AGROPOLIS Munich-Freiham. 10 Steps to a new Food Supplied Neighbourhood. Kerstin Hartig

1. Rediscovering Harvest for Urban Life

In 2009 Agropolis won the competition "Open Scale. Young and Local Ideas" launched by the Department of Urban Planning and Building Regulation of the City of Munich. Open Scale asked for new ideas for Munich's urban development. Open Scale has been supported by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development in the framework of the National Urban Development Programme, as well as by urban initiatives, enterprises and property developers.

2. Agriculture for the City of Tomorrow

Agropolis encourages a metropolitan food strategy in Munich that articulates a sustainable food economy from production to meals, creating real place experiences. The pilot project is an agricultural park integrated in the development of the future quarter Freiham, revealing an additional dimension of urban quality of life for public and private spaces. A new attractive atmosphere is created in Freiham.
Starting in Freiham, the Viktualien-Tram carries food and the idea of urban agriculture to the city centre. Another aspect is cultivation on inner urban spaces, bringing the people of Munich closer to the practices of food supply. Finally, Agropolis discusses the role of agriculture to find solutions to the use of areas of urban sprawl of the Munich metropolitan area in view of regional networks and space.

3. Agropolis

Agropolis increases urban quality of life by rediscovering harvest as everyday practice. Food supply is introduced as new dimension to urban development. Promotion of self-cultivation and a new relation to the resource soil are prioritized. The growing metropolis Munich strives at compactness; its demanding population desires to live healthy and sustainable, and already organized itself in many initiatives to do so. The observation that cities in general occupy fertile grounds – basis for location choices even before possibilities of mass transportation – is resumed as approach to design urbanization more livable and to utilize open spaces more intensely.
Urban agriculture represents the current longing of a world wanting to become green and healthy. Its cultural and economic success relies on the intelligent combination of five goals: Education – experience of sustainable dealing with resources and supply with healthy food will play a larger role in the professional training and knowledge of Munich’s people; school meals and school gardens are not only supposed to serve healthy diets, but also to support health in general. Recreation – the value of experience, relaxation and activity lies also in enjoying the exterior and interior spaces created for this purpose. Production – low-cost self-cultivation, procurement possibilities and opportunities for enthusiasm for a population with new (life) time structures, harnessing existing knowledge for cultivation and acquiring new knowledge. Integration – the community-building and culture-developing value of knowledge and exchange of harvest; new dimensions of public awareness by acquiring and utilizing spaces. Culture – rediscovering everyday and festive processes of cultivation, preparation and, based on existing patterns, consumption of food in urban areas.
A renewed urban food economy links the worlds of production, transformation and manufacturing of food and different forms of its preparation and eating. Nutrition is orchestrated on an everyday basis, public and private spaces are designed especially for it. To summarize activities, to find a choreography for this aspect of urban life – that is what Agropolis wants to make a contribution to.

4. Freiham!

The pilot project that Munich will present at the Expo “Feeding the Planet – Energy for Life” in 2015 is the development area Freiham. After the completion of the new city quarter Messestadt-Riem, Freiham is the next large scale development area and therefore appropriate to develop and test comprehensive measures. It provides the opportunity to transfer experiences to the existing settlements by a wide ranging pilot project. Freiham has been oriented to the subjects of sustainable urban planning, renewable energies and climate-optimized housing constructions. The additional focus on food makes Freiham a sustainable model town. By its location in the Munich green belt, Freiham offers the chance to reinforce connections to the region and its agriculture.

5. 30 Years and After

The integration of the subject food into the development of Freiham affects the envisaged construction time of 30 years as well as the time horizon of a city quarter with 20,000 inhabitants. Until completion of the last houses, life in Freiham is marked by construction pits, cranes, excavators, fallow land and an atmosphere of being in the making. The project Agropolis aims to express this development more directly in the spaces and to promote even more resolutely the intermediate use of fallow land as agricultural fields, which has already been established in Munich. Excavators and tractors will not replace each other but generate next to each other a new form of city: Agropolis. The handling of the soil, its processing as part of the urbanization process and the durable, aware occupation and utilization make sustainability aims experienceable when dealing with resources.

