Productive Urban Landscapes

Research and practice around the CPUL design concept

Drawing showing part of New York City (Steady) State (source: terreform www 2020)

The passing of Michael Sorkin

On the 26th of March 2020, Michael Sorkin, the New York based architect, academic and critic passed away as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Michael Sorkin was a prominent and prolific advocate for rethinking cities in such a way that they could operate within the limits of the Earth’s carrying capacity while being more…

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Visualisation of the Parkway, the main circular route through the new urban quarter (image: KCAP 2019)

A dynamic masterplan for PHV Heidelberg

The dynamic master plan for the PHV is there! In its last meeting on the 18th of March, the committee that operates all conversion areas in Heidelberg made its majority recommendation to the local council. Due to the corona pandemic, the decision of the local council is still pending. The CPUL concept inspired the proposal…

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Bohn&Viljoen’s 1998 proposal for integrating urban agriculture into Sheffield’s Manor Park estate (source: Bohn&Viljoen Architects 1999)

Nature Food: CPULs enable the spatial integration of urban horticulture.

We were very interested to read a Perspective article, The hidden potential of urban horticulture, in the March 2020 edition of the journal Nature Food. The article by Jill L. Edmondson et al. from the University of Sheffield, UK, assesses the potential contribution that urban horticulture (UH) can make to the fresh fruit and vegetable…

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One of the four main pages of the new website Plattform Produktives Stadtgrün (source: SenUVK www 2020)

Plattform Produktives Stadtgrün goes live!

It is with great pleasure that we announce the full going-live of the interactive website Plattform Produktives Stadtgrün [Platform Productive Urban Green] ! Commissioned and hosted by the Senate of Berlin, Germany, it can be found here: https://www.berlin.de/gemeinschaftsgaertnern/ Please do use the website abundantly! It is open – and hopefully useful – to anybody, regardless…

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Chatterjee et al. refer to this Integrated Vertical Farming System at Tripura, India, developed and live tested by ICAR Research Complex. (source: Singh, A. KVK South Tripura 2015)

The vision of productive urban landscapes is horizontal and vertical.

February saw the publication of the book chapter Implication of Urban Agriculture and Vertical Farming for Future Sustainability by Anwesha Chatterjee, Sanjit Debnath and Harshata Pal. It takes stock of global urban agriculture thought and practice as well as envisioning a sustainable food-focused urban future for Indian cities. Of interest to us is the strong,…

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Professor Uma Kothari, chair of the conference, introduces the theme of this year’s event. (source: RGS www 2020)

Joint abstract accepted for the Annual International RGS Conference

It is our pleasure to announce that our joint abstract, submitted to the Annual International Conference organised by the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) with IBG under the theme Borders, borderlands and bordering has been accepted. Our joint paper by Ferne Edwards (RMIT), Katrin Bohn (UoB) and André Viljoen (UoB) is part of the panel Food…

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Within the Playing/Field project, the Dorfplatz, a deck / bench / planting bed, was designed and built by TU Berlin students with help from resident-gardeners. (source: Tobias Birkefeld, Carlo Costabel, Peter Müller, Joshua Obliers 2014)

The Village Green at Playing/Field Marzahn is badly missed.

Yesterday, the first gardeners’ association meeting of the year happened at the community garden Spiel/Feld Marzahn [Playing/Field Marzahn] in Berlin, Germany. About 15 people came to discuss how best to prepare the new gardening season, what to plant, build and repair, how to engage with the neighbourhood and when to come together and celebrate. One…

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The Wynd, a pedestrianised retail and artisan-workshop street in the centre of Letchworth, is lined with two rows of fruit trees. (source: Katrin Bohn 2020)

How do we showcase the Garden City of the Future?

This is one of the central questions that a local team of city representatives, food activists and design researchers explored during last week’s two-day working meeting in Letchworth, UK. Joined by Vic Borrill, Brighton&Hove Food Partnership, and André Viljoen and Katrin Bohn, University of Brighton, as their consultants, the local team discussed visions for (food-)productive…

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The panel discussion is part of the exhibition Eco-Visionaries which is on show at the Royal Academy of Arts from 23th November 2019 until 23th February 2020. (source: Bohn&Viljoen 2020)

Eco-Visionairies panel discussion at the Royal Academy of Arts, London

On Monday, Katrin Bohn presented her and Andre Viljoen’s work at London’s Royal Academy of Arts Designing from a depleted world event, as part of the RA’s Eco-Visionaries: Confronting a planet in a state of emergency exhibition. Lucia Pietroiusti, Curator of General Ecology at the Serpentine Galleries, chaired a three-way presentation and dialogue with artist-architect…

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The Breast Milk of the Volcano by Unknown Fields, panellists with Smout Allen and Katrin Bohn (source: Unkown Fields www 2016-8)

INVITE: “Designing from a depleted world” at the Royal Academy of Arts in London

On Monday 27th January 2020, 6.30 — 8pm, the second public panel discussion accompanying the RA’s Eco-Visionaries exhibition will take place at the Benjamin West Lecture Theatre, Burlington Gardens at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The panellists, including Katrin Bohn, reflect on the impact of human action on Earth’s depleting resources and discuss…

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Artist Åsa Sonjasdotter enfolds Bonnie Fortune and Brett Bloom's Deep Map of Prinzessinnengarten during the 'communal ritual for the end and a new beginning' in December 2019. (source: Bohn&Viljoen 2019)

H A P P Y _ N E W _ Y E A R _ 2 0 2 0 !

