Agriculture and metropolitan area seem rather to be an antagonism than a symbiosis in today's context of urban planning. Nevertheless, new approaches to the (re-)acquisition of urban space by agricultural uses are developing world-wide. This does not mean a projection of rural agricultural landscapes upon urban space but in fact the development of new and specific forms of urban agriculture as well as their integration into the urban environment. Thus, urban agriculture is different from rural agriculture, as it refers to the specific urban context and serves the particular needs of urban areas. The various forms of this new urban agriculture are manifold, e.g. neighborhood gardens, guerrilla gardening, biomass cultivation for energetic use or highly engineered glasshouse cultures on the roofs of metropolitan city centers, and vertical farms in Detroit or New York.

All these various forms reflect diverse motivations, which can all be interpreted as reaction to ecological, economical, or socio-cultural problems. Thus, urban agriculture complies with the principles of (just) sustainability as well as spatial and environmental justice. From an urban planner's point of view, urban agriculture is also an innovative form of (temporary) land use. Its integration in the surrounding urban environment can generate huge ecological, economic and socio-cultural returns. One precondition for these positive effects is the differentiation of multi-functional and new forms of urban agriculture which seize the specific challenges and chances of the respective urban structure.

The students' project aims at analyzing different models and forms of urban agriculture in respect to their applicability in the urban context of the Ruhr Metropolitan Area. Central questions to be answered are:

-   Who initiates the projects?

-   Which main goals are followed?

-   Which are the main needs/supplies?

-   Who are the users/consumers?

-   What are potentials and risks inherent in the specific models?

-   Which requirements regarding location and site exist?

To answer these questions, we will analyze different approaches to urban agriculture and typify them in terms of actors, motivations, target groups, spaces used, site requirements, location factors, etc. In order to reach a better understanding of the operational capability of urban agriculture in a metropolitan/urban context, we will investigate the general framework (spatial context, legal restrictions, site contaminations, compatibility with other land uses, interactions with the surroundings, etc.). Based on these investigations, we will derive specific requirement profiles for different forms of urban agriculture (e.g., development of reasonable economic concepts, requirements for subsidy measures) as guidelines for practical implementation. We will assess spaces in Dortmund in terms of their compatibility with the requirement profiles elaborated.

The students' project will culminate in a one-week excursion (visiting best-practice examples of urban agriculture) together with urban and regional planning students from Michigan State University followed by a one-week joint charrette (a kind of intense design workshop). During this charrette, small student groups composed of American and German Students will develop competitive scenarios for urban agriculture projects in Dortmund, based on the results of the two-semester students' project work. A jury consisting of American and German teaching staff as well as representatives of Dortmund's planning administration will review the concepts and award prizes.

Erfolgreicher Abschluss der Module 1-3 und 6-9 zur Teilnahme an der ersten Teilleistung