* urban agriculture | Productive Urban Landscapes

Visualisation of the Parkway, the main circular route through the new urban quarter (image: KCAP 2019)

A dynamic masterplan for PHV Heidelberg

The dynamic master plan for the PHV is there! In its last meeting on the 18th of March, the committee that operates all conversion areas in Heidelberg made its majority recommendation to the local council. Due to the corona pandemic, the decision of the local council is still pending. The CPUL concept inspired the proposal…

Cover of Bohn & Viljoen's chapter in the volume Achieving sustainable urban agriculture, edited by Johannes Wiskerke (source: Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing www 2020)

Building continuous productive (peri-)urban landscapes: New book chapter out

An invited book chapter by André Viljoen and Katrin Bohn, titled Building continuous productive (peri-)urban landscapes, has been published last week in a new book edited by Prof Johannes Wiskerke of Wageningen University, The Netherlands, and published by Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing. This volume, titled Achieving sustainable urban agriculture, reviews research on building urban and…

Co-installing the Mathare Shamba in the Mathare neigbourhood in Nairobi became part of a practice-based Masters’ thesis at the course. (source: Katherine Cashman, Community Gardening in Mathare, Nairobi (Masters’ thesis) 2018)

Guest lecture to international Master’s course at the TU Berlin

Yesterday, Katrin Bohn gave a talk about food-productive urban landscapes and the CPUL City concept to Masters’ students at the Technical University (TU) of Berlin’s independent Masters’ in Urban Management. Apart from introducing key concepts of the international urban food design and planning debate, Katrin presented international architectural and urban design case studies. Lively discussions…

Proposal for an “urban agriculture path” and public gathering space passing through part of Mr Shiraishi’s farm in Nerima City, Tokyo. (source: Andre Viljoen 2019)

A CPUL design for Tokyo

Early December 2019, Andre Viljoen returned from his second visit to Tokyo at the invitation of Nerima City’s Mayor. As part of this trip, he was invited to develop a CPUL proposal for an urban farm belonging to Mr Shiraishi, who, with his family, is one of several farmers cultivating land in Nerima for many…

International delegates and Nerima City officials drafting the declaration. (source: André Viljoen 2019)

Publication of the Urban Agriculture World Summit Declaration 2019

André Viljoen was one of the international guests invited to attend the 2019 World Urban Agriculture Summit hosted by the Mayor of Nerima City in Tokyo. Building on the earlier pre-summit in November 2018 and following an intensive exchange of ideas on best practices and visits to some of Nerima’s extensive urban agriculture sites, the…

View of Bohn&Viljoen’s exhibit at Cuba. La singularidad del diseño (source: Jimena Acosta 2019)

CPUL work exhibited at Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City

Tomorrow, the art and design exhibition Cuba. La singularidad del diseño will open in the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City. Photographs from Bohn&Viljoen’s project Laboratories of Urban Agriculture are shown in this exhibition co-curated by Mexican curators Jimena Acosta and Inbal Miller. Cuba. La singularidad del diseño opens as part of Mexican Design…

COST Circular Cities visited a biofiltration pilot plant in Hiedanranta, near Tampere, which mimics nature’s own purification systems. (source: Bohn 2019)

EU research network COST Action Circular City holds working meeting in Finland

Katrin Bohn took part in a working and field study meeting in Hämeenlinna, Tampere and Forssa as part of the COST Action Circular City (fully titled: COST Action 17133 Implementing nature-based solutions for creating a resourceful city). During 4 days, more than 60 participants from all EU countries discussed how to foster cooperation and research…

Academic visitor Akane Bessho, University of Tokyo, and Prof. André Viljoen, University of Brighton (source: Dong Chu 2019)

Welcome academic visitor Akane Bessho

We are warmly welcoming our academic visitor Akane Bessho, a second-year doctoral student at the Department of Urban Engineering, University of Tokyo, Japan. Akane is experienced in the theory and practice of urban agricultural design. She received her Bachelor’s degree (BFA) in Architectural Design from Maryland Institute College of Art (2016) with her architectural design…