In Budapest, a group of enthusiastic and passionate young people came together to mix their own ingredients, in the form of independent initiatives: an organic and biodynamic farm, Zsámboki Biokert Spaces; a community-based Do it Yourself (DiY) bike workshop, Cyclonomia Spaces; and a self-organised bike messenger and delivery company, Kantaa, with an intended ‘spill’ of ‘social consciousness’. The result is Cargonomia. They look for improving their community by promoting creative socio-environmental alternatives in an urban scenario, where resources and spaces are constantly contested by different actors.
By Isaac Guzman Estrada, in Cooperative City Magazine, April 10, 2018.
In simple words, Cargonomia is a logistic centre for local organic food sales and distribution by cargo bikes made by the organisation itself. The customers access the website, and order either a small or big vegetable box with the option of adding traditional home-made bread from Pipacs or organic wine produced by one of the farmers in Terra Hungarica. The customer has the option of picking it up in the designated locations or having it delivered. In the latter case, every Thursday, the bike messengers get ready to ride the cargo-bike and stock the vegetable boxes, which come from the Zsámboki Biokert, a local farm located 50km away from Budapest. The messengers can carry over 100kg with the cargo bike, the food delivery service reaches out to a radius of around 30kms in Budapest. Finally, the consumers get their fresh organic products locally produced for an affordable price – ranging between 10-12 EUR – and in that way they support the families that work on the farm and other local initiatives. (more…)