For the new year and new decade, we wish you all the best! If you have time between the years – or as a new year resolution, we would like to recommend a recent radio program and a visit to one of our favourite 2019 locations: The Prinzessinnengarten in Berlin, on the 7th December, celebrated…

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Mapping food and its producers in an urban district in the City of Cologne, Germany, as part of the DQE urban regeneration project Urbane Agrikultur in Köln-Ehrenfeld. (source: Bohn&Viljoen Architects and DQE 2011)

INVITE: Be part of our conference panel “Mapping the Edible City” !

Please allow us to remind you of our call for papers/contributions for next year’s Anthropology and Geography: Dialogues Past, Present, and Future conference on 4-7th June 2020 hosted by The Royal Anthropological Institute, The British Academy, The British Museum, the Royal Geographical Society and SOAS University of London. Our panel, Mapping the Edible City: Making…

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Proposal for an “urban agriculture path” and public gathering space passing through part of Mr Shiraishi’s farm in Nerima City, Tokyo. (source: Andre Viljoen 2019)

A CPUL design for Tokyo

Early December 2019, Andre Viljoen returned from his second visit to Tokyo at the invitation of Nerima City’s Mayor.  As part of this trip, he was invited to develop a CPUL proposal for an urban farm belonging to Mr Shiraishi, who, with his family, is one of several farmers cultivating land in Nerima for many…

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After the actual live testing of the website, participants discussed its role in the development of Berlin's city-wide concept for community gardens and allotments. (source: Beatrice Walthall 2019)

Successful launch of the Platform Productive Urban Green for Berlin

About 40 people attended the (test)launch of Berlin’s new Plattform Produktives Stadtgrün [Platform Productive Urban Green] on Tuesday 26th November 2019 to which the Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection [Senatsverwaltung für Umwelt, Verkehr und Klimaschutz] had invited. Ursula Renker, Head of the Office for Open Space Planning and Urban Green [Referat…

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Extract of the draft project flyer (source: AG Stadt & Ernährung 2019)

INVITE: Launch of the Platform Productive Urban Green in Berlin !

The big moment is close! The first section of the online platform “Productive Urban Green” will go (test)online during the final presentation of the project on Tuesday 26th November 2019, 5pm – 7pm, at Senatsverwaltung für Umwelt, Verkehr und Klimaschutz, Am Köllnischen Park 3, 10179 Berlin. This is a public, free event. However, we do…

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Aerial drawing showing the extend of urban sprawl in Kigali, Rwanda (source: Rapid Planning project www 2019)

Katrin Bohn convenes researchers-experts-audience colloquium on urban food

Under the seducing name “Tasty Cities”, the Fachgebiet Landschaftsarchitektur. Freiraumplanung [Department Landscape Architecture . Open Space Planning] led by Prof. Undine Giseke held a day of presentations and discussions on urban food systems at the Technical University in Berlin. Starting off from a Global-South perspective, aim of the colloquium was to converge knowledge gained in…

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The Catalan City of Girona contains many functioning urban agricultural sites such as this food-productive garden at the Monastery San Daniel. (source: Katrin Bohn 2019)

EU project explores “edible city solutions” for productive urban landscapes

Katrin Bohn took part in two meetings of the European Horizon 2020 innovation action project EdiCitNet which were held back to back in Girona, Spain, hosted by the University of Girona and the Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA). For the first three days, participants from 7 international cities – Berlin, Carthage, Montevideo, Letchworth, Lomé,…

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Chart of the Red Sea mapping transportation routes and loading/unloading points (source: Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) www 2019)

Panel accepted at next year’s “Anthropology and Geography” conference

We are pleased do announce that our proposal for a panel at next year’s international conference Anthropology and Geography: Dialogues Past, Present and Future has been accepted! The Anthropology and Geography: Dialogues Past, Present and Future conference is jointly organised by the Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI), the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), the British Academy, the…

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View of Bohn&Viljoen’s exhibit at Cuba. La singularidad del diseño (source: Jimena Acosta 2019)

CPUL work exhibited at Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City

Tomorrow, the art and design exhibition Cuba. La singularidad del diseño will open in the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City. Photographs from Bohn&Viljoen’s project Laboratories of Urban Agriculture are shown in this exhibition co-curated by Mexican curators Jimena Acosta and Inbal Miller. Cuba. La singularidad del diseño opens as part of Mexican Design…

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The Edible Playground and the Sacred Fields: spatial imaginary for the Bagmati riverbanks in Kathmandu (source: Mitchell, M. and Iglesias, A.R. www 2019)

Productive Urban Landscapes for Kathmandu, Nepal

This month saw the pre-publishing of Urban agriculture in Kathmandu as a catalyst for the civic inclusion of migrants and the making of a greener city, an article by Maurice Mitchell and Amara Roca Iglesias from the CASS School of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University. It is a wonderfully illustrated piece of…

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