Productive Urban Landscapes

Research and practice around the CPUL design concept

(Spatial) opportunity map for London's Eastern expansion zone, the Thames Gateway (source: Bohn&Viljoen 2004)

Knowledge on opportunity and food mapping to be shared internationally

Katrin Bohn has prepared two short lectures to be shown to an international audience of city planners, urban food practitioners and food and water researchers early next month. The lectures use knowledge gathered by Bohn&Viljoen over a number of years through their practice-based CPUL design research and condense it into bite-sized information indented to trigger…

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INVITE: First “Stammtisch” of the Food Policy Council Berlin, Germany

Please come to the “Stammtisch [Regulars’ Table]” of the Ernährungsrat Berlin [Food Policy Council Berlin] on Tuesday 23rd April from 6 pm at Vagabund Brauerei (Antwerpener Straße 3). Once per month, Berlin’s food policy activists meet in one of Berlin’s micro breweries for an informal gathering and exchange. If you don’t fancy a hand-brewed craft…

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INVITE: Start of the gardening season at Spiel/Feld Marzahn

The first seeds are already in the ground in the “big bed” at the Spiel/Feld community garden in Berlin’s northernmost borough of Marzahn-Hellersdorf. And in two days happens the community association’s first Spring meeting. Please be invited to the gardeners’ meeting of Spiel/Feld Marzahn e.V. this Wednesday, 10th of April 2019, at 4pm. We want…

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The Urban Agriculture Park borders several local (urban) neighbourhoods and consists of a patchwork of different fields owned and used by a multitude of stakeholders. (source: Bohn& Viljoen and IBA Heidelberg 2016)

Urban Agriculture Park Heidelberg: Council approves planning order

Good news! On the 28th March, Heidelberg’s City Council approached a review and planning order for the further joint development, with IBA Heidelberg, of the idea for an Urban Agriculture Park [Landwirtschaftspark] to the southwest of the city centre. In cooperation with the International Building Exhibition (IBA) and with the participation of the citizens, the…

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Participants discuss the potential use and usefulness of the new platform in several break-out sessions. (source: ScholzConstructors 2019)

“Platform Productive Urban Green” starts in Berlin

Thursday, 28th March 2019, marked the official beginning of Berlin’s new Platform Productive Urban Green [Plattform Produktives Stadtgrün]. This new website and communication format aims to engage the public and city officials in discussing the future of the capital’s open (green) urban spaces by focussing on distinct spatial typologies. The first of those is dedicated…

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The Theater am Rand with its solar roof seen from the North (source: Theater am Rand www 2019)

INVITE: Seed exchange at Theater am Rand near Berlin

This Sunday, 24th March 2019, the already traditional Saatguttauschbörse [seed exchange] starts at 11am at the Theater am Rand at Zollbrücke 16, Oderaue near Berlin, under the slogan Sharing seeds, Exchanging experiences, Safeguarding diversity. As this is an event in German, here follows the German invitation: Saatgut teilen, Erfahrungen austauschen, Vielfalt erhalten Die Saatguttauschbörse zum…

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The data to be used in the map function of Platform Productive Urban Green - Community Gardens comes from four main sources. (source: AG Stadt & Ernährung 2019)

Plattform Produktives Stadtgrün meets Berlin’s community gardening activists

Yesterday, the AG Stadt & Ernährung discussed their initial ideas for a new online platform about Berlin’s productive urban green spaces with some of the city’s community gardening activists. Since having been commissioned towards the end of 2018 by the Berlin Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection [Senatsverwaltung für Umwelt, Verkehr und…

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Berlin isst so. Unsere Ernährungsstrategie. A word play on 'Berlin is like this. [Berlin ist so.]' and 'Berlin eats like this. [Berlin isst so.] [source: SenJVA www 2019]

A food strategy for Berlin

Yesterday, the Berlin Senate Department for Justice and Consumer Protection presented its draft Food Strategy for Berlin to an interested audience in a public event titled Entwicklung einer zukunftsfähigen Berliner Ernährungsstrategie [Development of a sustainable food strategy for Berlin]. Organised by the Senate Department, the morning of the day-long event was dedicated to a series…

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Four aspects of the urban metabolism will be linked in COST Action Circular City: water, food, resource recovery and the built environment. (source: COST Action Circular City www 2019)

COST Action Circular City committee and working meeting in Vienna

Last week, Katrin Bohn took part in the 2nd management committee meeting and working group workshops of the COST Action Circular City. The event was held at BOKU University Vienna who’s Dr. Günter Langergraber chairs this network. From the 38 participating countries, 36 countries were present at the meeting which laid the platform and plans…

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Four different organic sprouting seeds – mustard, red clover, alfalfa, cress and – are tested for an installation. (source: Katrin Bohn 2008)

INVITE: Vitamins out of the jar in Berlin, Germany

Please do come along to a new event of the hands-on event series Preserving, Exchanging, Tasting organised and run by LebensMittelPunkt Spandau in cooperation with KlimaWerkstatt Spandau and Zentrum für Kulturforschung. This time, the group will look at sprouts and germlings and how they can help people to get through the winter with self-grown produce….

