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Author: Andre Boeing

ktopia joins Conscious Food Systems Alliance CoFSA

Written by Andre Boeing on . Posted in Allgemein.

ktopia joins Conscious Food Systems Alliance CoFSA convened by UNDP

May, 6th 2025 – written by André Boeing

It is with great joy and gratitude that my Ktopia.eu André Boeing application with CoFSA has been reviewed, and I have been welcomed as a new member of the CoFSA Community. I look forward to contributing to our Alliance and being inspired by my fellow members—networking and collaborating with professionals across food and agriculture systems who also recognize that, underneath our helpful programs, policies, and funding structures, we must essentially cultivate inner capacities to activate systemic change and regeneration.

Healthy soil begins with a fertile mind

CoFSA

The Conscious Food Systems Alliance (CoFSA), supports people from across food and agriculture systems to cultivate the inner capacities that activate systemic change and regeneration. Convened by UNDP, is a movement of food, agriculture, and consciousness practitioners united around a common goal: to support people from across food and agriculture systems to cultivate the inner capacities that activate systemic change and regeneration.

As the United Nations lead agency on international development, UNDP works in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. We help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capa- bilities, and to build resilience to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Our work is concentrated in three focus areas; sustainable development, democratic governance and peace building, and climate and disaster resilience. Find more info at undp.org.

As an individual member under the Ktopia.eu narrative label, my core contribution to CoFSA lies in multistakeholder dialogues and cooperative pathways for developing Open Educational Resources (OER). These narrative, playful, and co-created OERs aim to inspire and support conscious citizen participation in transforming our food systems.
You can find my membership profile here.


“We cannot solve our biggest problems, if we do not come together. It is not only about Institutions or processes. It is the first instance about our mindsets.”

Antonio Guterres, 
UN Secretary General

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3.5 days re-treat, re-align and re-design – ktopia year II

Written by Andre Boeing on . Posted in Allgemein.

Playful Food System Expedition Quests, pragmatic k.limate Utopias and mindful Living Lab Ecotopes for growing joyful Optimisms.

Here we have it! A wonderful, clunky sentence and essence of my self treated re-identity design retreat. As I compressed the vision and mission statement, as well as a tiny manifesto into that one clunky sentence, it’s pretty condensed and short. The golden nugget.

The 6 Services showed up in retroperspective after the first year since founding ktopia: Idea Scouting, Rapid Prototyping, Facilitating a multi-stakeholder quest coop in a living lab, Deploying custom self-hosted Open-Source Social Collaboration Tec, Myth Weaving an engaging story narrative, Designing the Narrative into an edutaining product and freely share with the commons.

If, so far it still sounds lofty and abstract. The concrete products out of this context show, that the deeper philosophy is also pragmatic with an effective outcome.

I founded Ktopia in January 2024 as a freelancer. In November 2023, during International Novel Writing Month, I wrote and published a climate fiction short story. It painted an alternative vision for my place of residence, the documenta City of Kassel, Germany.

Ktopia, the Smart Eco City version of Kassel, embraced both technology and practical ecology – especially through its abundant, close loop circular food system – its passion for creative urban gardens and gastronomy. My story was inspired by the novel Ecotopia, published by Ernest Callenbach a year after I was born.

“I have great faith in optimism as a guiding principle, if only because it offers us the opportunity of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

—Sir Arthur C. Clarke

Inspired by the stories of Ecotopia, Ktopia, and Sir Arthur’s optimism as a guiding principle, I have also found great beauty in Pragmatic Utopias, betting on the same outcome: a possible, self-fulfilling prophecy.

Two months into Ktopia, I became immersed in its first project quest within the Wastelands, assigned by the city administration’s Smart City department. Over the course of 2024, this led to the creation of the Smart Waste Agency Game (The SWAG), an edutaining, open-source tabletop and card game about waste, recycling, and the circular economy. But something else emerged as well: a circular, cooperative model, as described in this article.

A year after its foundation, in January/February 2025, I have revisited Ktopia.eu itself again and reflected on its practical philosophy while redesigning the website to express the “today”.

