* green infrastructure | Productive Urban Landscapes

A wooden footpath leads through a grassy field with cable cars seen above. (Source: GrunBerlin, 2022)

GrunBerlin, Germany

GruneBerlin is a state-owned company delivering green infrastructure throughout Berlin. They operate over 700 hectares of urban open spaces such as ‘squares and parks, tourist guidance systems, sustainable mobility offers, [and] memorials’. With every project they undertake holding a shared goal of ‘to change Berlin in a sustainable way’. Their projects within Berlin have led…

Jasmine Cook • 2nd September 2017

The architects' vision of the park show the multiple functions productive urban landscapes can have. (source: VWA 2022)

Parc Agro-Urbain Bernex, Switzerland

In 2013, the state of Geneva opened an international competition with an open program brief. The competition asked for proposals that aimed to encourage interaction between the urban population and the agricultural industry, to offer a new ‘vision of the relationship between city and the farmed territory’ and to be a model of a response…

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

Turin in Italy aims to use regenerated soil for urban forestry and public green spaces throughout the city. (source: proGIreg www 2022)

Productive Green Infrastructure, Europe

The international project Productive Green Infrastructure for post-industrial urban regeneration (proGIreg) was founded under the umbrella of European Union’s Horizon 2020 innovation action programme and runs until 2023. Just like the CPUL concept, the proGIreg project aims to implement green infrastructure into urban spaces – with less focus on food-producing sites but on the renewal of post-industrial districts. In four front-runner…

Jasmine Cook • 1st May 2017

Image: Aerial shot of Houtan Park (source: Turenscape 2022)

Shanghai Houtan Park, China

Turenscape landscape architects lead the renewal project of the Houtan Park’s Huangpu riverfront. Shanghai Houtan Park was built on a brownfield site in 2010. It is a regenerative landscape on Shanghai Huangpu river bank and won the ASLA professional awards. Its urban agriculture, ecological flood control and wetland water purification components are working as an integral…

Jasmine Cook and Dong Chu • 2nd March 2017

Illustrated map showing the area of Southeast False Creek. (Source: City of Vancouver, 2022)

South-East False Creek, Canada

The Southeast False Creek neighbourhood of Vancouver is one of the last remaining brownfield waterfront development sites in the city. Taking up 80 acres and being developed to become home to 16,000 people, this neighbourhood development models how cities can incorporate urban agriculture in high-density, high-rise development areas. The urban agriculture strategy for Southeast False…

Jasmine Cook • 2nd March 2017