and Kristina Graaff, and what a great conference they have put together.

Street commerce is not well developed here in Berlin - the reasons are complex and perhaps I, or someone else will explore them in another post. But, having said that there is some activity on the street, itinerant vendors and some who seem to locate in the day after day...in any case this conference is focused on comparative vending in the U.S. and Germany and I'm excited to hear the work which will be presented tomorrow!

Friends!

Openair is going through another redesign to make it more functional for academics, vendors and market managers, and policy makers.

Stay with us as we improve! The redesign will be complete by the end of May!

all best,
Alfonso

So just what is it about markets that I am passionate about? Part of it is the history of people and how we’ve always used markets as a place to not only purchase food and other items, but also as a place to connect with others, a place to build and share community. In interviewing shoppers, vendors and residents in my summer research in Los Angeles, people consistently indicated how important “their” market was for building community. Even in the car “crazy” culture of Los Angeles people came to markets to connect with others and feel a sense of community.

My feeling is that markets help to build and empower the communities which they are located in. This should not be taken for granted. Creating “ownership” on the part of the customers and vendors and managers is vital to success. There is little doubt that markets help people become more connected to their communities and managers need to be mindful of this and constantly thinking about how to also connect with the larger community, through having community message boards, information about community events and newsletters at the market.