Technically, Ktopia remains a social brand under my freelance status within the EU Small Enterprise / Business Owner scheme, dedicated solely to the common good. But I let it flow & grow organically. It might as well evolve into a non-profit org legal entity, that becomes a fellowship in diverse project coops for shared seasons.

On the re-designed website there is also a visual story, narrated by Grove Druid. It also tells about the essence of what playing with pragmatic utopias in ktopia means.

ktopia Social Services and Products

The 6R of Smarter Wasting towards 0 Wastefulness. The educational framework of the Smart Waste Agency Game, the SWAG

Written by Andre Boeing on . Posted in Allgemein.

As I researched the possibility space of Smart Waste and Youth Participation for my City Administration client exactly one year ago, I compared different countries and their waste management systems – from statistics to the mindsets and models behind. I also came across another helpful meme from Japan, known for it´s mindful, simple words describing not just a policy but a philosophy: „mottainai.“ This term, which merges respect for resources with practical conservation efforts, serves as a cornerstone of Japan’s environmentally conscious mindset and exemplary waste management system. 

In recent years, „mottainai“ has gained international recognition as a versatile principle for environmental conservation and sustainable living. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai popularized the term outside Japan by adopting it as a motto for her environmental and social justice work in Africa. The concept aligns closely with the 3Rs of waste management (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) but adds a fourth, „Respect,“ to highlight the importance of respecting the earth’s resources. 

Cultural attitudes towards cleanliness, respect for resources, and community responsibility play a significant role in the effectiveness of Japan’s waste management system. The concept of „mottainai“ (a sense of regret concerning waste) permeates Japanese society, encouraging frugality and the mindful use of resources. Japan has, like Germany, implemented EPR policies (Extended Producer Responsibility), requiring manufacturers and retailers to take responsibility for the disposal of products and packaging. This includes obligations for recycling and has led to innovations in sustainable product design in Japan to reduce waste and improve recyclability. 

 The 6R-waste Approach

To fully articulate the breadth of „mottainai,“ I proposed an expanded 6R framework, which includes 2 basic mindsets and 4 practical applications. 

  1.     Respect: Recognize and appreciate the intrinsic value of resources. 
  2.     Respond: Act responsibly towards valued resources. 
  3.     Reduce: Minimize consumption to prevent waste. 
  4.     Reuse: Identify new uses for items, extending their life. 
  5.     Repair: Design products for durability and ease of repair. 
  6.     Recycle: Transform used items into new products. 

In the graph, the x-axis, common ground and horizon is „Respect“. The y-axis, the depth and heights is Respond. Both build the foundation pillars for the Circle and Quadrants. The 4 practical applications of Mottainai. Reduce Waste wherever possible. Reuse waste in creative ways. Repair items as long as you can. Recycle if the end of the product has come. 

A consequence of the 6R mindset would be Exnovating the dominant product life cycles trimmed for short life spans of products to sell new stuff quickly and dispose of the outdated version as waste or second markets in developing countries. We should encourage markets for repair-abilities both within products as well as repair and enhance service small businesses. 

The 6R offer a holistic framework to create fun and deep educational content, which is being planned to accompany the SWAG Tabletop- and Cardgame and 2025 Boxversion release! We are currently scouting for funding, to create the edutaining 6R content. 

Open Finance, full public Transparency of money streams and a fiscal host

Written by Andre Boeing on . Posted in Allgemein, Open Source.

A cloud platform allowing for managing all incomes and expenses of a project. In full transparency (you can even download the csv and analyze). A fiscal host offering it’s non-profit legal structure to receive grants from institutions. There you have it. The SWAG, the Smart Waste Agency Game Product is now fiscally hosted and open financed here:

https://opencollective.com/the-swag

For a video explaining the principle, see below. I start with a screenshot showing in public transparency, where money came from and where it went for what.

From epic fail to great success and the Europe 25 chapter

Written by Andre Boeing on . Posted in Allgemein, Waste.

