With this project, I started from the place where I start out ?" the neighborhood. I am interested in doing local projects designed to benefit communities in Providence and beyond. Spring was in the air, but so much of the local landscape was still not turning green. In fact, it will never turn green, because it is concrete or abandoned lots full of gravel. But there are opportunities for greening in one’s own yard, in a community garden, in an abandoned tree well, in a pot on the porch. This system was created to encourage and enable active planting in every nook in the neighborhood that residents want to turn green.

The Green Swap barter system uses recycled furniture to help neighbors meet one another, share plants, and share their bountiful harvests. The piece of furniture has instructions on the basic outline of the system. Basic tenets of this system are give, tend, grow.
The form of the project stands out on the street. The inside is now outside, creating a more intimate space on the sidewalk. The green swap barter point also uses color to stand out in the concrete urban environment of the West Side. The foundation of the first piece of furniture is bright lime green with bright orange stenciled onto it. However, the system is open to interpretation by the people who use it.
The tool kit used to make the project includes stencils of flowers and of type. Anyone can use these tools and hardware store-bought paint to transform a piece of curbside furniture into a point of neighborhood transaction. I hope to make these tools available online for free on my and others’ websites. By circulating, like Hyde’s gift theory suggests, I hope it will gain in value to its users.

In Spring of 2010, I am planning to work with local organizations to deploy this project and to set up an open source system for making more garden barter furniture. I would also like to create an open system for sharing the poster series I designed to advertise community gardening projects and events. Read Less