On June 3rd 2022, EdiCitNet partner UT SEMIDE, together with the city of Nice, organised a workshop for the city’s garden managers. The workshop aimed to present the EdiCitNet project and all of the services, tools and platforms that it offers. 

The workshop brought together the Deputy Mayor in charge of urban agriculture and neighbourhood activities, representatives from the city of Nice, and 5 associations in charge of the management of community gardens.

The associations expressed their interest in using the EdiCitNet Toolbox to be able to compare the positive social and ecological impacts of their Edible City Solutions and to become members of the international network created by the project. 

The workshop ended with a visit to one of the community gardens in the city.  The next step is to visit all the community gardens in Nice to collect the data needed for the EdiCitNet Toolbox.

Until 25 May, bachelor’s and master’s students at the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin can apply for the EdiCitNet Summer School on WATER RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE (June 20th – July 1st 2022), organized as a collaboration between the Edible Cities Network Project, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin and Universitat de Girona. Participants will be part of an interdisciplinary and international team exploring nature-based solutions and their impact on cities.

WHAT:

The intensive course will provide basic understanding of the interdisciplinary topic “The potential of Nature-based solutions (NBS) for water resources management in Mediterranean medium-sized cities” in the context of climate change, using a hybrid approach that combines:

– on-line Problem-Based Learning (PBL) formation, and
– face-to-face practical and interdisciplinary teamwork in Girona (Catalonia) to solve a real urban assignment.

WHEN:

June 20th – July 1st 2022

WHO:

30 students with different backgrounds (environmental sciences, biology, geography, urban planning and engineers) from the following international universities:

• Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
• University of Venice IUAV, Italy
• University of Sassari, Italy
• University of Genoa, Italy
• University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
• University of Girona, Catalonia, Spain

Establishment of three teams of 10 students with different background and origin.

HOW:

First week (mode on-line) (June 20th – June 24th)

– Formation about Problem-Based Learning (PBL) methodology
– Formation about NBS for Water Resources management in the context of Med cities
– Complementary conferences
– Presentation of the case/problem (PBL unit) and discussion

Second week (mode face-to-face in the University of Girona) (June 27th – July 1st)

– Assignment of real practical cases
– Interdisciplinary teamwork on diagnostics and proposals
– Field work and visit to related facilities
– Complementary conferences
– Final presentation and discussion

Detailed programme as download: PDF

More info:

• Participants who successfully complete this summer school will be awarded 3 ECTS points
• Accommodation & breakfast is covered by the University of Girona
• Participants from Humboldt-Universität will have to cover their own travel costs and other expenses

Please send the filled out application form and a CV to marisa.pettit@hu-berlin.de by 25^th May 2022.

In May, the EdiCitNet Marketplace Business Consulting Team organised a new workshop to discuss the different kinds of spaces available in cities that can be used to start an nature-based urban food initiative. The workshop was conducted in German and targeted early-stage urban food entrepreneurs.

Felix Mollenhauer from the German Association of Building Greening offered insights into how best to organise edible greenery on a rooftop setting. This was followed by input from Anneli Karlsson from the “Edible City” of Andernach, who talked about various measures in the city that use both public and private spaces for growing edible plants. Both presenters focussed on important resources and key partnerships that can be leveraged to help different stakeholders successfully implement Edible City Solutions.

After the presentations, participants were divided into breakout rooms to discuss their ideas with the experts using some concepts from the EdiCitNet Business model canvas (which you can find in the Growing Jobs in Urban Agriculture Playbook). The session closed with a few key points on water usage from Erwin Nolde from Nolde & Partner. The consulting team also offered one on one consulting sessions to the participants to further elaborate their ideas and concepts.

Are you involved in an urban food initiative and looking for FREE consulting services to strengthen and maintain the sustainability of your organisation? Drop a line to the EdiCitNet Marketplace Business Consulting Team and get started today.

On 30 April, EdiCitNet’s Living Lab in Oslo announced the start of a new season with a market, activities for young and old, food, music and great connections – across age, cultures and backgrounds.

As part of the EdiCitNet Project, in Oslo, a community space with a focus on urban agriculture and social inclusion has been developed on the grounds of the stately Linderud mansion in one of Oslo’s suburbs – thanks to the help of partners Bymiljøetaten (Urban Environment Agency), MiA – Museene i Akershus, NIBIO Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University, Nabolagshager and the support of many local organisations and institutions.

The project is now in its 3rd season and has seen a complete transformation of a formerly empty field. We are very much looking forward to the next season and lots more activities together with all the participants!

March 16th saw the completion of an important stage in the food-focused masterplanning for the City of Carthage, Tunisia. In a virtual meeting organised by the Institute of Organic Farming at BOKU University Vienna, Katrin Bohn and Ian Bailey (University of Brighton) handed over to the Carthage City Team the results of an 8-months-long participatory design process.

The University of Brighton team has worked with representatives of Carthage Municipality, the city’s mayor Dr Hayet Bayoudh, local research organisation REACT, local food initiatives and members of the public to identify strategies for Carthage to become an ‘edible city’. Consulting within the framework of finding transition pathways for several cities in the EdiCitNet project, Ian and Katrin led the Carthage city team in a 3-stage participatory opportunity mapping process. This process used Bohn&Viljoen’s food and opportunity mapping method previously developed and tested as part of our CPUL City Actions.

The first two phases of collaborative work – comparator and food mapping – enabled the city team to record and visualise existing food system activities and actors in the city, capture and classify existing and potential food spaces as well as tighten its research into the most urgent societal challenges the city aims to address through improved urban food planning. Prior to entering the last phase of collaboration – the opportunity mapping – all findings and interim concepts were presented to local stakeholders as well as external experts for their scrutiny and critical advise. Due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, we worked entirely online using frequent Zoom meetings, collaborative visualisation platform Miro and emailing to push ideas forward.

Katrin and Ian were now able to hand back into the ongoing transition pathway framework a synthesis of local desires, challenges, capacities and necessities: a complex, multi-layered mapping of opportunities taking into account the local stakeholder situation, existing and potential food spaces as well as social, environmental and economic priorities. Three main urban development themes have been verbalised, as well as a number of sub-themes and potential projects to kick-start the transition towards an ‘edible city’.

Rotterdam is buzzing with activity.

More and more of the two hundred green (food) initiatives work together in a self-designed bottom-up democratic process, to further develop the network and to cooperatively develop organizational power.

Preceded by an action-oriented ‘self-research’ in 2021, the initiatives have now come together in several network meetings. In these meetings it has been democratically decided to form four workgroups. Each workgroup consists of only initiators of green (food) initiatives. One workgroup is mapping the many different values of green (food) initiatives and is finding ways to make these values visible. Another workgroup is organizing methods for sharing knowledge and expertise amongst initiatives. A third is meant to set up a structural lobby for green (food)initiatives. And a fourth is working towards an umbrella organization.

With all these different initiatives and this open bottom-up process, a lot of effort has been put into the design of the whole process and organization. This process itself can already be seen as one of the very important results of the Living Lab. And it pays off. The workgroups are now taking up speed. A great planning scheme has been worked out by the coördination team.

The expectation is that in one and half year still ahead, many practical results will be brought forth: a model of mapping values, a map of green (food)initiatives, an interactive website, an umbrella organization, field excursions between initiatives, regular stakeholdermeetings, financial stability, and perhaps even a national park status for the city Rotterdam. These are some of the ambitions of the different workgroups / stakeholders.

Rotterdam is ready for a green revolution next level.