6. Multiplier

An agricultural park acts as multiplier for ideas of urban agriculture to be developed later on in home gardens, on balconies, roof or community gardens, spreading to the neighbouring quarter of Neuaubing and the whole city. At the same time, the farm is an activator for the chain of urban goods in and around Munich, anchoring local supply and consciousness for regional food production in the city.

7. Attractor

Freiham is situated in the plain sandur west of Munich, conveniently at the motorway belt A99 and between two regional train lines. The subject of food as attractor integrates Freiham into the web and the consciousness of the city and attracts potential inhabitants. Visitors and client flows are diverted to Freiham, the city quarter gains a characteristic mark, higher quality of life and recreational value. Freiham receives an unmistakable branding, offers more than just attraction for Sunday day-trippers, direct buyers, schools and training programmes. Self-harvest and cultivation are a possibility for property developers and construction companies to create earlier than usual a relationship with this future living environment.

8. Intermediate Land Use Concept

With a detailed configured process of development ­– by initial and temporary uses – a very special and independent genius loci will be created. The concept for urban initial areas should create the process of development of the new part of Munich with initial programmes and intermediate land use which promote urban life. There should not be a screened picture of the final state, but a user-based planning of temporary and not-temporary use and activities. The strategy for the development of this area bases on testing programs and spacial experiments. The location at the edge of the city is a great potential: land(scape) and city comes together. The strategy of urban initial spaces takes care about the special situation in Freiham: the wide time horizon of about 30 years and the location at the point of intersection between city and countryside. Therefore a new fusion out of the vocabulary from nature and culture would be helpful.
Now there are huge fields where later on city will take place. The central task will be to connect people with the new growing part of the city. The “urban initial areas”, which attend the construction process of Freiham, should create qualities, programs, ideas, networks and public space to develop a specific urbanity of a city quarter nearby the countryside. Inclusion of local players and inhabitants will be extremely important.
Freiham should become an unmistakeable and integrated part of Munich.

9. “Open-Air-Supermarket” Freiham

During the first period of intermediate land use a so-called “Open-Air-Supermarket” erected as flagship project of Munich’s city farms (SgM), develops a new user-friendly form of regional agriculture. Equipped with wheelbarrows instead of shopping trolleys young and old persons have a lot of fun with harvesting.  After work the adults relax in the Agropolis-Café between sheep and bales of straw. The children enjoy a labyrinth out of straw-bales.
The cultural and economic success is based on the combination of 5 goals:

Education
Cooperation with research institutes, professional education and training programmes, self-cultivation, self-harvest and processing as well as kids and school programmes are combined and enable direct experiences and communication of skills in dealing with natural bases. Large scale events strive at an increased consciousness of food production of the urban population.

Recreation
The value of experiencing agriculture reveals itself immediately not only to Neuaubing, but is also an attraction for the whole city. For children the concept of recreation on the edge of the city is filled with new content.

Production
Direct marketing and integration of regional marketing initiatives assure an increased value for products from Freiham. Completed by forms of self-harvest and self-cultivation, a transparent connection between production, grafting and marketing of food is established.

Integration
Education and holiday programmes address particularly inhabitants of Neuaubing and integrate them in the process of city expansion. The farm accompanies the laying of community gardens in the quarter to be built and acts as communicative and integrative pole – especially for the first pioneers.

Culture
The access to experiencing plants, harvest and cooking becomes an everyday cultural dimension; farm parties, concerts and art will complement the spectrum.

10. “House-Tree-Farm” Freiham

In a tree-farm for fruit trees the usual sale-containers of real estate developers, cooperatives,  housing companies and communities are established as tree houses with great view over the fields of Freiham. The inhabitants-to-be of Freiham get additionally to their apartment or house also an own fruit tree, which will be transplanted in their own garden after completion of the buildings. The neighbours in future meet each other long before in the tree-farm for harvesting, barbecueing or cooking jam. The big advantage is that a social network could be created before moving in the new houses.
The focus on food and self-harvesting makes Freiham a sustainable model town. Freiham will not be an unknown part of Munich, but a neighbourhood with a very own identity and a high factor of identification.

Based on and thanks for the translation of Laura Egger, 2011.
All images: AGROPOLIS MÜNCHEN