Productive Urban Landscapes

Research and practice around the CPUL design concept

Image: Green facade of a residential Gründerzeit building in Berlin (source: Reinhard Groszmann 2019)

A new food-productive life for Berlin’s fire break walls?

Yesterday, Katrin Bohn was invited by the Eastern branch of Germany’s B.A.U. Association [B.A.U.-Regionalgruppe Ost des Bund Architektur & Umwelt e.V.] to consult on its Initiative Green Fire Break Walls [Initiative Grüne Brandwände]. Aim of the working meeting of the association was to explore synergies between its own initiative to transform into “green walls” Berlin’s…

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Katrin Bohn • 24th January 2019

2010 United Nations’ policy report more relevant than ever!

One of the first publications Dong and Katrin looked at in their joint research is the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies’ policy report on cities, biodiversity and governance published in October 2010. Given the current urgency of climate action, this report could not be more timely. Already in 2010, it made reference to…

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Katrin Bohn • 7th January 2019

CPUL research in China

Research on Urban Productive Landscape Practices, Wang, K., Wang, Z. and Wang, Z. (2014) Based on the urban landscape situation in China, the article puts forward bringing food planting back to people’s daily life. It focuses on productive urban landscapes (here translated as ‘urban productive landscape’), which reflects agricultural production, current urban lifestyles, environmental quality. After…

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Dong Chu • 31st December 2018

M E R R Y _ C H R I S T M A S _ 2 0 1 8 !

We wish all our readers a peaceful and joyous festive season! If you have time between the years, we recommend a book Katrin was given by her friend Barbara: Wanderlust: A history of walking by Rebecca Solnit has already been written in 2002 yet many of its profound observations – if not all – on…

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Katrin Bohn • 24th December 2018

Four scenarios were explored in the project's ideas phase among them one on science and economy. (source: MVRDV 2018)

German magazine Bauwelt thinks about PHVision Heidelberg

‘Wissen gilt als wertvollste Ressource unserer Zeit. Wo aber entsteht und wächst es am besten? In abgelegenen Eliteunis und Technologieparks – oder im stimulierenden Chaos der Innenstadt? [Knowledge is considered the most valuable resource of our time. But where does it arise and grow best? In remote elite universities and technology parks – or in…

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Katrin Bohn • 18th December 2018

The 'Big Bed' occupies an area of about 600 m² in a much larger brownfield site surrounded by high-rise appartment blocks. (source: Katrin Bohn 2017)

Christmas season at Spiel/Feld Marzahn

Last week, the now already legendary Christmas party of Berlin’s community garden Spiel/Feld Marzahn happened in nearby community centre Felix. It’s a small event, but for the gardeners, neighbourhood activists and friends and supporters it is the one time in the year where all sit together, enjoy tea and the seasonal food everybody brought in…

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Katrin Bohn • 10th December 2018

卡特林·波尔： 设计可持续的生产性景观是一项复杂的任务 Designing productive urban landscapes is a complex task

When researching the academic impact in China about the productive urban landscape concept by Katrin and André, I was lucky to find this interview from 2010. Despite nine years having passed, their wisdom in the relevent field is still active, we still could recognise the influence in some of the theses published today in China….

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Dong Chu • 27th November 2018

The first part of the Platform is dedicated to Berlin's community gardens. (source: Beatrice Walthall 2012)

A networking and information tool on productive urban green

Contracts have been signed between the Berlin Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection [Senatsverwaltung für Umwelt, Verkehr und Klimaschutz] and the AG Stadt & Ernährung [Working Group City & Food] to begin their joint work with Berlin’s community gardeners. Aim of the project Plattform Produktives Stadtgrün [Platform Productive Urban Green] is to…

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Katrin Bohn • 20th November 2018

Analysis of the aerial photo of Amir-Abad Garden clarifies the quality of synthesis of the utilitarian agriculture with pleasure gardening. It creates two kinds of sceneries concerning their separation in plants, position, direction, planting design, and application. (source: Khalilnezhad, M.R. (2016) Urban agriculture as a tool for city and landscape planning in Iran with emphasis on the role of Persian Gardens, PhD thesis, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, p 68)

PhD thesis based on Continuous Productive Urban Landscape (CPUL) in Iran

We are happy to share a dissertation written by Dr Mohammad Reza Khalilnezhad from Iran who, by his own words, is one of the first landscape architects in Iran to work scientifically on edible landscapes. His PhD, entitled Urban agriculture as a tool for city and landscape planning in Iran with emphasis on the role…