From epic fail to great success and the Europe 25 chapter

posted January 19th 2025 by André Boeing

Looking back into 2024, the back then January has been almost prophetic. “Wasteland – beginning at the end” is the title of my January 11th 2024 post.

Before I simplified the complexity of food systems down to 4 quadrants. The last quadrant being the one, where all the waste of our food systems goes. In an ideal world this “waste quadrant” at the end is naturally the beginning of the first quadrant of food systems: Where our food grows. It’s a perfect “Circular” when the waste of food  becomes the base for new food.

But in our current world, the waste quadrant is the one, where the Circular usually ends and creates a big mass with a destructive impact on our life systems.

In 2025 – a whole year later – I am still “Beginning at the end” and found my calling in the “Wastelands” – although not the most pretty one in food systems and I am looking forward to dedicate my passion to the other quadrants, once my work in the Wastelands is being done.

In my last English post here from May 1st 2024 I reported our German Smart City Kassel Youth Participation project getting ready to launch in it’s first iteration – and then stopped posting here because all my time has been focused on our German Projekt and local work in the documenta City Kassel documented here.

We had an epic fail on May 29th in our first field test, celebrated the valuable insights, modified our approach, re-launched our Smart Waste Agency Game Project during the summer holidays, now witnessed super positive resonance among the young participants and finally released a first printed Alpha version of the Tabletop- and card game in December – for the exploration of the Wastelands, Recycling and the Circular.

It’s not just about, what we produced but how we produced it. In a cooperative of 3 city administration departments, 3 non-profits and 63 young people, age 7-15 and with an Open-Source approach and agile sprints.

2025 „Out of town into EUrope“

In 2025, I want to take our game out of town and into the European Union. We plan to connect young people from diverse EU countries and cities on our gamified social network, teach the design of waste monster cards, smart waste multi-tools, and tabletop wastelands via local youth organizations, localize the game into different languages and country contexts, and start the exchange about smart waste, zero waste, and recycling in our cities.

  • Develop and launch the SWA gamified open-source collaboration social network.
  • Find local partners from each of 5 cities in 5 diverse EU countries.
  • Host a SWAG game design event in each of the 5 cities and connect its young participants via the collaboration network. Begin the exchange about smarter waste, our region-specific recycling, and the possibility space of an EU circular economy.
  • Bring all participants together in a simultaneously live event stream from all 5 EU cities.
  • Visit each other during summer holidays.

Connected by our own gamified open-source collaboration network, we could tackle our „waste monsters“ together, exchange smart ideas about ways to do so and continue to develop THE SWAG. On our path we will connect with agents and young „game designer“ in other countries with the same challenge and learn about our regional specifics.

The fresh EU expansion Page launched here:
https://www.the-swag.eu/

Branching from the German site here:
https://swa.futurespace.org/

and being financed with radical Transparency here:
https://opencollective.com/the-swag

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Smart Waste Agency

Written by Andre Boeing on . Posted in Allgemein.


May, 1st 2024

Smart Waste Agency

A live-action roleplaying game to become involved in the great quest of making the waste system of our city-region smarter.

Using a superhero/agent narrative, a gamified open-source online platform, local events and a board-and-card game design challenge, we empower and involve young people into our Smart City / Smart Waste design.

Visit Project site

Project idea: March 15th 2024

3 City-Administration units and 2 non-profit .orgs on board: April 2024

Early Access Launch: May 1st 2024

What a ride 😀

To enthuse us Oldies and project-partners has been the easy part although impressive in it´s agile fastness from idea to launch. Now comes the big challenge:

Will young people be inspired to join the SWA with a theme centered around Waste ?
Figuring that out is our next challenge as coop partners.

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The region around the city

Written by Andre Boeing on . Posted in Allgemein.

The region around the city

exploring the city<>region connection

André Boeing – March, 14th 2024

In the region surrounding our city, nestled in a tiny forest village of around 700 inhabitants and surrounded by hundreds of thousands of trees, I found my focus for the past few weeks. The area is filled with trees, large forests, streams, and open fields for cultivating a variety of foods, including an open village garden where anyone can grow and take food for free. Despite the absence of shops and delivery services, we have high-speed internet and an hourly public transport connection available on demand.

