HOW TO: EASY HYDROPONICS.
Instruction Manual for the United Nations World Food Program.

How to: Easy Hydroponics is an instruction manual commissioned by the United Nations World Food Program to promote hydroponic farming practices within informal settlements in South America.
The manual was conceived as a practical tool to support food production in contexts characterized by limited space, scarce resources, and irregular urban conditions. Structured into three chapters, it provides basic, accessible instructions designed to be understood and applied by a broad range of users without specialized knowledge or equipment.

Hydroponic farming allows food to be grown vertically, maximizing productivity on minimal surfaces. Within dense informal settlements, this approach reveals alternative possibilities for food autonomy and small-scale micro-entrepreneurial activities, particularly in environments where flat ground and arable land are scarce.

Rather than presenting hydroponics as a technical system, the manual translates it into a set of elementary operations that can be replicated, adapted, and modified according to local conditions. The publication was developed to accompany fieldwork activities and to support processes of urban agriculture literacy from the bottom up.

Expose - How to: Easy Hydroponics exposes the spatial and infrastructural constraints that limit food production in informal urban environments. By addressing the absence of land, resources, and formal infrastructure, the manual reveals hydroponics as a viable response to conditions often excluded from conventional agricultural models. Exposure operates by reframing scarcity as a design condition rather than a limitation.

Mediate - The project mediates the transfer of agricultural knowledge into accessible, low-threshold instructions. Complex hydroponic techniques are translated into simple procedures that can be understood, adapted, and applied within contexts of limited technical expertise and material availability.
Mediation functions as a process of translation, enabling knowledge to circulate beyond institutional or expert domains.

Activate - How to: Easy Hydroponics activates food production through direct use. The manual is designed to be enacted rather than interpreted, supporting immediate implementation in domestic and community-based settings. Activation occurs when instructions are transformed into practice, allowing users to produce food autonomously within their existing environments.

How to: Easy Hydroponics frames the manual itself as an operational tool. Rather than proposing a model or system, it enables action through instruction, positioning knowledge as a catalyst for spatial and social transformation.