Productive Urban Landscapes

Research and practice around the CPUL design concept

The neighbourhood garden is part of a more-than-human vision of future cities. (source: Katrin Bohn 2023)

Mühlhausen guests visit community gardens in Berlin

It is always an experience to visit a community garden in Berlin, Germany. Last week, Katrin led a tour of  Spiel/Feld Marzahn and Prinzessinnengarten Moritzplatz for representatives of the city administration of Mühlhausen/Thür. The Thuringian town in the centre of Germany plans a community garden as part of their 5-year-long Smart City urban development project….

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The project focuses on different urban contexts: peripheral areas, complex urban context in “Greater Cairo” and new city. (source: TU Berlin Habitat Unit www 2023)

Towards green(er) Egyptian cities

‘Towns and cities in Egypt are growing at an alarming rate, with increasing population and urbanization rates that have a significant impact on the natural environment. Egypt is aware of these challenges and developed several policies and strategies towards a greener future. In line with the Paris agreement (2016) and the Sustainable Development Goals (2030),…

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Title page of the Community Garden Program (source: Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection Berlin, 2022)

Berlin’s Community Garden Program goes live

On the 12th of September, Berlin’s first network evening “Berlin gärtnert [ Berlin is gardening]” took place at Prinzessinnengarten Hermannstraße. Many long-standing community gardening activists and new urban gardeners followed the invitation by the Senatsverwaltung für Umwelt, Verkehr und Klimaschutz [Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection] via its Plattform Produktives Stadtgrün, coordinated…

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Researchers from the Wild Pollinator Project observe and record cultured and wild plant species in 18 community gardens in Berlin. (source: TU München and Museum für Naturkunde Update Ergebnisse 2021)

Spiel/Feld: The more plant species, the higher the number of wild bee species

The Wildbienenprojekt [Wild Pollinator Project], a collaboration of 18 Berlin community gardens – among them Spiel/Feld Marzahn [Playing/Field Marzahn] -, the National History Museum Berlin [Museum für Naturkunde Berlin], the Technical University of Munich [Technische Universität München] and the Technical University of Berlin [Technische Universität Berlin], will soon – in April – start into its…

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Katrin Bohn's chapter uses a Berlin food network project to illustrate thoughts on a meso perspective in urban design and planning. (source: Katrin Bohn 2021)

Thoughts on the importance of a meso perspective

We are pleased to announce the publication of a book chapter by Katrin in the book Urban Open Space +, edited by Carolin Mees and published by Jovis in October 2021. Subtitled Strategies in between architecture and open space planning, the bi-lingual publication (English/German) explores ‘commonly used and designed open spaces [as] anchor points in…

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The development of the Gemeinschaftsgarten-Programm is led by Undine Giseke and Lisa Reis (bgmr landschaftsarchitekten) and Carolin Mees (mees architecture). (source: bgmr 2021)

Interim presentation of Berlin’s Community Garden Program

Last Thursday, Berlin’s Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection [Senatsverwaltung für Umwelt, Verkehr und Klimaschutz] invited to the interim presentation of its Gemeinschaftsgarten-Programm [Community Garden Program]. The Community Garden Program is the next step in consolidating a future for Berlin’s more than 200 community gardens and closely linked to the Plattform Produktives…

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The plenary decided on the development of the food policy council's structure based on sociocratic principles. (source: Ernährungsrat Berlin www 2021)

Food Policy Council Berlin plenary elects new board and structure

On the 1st of July 2021, the plenary assembly of Berlin’s Food Policy Council [Ernährungsrat Berlin] took place online. Almost 70 people discussed and decided on two main issues, the election of a new board of speakers and the development of the Council’s organisational structure. On its website, the initiative informs about a successful election:…

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Since 2009, (some of) the buildings and airfield of decomissioned Tempelhof Airport are being used for public events and as outdoor space. (source: Transformation Haus und Feld www 2021)

New initiative to support a LebensMittelPunkt at Tempelhof, Berlin

On the 12th of May, newly founded initiative Transformation Haus und Feld (TH&F) invited interested Berliners to its (online) kick-off meeting aimed at continuing civic efforts for a LebensMittelPunkt at the German capital’s decommissioned inner-city airport. The concept LebensMittelPunkt has been introduced to the City of Berlin in 2016 by the AG Stadt & Ernährung…

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Sealed wild bees nest in a tree stump (source: Monika Egerer, Forschungs-Update für Gemeinschaftsgärten-Projekt März 2021)

Spiel/Feld Marzahn counts high number of plant species.

The research team behind the Wild Pollinator Project has just published the 2020 report about its work in and with 18 Berlin community gardens, including Spiel/Feld Marzahn. A scientific recording of numbers and types of plant species in the gardens was one aspect of the research aiming to better understand relationships between pollinators, pollen and…

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The community garden Peace of Land, one of the guest speakers at the launch event, presented not only its garden spaces but also its managerial structure. (source: Peace of Land 2021)

A community garden programme for Berlin

On the 3rd of March 2021, more than 100 people gathered online to kick-off a long-awaited project by Berlin’s Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection [Senatsverwaltung für Umwelt, Verkehr und Klimaschutz]: the participatory creation of the city’s first community garden programme. Organised and run by Berlin-based landscape architecture firm bgmr Landschaftsarchitekten with…

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One of the projects presented was the first of Gotham Green's hydroponic farm in New York, USA. (source: André Viljoen 2011)

Katrin lectured in Germany on Productive Urban Landscapes

This Wednesday, Katrin gave an (online) lecture to Masters’ students of the Urban Management programme at Technische Universität (TU) of Berlin and of the Urban Planning programme at Technische Universität Cottbus. She spoke about urban agriculture linking it to the Productive Urban Landscape discourse on the one (mainly spatial) side and to the Circular City…

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One of Markthalle Neun's entrances (on Eisenbahnstraße 42/43) during Covid-19 (source: Markthalle 9Neun www 2020)

INVITE: Markthalle Neun Berlin: We are open! For everything.

