projects related to the CPUL concept publications related to the CPUL concept

E-book cover of Innovative Practices in Portugal: From production to sustainable consumption (source: Delgado, C. (ed) 2020)

Innovative food practices in Portugal

Urban planner and architect Cecília Delgado from Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal, made us aware of her latest publication, the e-book Innovative Practices in Portugal: From production to sustainable consumption [Alimentar boas práticas: da produção ao consumo sustentável]. This is what Cecília says: ‘The e-book, published in Portuguese March 2020, compiles 46 current initiatives that…

Katrin Bohn • 15th May 2020

A reference to the saison on the meeting invitation: rhubarb time in Germany (source: Ernährungsrat Berlin www 2020)

INVITE: Plenary assembly of the Food Policy Council Berlin on Monday 18th May

‘We need to be and stay active right now! Corona presents us all with great challenges, but at the same time, the opportunities are growing to do things differently in the future.’ Under this motto, the Food Policy Council Berlin [Ernährungsrat Berlin] is inviting to its bi-annual plenary assembly on Monday 18th May 2020 from…

Katrin Bohn • 12th May 2020

Brighton&Hove Food Partnership is member of Sustainable Food Places. The non-for-provit organisation's response to the Covid-19 food crisis is to 'secure food for vulnerable people through fundraising and co-ordination'. (source: BHFP www 2020)

Sustainable Food Cities become Sustainable Food Places

Since April, the pioneering UK network of 58 local food partnerships has officially changed its name from Sustainable Food Cities Network to Sustainable Food Places Network. This may seem a small difference in an initiative that is characterised by actions rather than words. However, it symbolises two things: on the one hand, that even (or…

Katrin Bohn • 27th April 2020

The 'Trames Vertes', a mosaic connecting green spaces in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, based on the CPUL concept (source: Hamidou Baguian Municipality of Bobo-Dioulasso 2013)

Food for Cities group: Conversations about Covid 19

It is impossible not to think about the influence the coronavirus pandemic has and could have on food systems and the relationships between urban and rural areas. A great deal of proactive, critical and inspiring discussion is underway between academics, practitioners, policymakers and activists worldwide. It reflects the urgency to fight against food insecurity and…

Andre Viljoen • 13th April 2020

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…

Andre Viljoen • 6th April 2020

The Brighton Waste House, 'Europe’s first permanent building made of materials other people discarded'. Its concept and building was coordinated by Duncan Baker-Brown. (source: University of Brighton www 2020)

INVITE: School of Re-construction at the University of Brighton

A team of our colleagues at the University of Brighton’s School of Architecture & Design will be hosting a five-day International Summer School from 17-21 August 2020. Aimed at students from the worlds of design, architecture, construction and engineering, the School of Re-construction will demonstrate ways to re-use materials from local construction sites. It is…

Katrin Bohn • 23rd March 2020

The Werkstatt of Haus der Statistik on Karl-Marx-Allee in Berlin (source: Haus der Statistik www 2020)

INVITE: Food and Logistic in the House of Statistic in Berlin

The association ZUsammenKUNFT Berlin eG invites to its 7th Thematic Evening on Thursday 12th March from 6 – 8pm in the Werkstatt Haus der Statistik, Karl-Marx-Allee 1 in Berlin. The 7th Thematic Evening is dedicated to the theme Food and Logistic in the House of Statistic. Background for the event is that the House of…

Katrin Bohn • 9th March 2020

The journal Blue-Green Systems published a special issue including papers of this COST Action group. (source: Blue-Green Systems www 2019)

COST Action Circular City convenes in Istanbul

Last week, the European members of COST Action 17133 Circular City: Implementing nature-based solutions for creating a resourceful city met at Aydin University in Istanbul, Turkey, for their 3rd Annual General Meeting. The network of European researchers has grown again, now comprising not only representatives from all (!) 39 COST countries but also international observers…

Katrin Bohn • 6th March 2020

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…

Katrin Bohn • 13th February 2020

From the project brochure of the project Rural Urban Nexus – Global Land Use and Urbanisation that Christoph Kasper presented (source: Umweltbundesamt www 2016)

The CPUL concept proved popular among conference presenters

With great interest did Katrin listen to fellow presenters at the 9th international conference of the AESOP Sustainable Food Planning Group which was held two weeks ago at the Universidad Politecnica in Madrid. Mostly attending the conference track “Agroecological urbanism”, we would like to capture here a number of papers presented that explicitly linked to…

Katrin Bohn • 20th November 2019

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…

Katrin Bohn • 31st October 2019

Extract from the Urbal project’s website (source: Urbal www 2019)

Urbal: Urban-driven innovations for sustainable food systems

Last week, Katrin Bohn participated in a workshop of the international research project Urbal: Urban-driven innovations for sustainable food systems. Urbal uses participatory research in eight cities to develop and test a holistic methodology to map the impact pathways that go from urban innovations to all dimension of sustainability of food systems. More than 35…

Katrin Bohn • 30th September 2019

The Skip Garden (source: Global Generation www 2019)

Visit of the Skip Garden in London

Today, we are lucky to have our Japanese academic visitor Akane Bessho here to jointly visit several community-based urban agriculture projects in Central London and discussed the commonalities and differences of urban agriculture between London, China and Tokyo. We would like to introduce a lovely community garden named Skip Garden, run by the charity Global…

Dong Chu • 17th September 2019

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…

Katrin Bohn • 9th September 2019

Berlin develops a charta for its urban green

Last week, Berlin’s (Germany) Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection [Senatsverwaltung für Umwelt, Verkehr und Klimaschutz] started the second round of a particiaptory online process aimed at the development of a charta for its urban green [Charta für das Berliner Stadtgrün]. The Charta contains concrete aims and guidelines for the development of…

Katrin Bohn • 16th May 2019

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…

Katrin Bohn • 19th March 2019

Fridays for Future Global Climate Strike in Berlin (source: Bohn&Viljoen 2019)

INVITE: Do join us for the Global Climate Strike!

This Friday, 15th March 2019, the first Global Climate Strike will happen in many countries of the world. It is inspired by and part of the Fridays for Future movement which, since months, sees school children and young people in many towns and cities take to the streets every Friday to demonstrate for urgent and…

Katrin Bohn • 11th March 2019

The Big Bed at Spiel/Feld Marzahn seen in 2011 (source: Katrin Bohn 2011)

Berlin’s Spiel/Feld Marzahn association elects a new head

Last week, the neighbourhood association Spiel/Feld Marzahn e.V. held its annual general meeting in which the past gardening year of 2018 was celebrated and the new year planned. All attention centred around the 600 m² food-productive garden and its associated people, facilities and activities. Apart from providing the opportunity to grow fruit and veg outside…

Katrin Bohn • 4th March 2019

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…

Katrin Bohn • 21st February 2019

Image: Green facade of a residential Gründerzeit building in Berlin (source: Reinhard Groszmann 2019)

A new food-productive life for Berlin’s fire break walls?

Yesterday, Katrin Bohn was invited by the Eastern branch of Germany’s B.A.U. Association [B.A.U.-Regionalgruppe Ost des Bund Architektur & Umwelt e.V.] to consult on its Initiative Green Fire Break Walls [Initiative Grüne Brandwände]. Aim of the working meeting of the association was to explore synergies between its own initiative to transform into “green walls” Berlin’s…

Katrin Bohn • 24th January 2019