I was able to work on my government project, which, at this stage, involved extensive research and prototype sketching and could be done remotely. I deeply enjoyed the village’s silence, marked by a single ‘main street’ that ends at a vast forest. The otherworldly sounds of creeks, enriched by the rainy season, were mesmerizing. I appreciated the slow pace of life and the conscious preparation of meals with ingredients grown locally and purchased from the nearest small town’s organic market—a hub for local farmers. From baking bread to making the most out of minimal ingredients and experimenting with healthy, tasty spices, each activity was a delight. Taking walks through the woods and bathing in the forest added to the richness of the experience, as did breathing the clean, fresh air.

I spent the first two months of my Ktopia experience in the city, and the third month in this region. Since December, Ktopia’s vision has been focused on the city-region connection—not only in terms of food systems but also the subtle environments that deeply nurture us and support our salutogenesis.

  • 51.3633594,9.7411818

    Forest Village

  • 51.3088093,9.465053393327773

    Urban Grove

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Food System Waste quadrant Gameboard and cards

Written by Andre Boeing on . Posted in Allgemein.

Gameboard Waste Quadrant for the food-system board- and cardgame

Waste: the fourth quadrant in the base game board  – after the quadrants “cultivation”, “processing”,
“cooking & eating”

A quadrant so rich, it deserves an own Gameboard to explore the adventure of smart waste in a circular economy ecology. You can even place an augmented reality Earth into your room following the QR code.

It´s now part of the Download in the Developer Version of the Game.

It´s inspiration: the 6R model of smart waste with a japanese wisdom meme.

2 example waste cards from the main game.

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“Mottainai” – A significant factor in Japans effective smart waste management system

Written by Andre Boeing on . Posted in Waste.

“Mottainai” – A significant factor in Japans effective smart waste management system

André Boeing – Feb 7th, 2024

While comparing different countries and their waste management systems from statistics to the mindsets and models behind I came across another beautiful, helpful meme from Japan, known for it´s mindful, simple words describing not just a policy but a philosophy: “mottainai.” This term, which merges respect for resources with practical conservation efforts, serves as a cornerstone of Japan’s environmentally conscious mindset and exemplary waste management system.

In recent years, “mottainai” has gained international recognition as a versatile principle for environmental conservation and sustainable living. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai popularized the term outside Japan by adopting it as a motto for her environmental and social justice work in Africa. The concept aligns closely with the 3Rs of waste management (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) but adds a fourth, “Respect,” to highlight the importance of respecting the earth’s resources.

Cultural attitudes towards cleanliness, respect for resources, and community responsibility play a significant role in the effectiveness of Japan’s waste management system. The concept of “mottainai” (a sense of regret concerning waste) permeates Japanese society, encouraging frugality and the mindful use of resources. Japan has, like Germany, implemented EPR policies (Extended Producer Responsibility), requiring manufacturers and retailers to take responsibility for the disposal of products and packaging. This includes obligations for recycling and has led to innovations in sustainable product design in Japan to reduce waste and improve recyclability.

The 6R-waste Approach

To fully articulate the breadth of “mottainai,” I propose an expanded 6R framework, which includes 2 basic mindsets and 4 practical applications.

  • Respect: Recognize and appreciate the intrinsic value of resources.

  • Respond: Act responsibly towards valued resources.

  • Reduce: Minimize consumption to prevent waste.

  • Reuse: Identify new uses for items, extending their life.

  • Repair: Design products for durability and ease of repair.

  • Recycle: Transform used items into new products.

In the graph, the x-axis, common ground and horizon is “Respect”. The y-axis, the depth and heights is Respond. Both build the foundation pillars for the Circle and Quadrants. The 4 practical applications of Mottainai. Reduce Waste wherever possible. Reuse waste in creative ways. Repair items as long as you can. Recycle if the end of the product has come.