Adapted in its organisation to Berlin’s re-tightened Covid-19 regulations, Markthalle Neun invites to an Open Sunday this coming Sunday 20th December from 1 to 7 pm. Markthalle Neun is one of the few remaining original 19th-century market halls in the German capital having reopened in 2011 after many years of local campaigning and negotiating its…

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'An estimate of the global food system’s transgression of planetary boundaries. Here, the safe operating space (green) provides an estimate of the food-related share of the planetary boundaries [...] The zone of uncertainty (yellow) defines dangerous risk, whereas high-risk (red) indicates where production has exceeded the assessed uncertainty range in science [...] E/MSY, extinctions per million species-years; BII, Biodiversity Intactness Index; P, phosphorus; N, nitrogen [...] image credit: PIK, 2019.' (source: Rockström et al. 2020]

In 2030, Berlin feeds itself in a climate and socially just way!

Katrin Bohn took part in the action conference organised by Berlin’s Food Policy Council which happened online from the 19th to the 21st of November 2020. Under the motto ‘2030 ernährt sich Berlin klima- und sozial gerecht! [In 2030, Berlin feeds itself in a climate and socially just way!]’, the conference brought together stakeholders from…

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Because of the Covid-19-related impossibility to hold open elections, the election of the new board of representatives for Ernährungsrat Berlin had to be postponed. (source: Ernährungsrat Berlin 2020)

LebensMittelPunkte among topics of the plenary assembly of Ernährungsrat Berlin

More than 50 people participated in the plenary assembly of the Ernährungsrat Berlin [Berlin Food Policy Council] which was held online on the 28th of October 2020. Whilst the planned election of the new board of representatives could not happen within this online format, there were many points to discuss. Most importantly, the imminent action…

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18 Berlin community gardens were part of the winning project, apart from Spiel/Feld also the Nachbarschaftsgarten Wiecker Straße. (source: Monika Egerer 2020)

Spiel/Feld Marzahn is part of project to win UN Biodiversity Award

Last week, the Wild Pollinators Project received an Award for Biological Diversity in the UN Decade contest by the German Offices of the United Nations’ Decade on Biodiversity. Spiel/Feld Marzahn has been one of the partners in the project led by the National History Museum Berlin [Museum für Naturkunde Berlin] and the Technical University of…

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Parzelle X specialises in landscape architecture and nature pedagogy. (source: Parzelle X 2020)

Berlin Senate competitive tender for community garden strategy

We are pleased to have heard today that a team led by landscape architecture practice Parzelle X and comprising Katrin Bohn as consultant was selected into the last round of a competitive tender by the Senate of Berlin. If successful, the team will be working for the next one and a half years with local…

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A dedicated website follows the project process and informs about its results. (source: Kantine Zukunft www 2020)

INVITE: Kantine Zukunft Berlin presents its work

This coming Wednesday 26th August 2020, at 12 noon, there will be a public press conference to present Kantine Zukunft [Future Canteen], the flagship project of Berlin’s Senatsverwaltung für Justiz, Verbraucherschutz und Antidiskriminierung [Senate Department for Justice, Consumer Protection and Anti-Discrimination]. The event will happen at Kantine Zukunft’s new work space at Markthalle 9 [Market…

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Extract of a digitalised visualisation of Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata und Fuge in D-Moll (BWV 565), video still (source: Wolf Siegert, DaybyDay, 2020)

Digitalisation: What comes next?

Katrin Bohn was interviewed as part of the ongoing project Was kommt nach der Digitalisierung? [Digitalisation: What comes next?] which was set up by German philosopher and digital media expert Dr. Wolf Siegert who is still coordinating it. The results of Siegert’s 2019 Berlin interviews have now been made available on his blog DaybyDay. Since…

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The online platform invites dialogue on and around Berlin's 212 community gardens. (source: Bundespreis Stadtgrün www 2020)

Plattform Produktives Stadtgrün shortlisted for National Prize!

Congratulations! Plattform Produktives Stadtgrün [Platform Productive Urban Green], a project completed by the AG Stadt & Ernährung in cooperation with local stakeholders and the Senate of Berlin has been nominated by a national jury for the Germany-wide Bundespreis Stadtgrün [Federal Urban Greenery Prize]. For more than one year, Beatrice Walthall and Katrin Bohn from the…

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The schoolgarden, a distinct part of Spiel/Feld, in April, with its new sun shading in place (source: Spiel/Feld www 2020)

Wild Pollinators Project starts at Spiel/Feld Marzahn.

Planned since several months, the Wild Pollinator Project (full title Bienen, Bestäubung und Bürgerwissenschaft in Berlins Gärten'[Bees, pollination and crowd science in the gardens of Berlin]) has just started in the neighbourhood garden Spiel/Feld to the Northeast of Berlin that Katrin had co-initiated in 2011. The project is a collaboration of Spiel/Feld with the National…

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