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A Mulberry Tree in the London Borough of Hampstead (source: Museum of Walking / Peter Coles www 2019)

INVITE: Midweek Midday Mulberries this Wednesday 16th of January

This Wednesday, 16th of January, the Museum of Walking is inviting to one of its famous London lunchtime walking tours. Please meet at 12.30 pm at Belsize Park Underground Station for about an hour of exploring the wealth of London’s food-productive urban landscape. This is what the Museum of Walking says: This lunchtime walk starts…

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The 'Big Bed' occupies an area of about 600 m² in a much larger brownfield site surrounded by high-rise appartment blocks. (source: Katrin Bohn 2017)

Christmas season at Spiel/Feld Marzahn

Last week, the now already legendary Christmas party of Berlin’s community garden Spiel/Feld Marzahn happened in nearby community centre Felix. It’s a small event, but for the gardeners, neighbourhood activists and friends and supporters it is the one time in the year where all sit together, enjoy tea and the seasonal food everybody brought in…

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One of many urban agriculture vending machines found in Nerima City, used by urban farmers for selling produce to local residents. They indicate how within Tokyo, culture and infrastructure are well positioned to accommodate an expansion of the local distribution networks required to enable extensive areas of productive landscape. (source: Bohn&Viljoen 2018)

Productive green zones in Tokyo, Japan

Last week, André Viljoen returned from his first working visit to Japan where he acts as a consultant to Nerima City on invitation by the City’s Mayor. André writes: ‘Tokyo was a revelation. During the 8-days of field work, most of my time was spent visiting an impressive and largely unknown, in the Anglo Saxon…

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卡特林·波尔: 设计可持续的生产性景观是一项复杂的任务 Designing productive urban landscapes is a complex task

When researching the academic impact in China about the productive urban landscape concept by Katrin and André, I was lucky to find this interview from 2010. Despite nine years having passed, their wisdom in the relevent field is still active, we still could recognise the influence in some of the theses published today in China….

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The first part of the Platform is dedicated to Berlin's community gardens. (source: Beatrice Walthall 2012)

A networking and information tool on productive urban green

Contracts have been signed between the Berlin Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection [Senatsverwaltung für Umwelt, Verkehr und Klimaschutz] and the AG Stadt & Ernährung [Working Group City & Food] to begin their joint work with Berlin’s community gardeners. Aim of the project Plattform Produktives Stadtgrün [Platform Productive Urban Green] is to…

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The Action already includes representatives from 38 countries. (source: COST Action “Circular City” www 2019)

COST Action Circular City kicks off successfully in Brussels!

We are pleased to announce that the COST Action network was formally started on 22 October 2018 in Brussels with the first management committee meeting! Fully titled COST Action 17133 Implementing nature-based solutions for creating a resourceful city, our network was welcomed by Carmensita Maimban and Mickael Pero from COST Europe who gave an introduction…

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The second life of the Edible Terrace at Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin

We are pleased to let you know that by the end of this week, the edible roof garden installation at Berlin’s Kunstgewerbemuseum [Museum of Decorative Arts] will have been fully recycled. The installation Eat the View: An edible terrace for the Kunstgewerbemuseum was designed, built, planted and attended by Bohn&Viljoen Architects and students at the…

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The increasing number of exhibitions about urban agriculture and CPUL hosted by arts and architecture institutions and galleries indicates how these subjects are entering the international architectural and urban design discourse. (source: Bohn&Viljoen 2009, as used in the article)

连贯式生产性城市景观 (CPUL): 关键基础设施的设计 Continuous Productive Urban Landscape (CPUL): Designing essential infrastructure

During my research, I came across this article written by Katrin and André published in 2010 by one of the best landscape magazines in China – Landscape Architecture China (LAC) (now renamed as LAF) -, which most Chinese architects, landscape designers and city planners subscribe to. The main idea of this paper has been a…

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Only one more week can local schools use the Edible Terrace for outdoor lessons and events. (source: Katrin Bohn 2018)

INVITE: Last chance to see the Edible Terrace

Food Revolution 5.0 at the Kunstgewerbemuseum (KGM) Berlin [Museum of Decorative Arts Berlin] remains open for only one more week. The art and architecture exhibition that shows the Essbare Terrasse designed and built by Bohn&Viljoen with students of the Technical University of Berlin closes its doors on 30th September. Our live food-growing installation Die Essbare…

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Katrin Bohn and André ViIjoen will bring their productive urban landscape and urban agriculture expertise to this European action/implementation project. (source: Katrin Bohn 2019)

EdiCitNet project starts in Europe

Kick-off meeting in Berlin! Katrin Bohn and André Viljoen will participate in EdiCitNet, a multidisciplinary innovation action funded by the EU under their Horizon 2020 programme call group “Smart and Sustainable Cities” in the subject area of “nature-based solutions”. The University of Brighton is one of over 30 partners having jointly bid for funding to…

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