A consequence of the 6R mindset would be Exnovating the dominant product life cycles trimmed for short life spans of products to sell new stuff quickly and dispose of the outdated version as waste or second markets in developing countries. We should encourage markets for repairabilities both within products as well as repair and enhance service small businesses. Back to

Mottanai. Daily Life and Traditional Wisdom

In Japan, “mottainai” influences various aspects of daily life, from minimalistic product packaging to the diligent sorting of waste for recycling. It is also evident in traditional practices such as kintsugi (the art of repairing broken pottery with gold or silver lacquer), which not only fixes objects but adds value to them, celebrating their imperfections and history. Repairability is another key foundation for reuse and respect in practice.

“Mottainai” as a Japanese term also connotates a sense of regret concerning waste, reflecting the belief that it is shameful to waste anything valuable. The concept has deep roots in Japanese culture, tying into broader values of respect, gratitude, and conservation. While “mottainai” can be applied to any form of waste, including time or opportunity, it is particularly relevant in the context of environmental sustainability, where it encourages efficient use of resources and waste reduction.

Historically, “mottainai” is thought to have Buddhist origins, which promote living a life of moderation and avoiding excess. This philosophy dovetailed with Shinto beliefs that imbue natural and manufactured objects with a spirit, suggesting that wastefulness not only disrespects the physical item but also the labor and resources that went into creating it. Over time, these religious and philosophical influences have cemented “mottainai” as a guiding principle in Japanese daily life and smart waste management system.

Conclusion

Mottainai embodies the transformative power of narratives and memes, that are simple, intuitive, and wise, sparking citizen participation more effectively than traditional, imperative “calls to actions” that react to alarming facts. Its principles serve as invaluable tools for educational initiatives in smart waste management—a system in which we all inherently participate.

Embracing these practices could significantly enrich our lives, guiding us towards a lifestyle that is respectful and responsible. By focusing on what truly brings us joy, and emphasizing the importance of objects being reusable, repairable, and recyclable, we can contribute to a sustainable future without the burden of shame and guilt often linked to Mottainai. Instead, we can find joy and creativity in being part of a living narrative that not only manifests in our everyday actions but also drives the circular economy forward.

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Open Source Produce – menus and recipes

Written by Andre Boeing on . Posted in Allgemein.

Open Source
Produce
served for free

dishes & recipes

André “Cyberhippie” Boeing
organic bites and digital bytes cuisine

In the context of food systems, “produce” refers to fresh, unprocessed fruits and vegetables, as well as other plant- and fungi based foods.

But here comes the narrative trickster. In conventional terms this page would be about open source products of a more digital nature. It is.

The Produce instead of Products Narrative puts a focus on the organic growth and free availability of helpful ingredients in a shared web. Real food and real software to help with the regenerative circular of food systems.

On this page I serve cooked and ready to eat solution menus and the open source recipes to cook them yourself.

the growing menu

Open Source Software Dishes I cook along the way from available ingredients

Starters

cooked after the opening in the January 2024 season

  • WordPress dipped in a lightweight modular front-end framework

    0€

    Well designed Online Journal to share findings, helpful resources and thoughts during the ktopia food systems expedition

  • Board-Game under a Wild Card salad in vivid salsa

    0€

    The open source board- and card game for 1-4 players to learn about complex food system aspects in a fun way.

  • 0 €alory buffet from fresh catch

    0€

    the 0€ shop narrative featuring free resources related to food systems – and even free, real food.

  • Nextcloud in seasonal apps hosted on an own server

    0€

    Open Source Cloud hosted on our own server – a free, open-source alternative to Office 365, Google Workspaces and Meta for Teams… Helps with locked-in clouds for easier digestion.

  • Gamified Social Network webbed in a Tutor LMS

    0€

    a social network platform with gamification elements combined with a Learning Management Systems empowering all network members to learn & teach food system realated knowledge food.

    This one is cooking in the kitchen and you can smell it already….It´s  not ready for presentation yet and just needs that final touch….