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Dong Chu • 13th November 2018

The increasing number of exhibitions about urban agriculture and CPUL hosted by arts and architecture institutions and galleries indicates how these subjects are entering the international architectural and urban design discourse. (source: Bohn&Viljoen 2009, as used in the article)

连贯式生产性城市景观 (CPUL): 关键基础设施的设计 Continuous Productive Urban Landscape (CPUL): Designing essential infrastructure

During my research, I came across this article written by Katrin and André published in 2010 by one of the best landscape magazines in China – Landscape Architecture China (LAC) (now renamed as LAF) -, which most Chinese architects, landscape designers and city planners subscribe to. The main idea of this paper has been a…

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Dong Chu • 8th October 2018

Only one more week can local schools use the Edible Terrace for outdoor lessons and events. (source: Katrin Bohn 2018)

INVITE: Last chance to see the Edible Terrace

Food Revolution 5.0 at the Kunstgewerbemuseum (KGM) Berlin [Museum of Decorative Arts Berlin] remains open for only one more week. The art and architecture exhibition that shows the Essbare Terrasse designed and built by Bohn&Viljoen with students of the Technical University of Berlin closes its doors on 30th September. Our live food-growing installation Die Essbare…

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Katrin Bohn • 24th September 2018

Katrin Bohn and André ViIjoen will bring their productive urban landscape and urban agriculture expertise to this European action/implementation project. (source: Katrin Bohn 2019)

EdiCitNet project starts in Europe

Kick-off meeting in Berlin! Katrin Bohn and André Viljoen will participate in EdiCitNet, a multidisciplinary innovation action funded by the EU under their Horizon 2020 programme call group “Smart and Sustainable Cities” in the subject area of “nature-based solutions”. The University of Brighton is one of over 30 partners having jointly bid for funding to…

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Katrin Bohn • 14th September 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…

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Jasmine Cook • 2nd December 2017

Almere Oosterwold’s masterplan (source: MVRDV 2022)

Almere Oosterwold, The Netherlands

Almere Oosterwold is an experimental town development situated 30km east of Amsterdam. It became a municipality in the 1980’s and has since grown into a 1000 house community. The principle is ‘You can do (almost) anything you want, but you have to organise it yourself.’ The design of Almere Oosterwold includes 59% of the land…

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Jasmine Cook • 2nd December 2017

On the Brighton Greenway – vegetable beds and apartments to the left, wild flower patch and old locomotive track pillars to the right. (source: Jasmine Cook 2022)

Brighton Greenway, Great Britain

Brighton Greenway is a narrow strip of brown-turned-green spaces with a walking path through the centre. It leads from New England Road all the way to Brighton Station, though there are plans to extend it to the Preston Park area. The greenway runs mostly between 5-10 story apartment buildings. The central location and the heavy…

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Jasmine Cook • 1st December 2017

(source: International Bauausstellungen www 2022)

Emscher Park, Germany

Beginning in 1989, the declining industrial Ruhr region of Germany underwent a transformation as part of the Internationale Bauausstellung (IBA) Emscher Park. After the closure of most industrial plants and mines, there were many open spaces left and much wasteland. The IBA Emscher Park project was initiated by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with the aim to repair…

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Jasmine Cook • 2nd October 2017

A bridge connects to the city over a very large park area. (Source: Arena Zone Hotel 2022)

Jardín del Turia, Spain

The Jardín del Turia in Valencia is a park created on the old riverbed of the Turia River after the city diverted it’s path to prevent flooding. In 1957 the river flooded ¾ of the city, causing severe damage and 60 deaths, and so a plan was conceived to prevent future flood damage and ensure…

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Jasmine Cook • 1st August 2017

Image: Ahuntsic rooftop greenhouse amongst other buildings. (source: Seeds of Good Anthropocenes, 2022)

Lufa Farms, Canada

In 2011 Lufa Farms built the worlds first commercial rooftop greenhouse to the scale of nine and a half thousand square meters. Since then they have completed 3 more, building on top of industrial buildings in Montreal, Quebec. Their aim is to take advantage of existing spaces to create sustainable, low energy and year-round-harvesting greenhouses…

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Jasmine Cook • 1st July 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…

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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…

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Jasmine Cook and Dong Chu • 2nd March 2017

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