“Bus beans” are inspired by hoop houses, half moon cylindrical structures, typically constructed of steel and PE, that can be used as greenhouses for farming. The steel frame hoops can provide guidance to vine plants to grow in a particular direction. String beans are a popular vine plant which can be weaved into “bean tunnels”.”
“Bus Beans” proposes using this technique of guiding string beans into tunnels and incorporates it into the design of bus shelters. The result is a functional multi-use sculptural art work that not only provides shade to transit users but is also edible. Bus stops in LA that are near a source of soil, could have an exoskeleton frame staked into the soil, that extends over the sidewalk, that the beans could grow around over time. Solar powered LED string lights could also be woven into the frame to provide light for those waiting for the bus.
“Bus beans” would require maintenance. String beans do not grow back every year. People would need to plant the beans and someone will need to help guide them along the hoops. Instead of a potential obstacle this can be a point of opportunity, providing people with a community space to tend and customize. Community members could potentially “adopt-a-bus-stop” model, taking ownership over a bus bean stop; they can come together to tend and harvest the beans. Bus stops could be mini community gardens and we wouldn’t just have to stop with beans. Any edible plant that could be grown on a vine or vertically could work. The goal would be to make bus stops pleasant places to be, where one could harvest food but also stop and chat rather than places to be avoided.
Current Experiments / Next Steps —
The next steps for this project would be to research the cost and the process for getting permission to install a shade structure at a bus stop in LA. We would also need to research what shape would work best for guiding the beans and the amount and quality of soil that would be needed. After that there would need to be community engagement to see who/which neighborhoods may be interested in helping plant and support the beans growth. Research would also need to be done into which stop locations would work best in terms of sunlight, soil, and accessibility.
Climate Resolve identified 32 bus stops across L.A. County that have the highest surface and air temperatures in summer, as well as the most riders, which may be a good place to start.
Nutrient Exchange —
I was very inspired by Chapter 4 of Jane McGonigal’s “Imaginable.” McGonigal asks the readers to “be ridiculous first.” She describes a futuristic scenario that seems completely outlandish at first but then uses current research and science to back up why it may be a near future on the horizon. She reminds us that many of the current events around us today, like the Covid-19 pandemic, previously seemed “unimaginable” yet are now part of our daily lives. She reminds us that a lot is possible once we change our attitude.
Bus Beans is a project that for some may be hard to imagine in LA, a city which currently only has shade structures at 26% of bus stations (UCLA). Even more bus stops in LA are without a place to sit, poor lighting, and a design that feels hostile to those who are waiting. Those who ride, who are helping the environment with their decisions, feel the most immediate effects of climate change, with the sun beating down from increased temperatures and no shade. For some this heat experienced while waiting literally causes death.
But what if we imagined these places as pleasant places to be, that nourished and gave back to those who take public transit? Some may call it ridiculous but I feel if we designed the environments that are hostile in the first place it is possible to design environments that are better.
JASON P
“Bus Beans is a reimagining of bus shelters in LA as spaces that not only provide us with shade, light and comfort but also feed us and become places of community.” - JP