Uploaded on 2016-07-12 by Rebecca Castaneda

Three important stocks and flows in my city are: available residential space (stock), food (flow), and green space (stock). While housing is always referred to as a stock, I have a better understanding of it's 'flow' now also. Over time, as buildings fall into disrepair or become abandoned, they are essentially existing, but not part of the current available "stock" - or are considered unusable/unfit for habitation. As our city grows, the stock of houses and apartment units grows. The stock is the current amount of space we have for people to live in. As for food, all I thought of was the constant delivery trucks I see in my neighborhood in the early morning on my way to work. Local restaurants get deliveries from a place called Constanzo's, which makes delicious bread, or Guercio's, which offers fresh produce. They must calculate the 'metabolism' of their customers by buying exactly how much they think they will need for that day/week. As more restaurants open up shop, the demand on the producers will only grow. I think green space is another essential stock in my community. Our parks system was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, and our parks are a connected system throughout the city. Tracking movement throughout the city just via parks would be an interesting model on how we can incorporate future green space into our neighborhoods, especially if we see an area where pedestrian/bike transportation is inaccessible at the current moment.