* food systems | Productive Urban Landscapes

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…

Katrin Bohn • 29th October 2018

Cortijada Los Gázquez is an ‘off-grid’ rural farm in the heart of the Sierra María-Los Vélez Natural Park, Almería, Spain. (image: Simon and Donna Beckmann 2010)

Discussing productive urban landscapes with artists in Andalucia

Last week, Katrin gave a lecture about Bohn&Viljoen’s work as part of her writing retreat in the artist-led Los Gázquez international residency in Andalucia, Spain. Using our work as a reference, Katrin spoke about the evolution of urban agriculture from a “fringe subject” in the 1990s to talking centre stage in urban design and planning…

Katrin Bohn • 22nd October 2018

Aerial of entire site with envisioned expansion by William McDonough & Partners (source: William McDonough & Partners 2022)

Agro Food Park, Denmark

On the outskirts of Aarhus, Denmark’s second largest city, Agro Food Park connects the urban to the agricultural bringing together agricultural organisations for collaboration and networking. Making up Agro Food Park are over 80 agricultural or food production companies and, as it stands, over 1200 employees. The park accommodates large, established companies as well as…

Jasmine Cook • 2nd December 2017

Beacon Food Forest aerial view (source: Ensia 2022)

Beacon Food Forest, USA

This grassroots project working in Seattle transforms publicly owned open land within a central urban park into a self-sustaining productive ecosystem. Starting up in 2009, the project took over a 7 acre plot in Jefferson Park, reinventing it from a patch of grass to a productive community-serving landscape. It is currently the world’s largest food…

Jasmine Cook • 1st December 2017

Architect’s drawing of what inside a Buzz Building would look like. (Source: Belatchew Arkitekter, 2022)

Buzz Buildings insect farms, Sweden

Belatchew Architects of Sweden are pioneering the design of alternative food solution urban farms, what they call ‘Buzz Buildings’. Buzz Buildings, at the moment still a design proposal, would be insect farms for the purpose of consumption that are positioned on Stockholm’s major roundabouts. If nine of these urban farms were in operation, it could…

Jasmine Cook • 1st December 2017

Drawing highlighting the permaculture system. (Source: The Food Forest Project, 2022)

The Food Forest Project, UK

This project in Somerset uses permaculture techniques to create productive plots of land. Aiming to benefit communities, they offer the opportunity to harvest free and organic fruits and vegetables, to engage themselves through a volunteering program which aims to improve mental health and to increase biodiversity and enhance the ecology of the areas they work…

Jasmine Cook • 1st October 2017

View of some of the crop rows at Fresh City Farm with an urban background of Toronto buildings. (Source: Carrot City, 2022)

Fresh City Farms, Downsview Park, Canada

Downsview Park is an urban park situated in northern Toronto. With the desire to investigate the viability of urban farming and understand community interest, the park launched a pilot project in 2011 which showed there was a keen interest for food sustainable programs to be integrated into the urban environment. In 2019 Fresh City Farms…

Jasmine Cook • 1st October 2017

Members checking on their produce. (Source: Self-sustainability, 2022)

Little Donkey Farm, China

With the development of urbanisation and industrialisation in China, rural land is occupied for commercial values, and people living in the cities are isolated from fresh agricultural products. Meanwhile, because of the abuse of chemical inputs, food security problems are becoming more evident. Building a sustainable food system with social-economic value seems to be more…

Dong Chu • 1st July 2017

Aerial photo showing expanse of the symbiotic landscape (source: Zhejiang China 2022)

The Mulberry Dike Fish Pond System, China

One of the food production systems we explored recently is the Mulberry Dike Fish Pond System. Being a productive agricultural landscape in its own right, Dong Chu suggested to revisit it as part of a potential Productive Urban Landscape. In 2017, the Mulberry Dike Fish Pond System in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, was identified by the…

Dong Chu • 2nd June 2017

People harvesting at a Prinzessinnengarten site amongst the city’s buildings. (Source: DW, 2022)

Prinzessinnengarten Berlin, Germany

Launched by Nomadisch Grün (Nomadic Green) in 2009, Prinzessinnengarten Kollektiv Berlin is a project transforming wasted open spaces within Berlin into productive nomadic gardens. All plants are grown in transportable vessels such as potato sacks or milk crates meaning if ever any of the spaces are reclaimed for other purposes the garden can simply be…

Jasmine Cook • 1st May 2017

Image: Productive landscape when implemented on the existing space (source: Pia Kante, Katja Mali & Vid Bogovič www 2019)

Productive Dynamic Landscapes, Slovenia

Master’s in Landscape Architecture students Pia Kante, Katja Mali and Vid Bogovič from the University of Ljubljana have been developing a design proposal which they call Productive Dynamic Landscapes. Their concept addresses the issue of how to work with urban sprawl in ways that can overcome current reliance on a culture determined by car use and…

Jasmine Cook • 1st May 2017

Valley with rice paddies in the foreground and mountains in the background. (source: National Agricultural Exhibition Centre & China Agricultural Museum 2019)

Rice-fish aquaculture systems, China

The symbiotic rice-fish aquaculture system is an agriculture landscape in Qingtian County, Longxian Village, Zhejiang Province, China, which was listed by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations ) among the first five globally important agricultural heritage systems (GIAHS) in 2005. The rice-fish farming, which could be traced back to 1200 years…

Dong Chu • 1st April 2017

Masterplan of Shenyang Architectural University showing the position of the rice fields (source: Turenscape Landscape Architecture 2022)

Rice Field Campus, China

As to a country with 1.3 billion people, both food production and sustainable landscape design are vital to every Chinese landscape designer. The Shenyang Architectural University is situated in the North China Liaoning Province with 80 hectares suburban campus. The 3-hectare project is situated in the campus’ southwest. It was been awarded the Design Honor…

Dong Chu • 1st April 2017