* urban agriculture | Productive Urban Landscapes

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

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 of footpath through a space with garden beds either side. (Source: Jasmine Cook 2022)

Preston Park Demonstration Garden, UK

The Preston Park Demonstration Garden is run by the Brighton and Hove Food Partnership and maintained by a team of local volunteers. The garden is situated on the south-eastern edge of Preston Park, Brighton & Hove’s largest urban park. Brighton and Hove Food Partnership is a non-profit organisation which works with local businesses, other local…

Jasmine Cook • 1st May 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

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

People stand on hte ground level and on a suspension bridge in a green landscape.

Productive urban landscapes, Peru

Over the past 50 years, the city of Lima has undergone a process of rapid urbanisation that has seen millions of people migrating from rural areas to the capital. Widespread urbanisation has deprived the city of much of its natural land, crucial for both agriculture, the environment, and citizen’s wellbeing. This devastating effect is now…

Jasmine Cook • 1st May 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

A collaged image shows people tending to agricultural fields in an urban environment. (Source: R-URBAN, 2022)

R-URBAN, France

R-URBAN is a strategy with the hopes to operate throughout cities across Europe to ‘explore alternative to the current models of living, producing and consuming in cities, suburbs and rural areas’. Relying on the active involvement of the citizen, the strategy introduces networks which allow facilities in economy, housing, urban agriculture and culture to be…

Jasmine Cook • 1st April 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

Map of the South-East London Green Chain (Source: Gov.Co.Uk, 2022)

The South-East London Green Chain, UK

The South-East London Green Chain was created in 1977 by the Greater London Council and four London boroughs – Bexley, Bromley, Lewisham and Royal Greenwich in order to protect the green areas from inappropriate building. Today it includes a fifth borough – Southwick – and links over 300 open spaces. The spaces are a combination…

Jasmine Cook • 2nd March 2017

Cyclists on their way through a wheat field, the city can be seen in the background (source: With Locals 2022)

South Milan Agricultural Park, Italy

The South Milan Agricultural Park is made up of 47,000 hectares of land including agricultural and forested areas, rivers and historic estates. It sits along the peri-urban belt of South Milan. The main activities undertaken throughout are agricultural and include the management of silvicultural resources, crop production, livestock breeding, and the ‘transformation and management of…

Jasmine Cook • 2nd March 2017