All of these menus have been created during the first 21 days since launch of ktopia. Rapid development in agile sprints and seeding is key(topia) – empowered by open source solutions and great AI assistance by the Oki Chatty Gippity (brewed by OpenAI). Helps to have a Generative Pre-Trained Transformer assistant in the kitchen 😉 I still do most of the work and the art direction completely! AI models are still very young but impressively helpful for cooking up stuff very fast.

Recipes from the stupid chéf

Q: Why do you share your secrets ? .org pay tons of money for that combo, are you stupid ? Sell it – get rich!
A: To enhance our social capital and cultural soil with nutritious ingredients, knowledge food security has to be freely available as well. The better the soil, the better the ingredients I can then cook other menus with. I call that smart – yet not free of being foolish, of cause, off course. And I don´t want to get poor with so much money.

  • WordPress extended

    WordPress dipped in a lightweight modular front-end framework

    1. a standard WordPress stack on a LAMP
    2. to get the bast LAMP suitable for non-profit groups, I choosed the Mittwald  space server with multi-app and user instances. They just bought 28.000 sqm of land and planted new forests with a tree diversity there. Mit Wald. A passionate Host treating it´s servers so well, you can taste it. 
    3. UIkit as a lightweight and modular front-end framework
    4. yoothemes pagebuilder to design pages with uikit components in a lego style. Fantastic for rapid development and allows for heavy customization. This one has to be bought for a fair price.
    5. a bunch of plugins I add later to serve features as their needs appear – see other recipes

  • Board & Card Game

    Board-Game under a Wild Card salad in vivid salsa

    1. Brainwork in the rule book
    2. Card maker. A self created card template to create new cards with all the layers to edit. Download Krita PSD here
    3. A free and open-source Image editing software as an alternative to photoshop. Download Krita here
    4. I used Chat GPT4 > DallE to create the backgrounds with specific style prompts containing the flavors “vivid, surreal”. Free available via Bing Browser etc.
    5. A reduced 4 quadrant board that came out of reducing complex theory ingredients into just 4 quadrants.

  • 0€ Shop

    0 €alory buffet from fresh catch

    A 0€ shop makes price politics super easy. As well as tax. Or so I thought..

    1. Extended WordPress with Woocommerce the open-source ecommerce platform
    2. Since I could not get all the sensitive, private data address, street, full name, phone,etc out of the checkout procedure due to EU law regulations- even just having 0€ products as downloads asked for maximum private data. No plugin worked. Woocommerce own for “just” 90€ – no thanks
    3. Switched to “Affiliate Products” with External Links. The shop system just serves as directory -a way to shop for 0€ stuff and then get there. Like free food at 14 places in Kassel.
    4. I connected the Downloads (audiobooks, board+card game print set, books, brochures, etc.) to the next menu and work flow – grateful for the woocommerce checkout pain in the a** to kick me into the better direction. Connecting your files with the open source cloud and laptop sync.

  • Nextcloud Stack

    Nextcloud in seasonal apps hosted on an own server

    1. the Open Source Cloud solution Nextcloud as an on-premise self hosted package on the Mittwald Space Server. Nexcloud is a free alternative to Office365, Google Workspace, Meta Workspace.
      You can get it as a hosted solution, too. Saves lots of nerves in the beginning. Setting it up took longer then I hoped for
    2. The integration of the two Online Office Solutions Collabora Office and Only Office were to complicated. I did not want to buy an external solution just for that, the code server did not work plug and play. Finally I  simply went for the fantastic rich text editor with distraction free options, online realtime writing even with guests,  included in new files, notes, etc.
    3. The Desktop Clients now syncs my work files and my public folder syncs right to the website for the latest files of the Board and card game. See it in action after clicking the button here.

  • Peepso with Tutor LMS

    Gamified Social Network webbed in a Tutor LMS

    1. Extend WordPress with the free social network component Peepso *for just basic functions
    2. I had the luck to have a tasty full package licence
    3. Included is the integrator for the Learning Management System Tutor LMS / allowing members of the network to participate in courses or create courses. The free version offers everything for the purpose of this menu.

  • If you like the recipes and have cooked them yourself.

    I´d love to hear from you.

    andre@ktopia.eu

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