At the Academie van Bouwkunst in Amsterdam currently runs the research group Foodscapes under the direction of rural sociologist Han Wiskerke. The research program within the department of Landscape Architecture, links scientific research to spatial research. Within the three-year program students will investigate the spatial conditions for the transformation to sustainable regional food landscapes and the spatial consequences for the urban and rural landscape.
Besides design studios, workshops and lectures for students of the Academy, within the program a number of design agencies and experts. in the field of the various food systems, will do spatial research; a knowledge circle Foodscapes will be constituted. Within the research circle three scenarios for a sustainable and healthy future food production for the city of Amsterdam will be studied for their spatial implications. What will a more sustainable and healthy food system contribute to the design of city and landscape ?
At the end of last year the Academie van Bouwkunst approached three design agencies for the elaboration of the scenarios:
- LA4sale ; multifunctional agriculture near the city;
- from Paridon x de Groot; responsible industrial agriculture;
- MTD urban & landscape architects; urban agriculture on buildings and in public space of the city.
The three design agencies start the design research in January 2015, in close collaboration with the Academie van Bouwkunst and the experts. The ambition is to round the research in May 2015 with an exhibition and publication.
In the offices view, the scenario of urban agriculture has to focus on the preconditions to come to a productive mosaic landscape . According to the agency it isn’t about a by the government to be implemented, top-down system, but about a system that organically develops by bottom-up initiatives , which are well facilitated by the government and where the government scope for social entrepreneurship. Hereby, the public space receives a sustainable, productive element that ultimately doesn’’t depend on government grants.
The intention of the agency is to focus on developing and visualizing spatial typologies of urban agriculture (companies) and the preparation of designs samples for the distinguished typologies . Hereby there will be paid particular attention to the design of the transitions between urban agriculture and the city and to the spatial quality that can be achieved.
