This Design Studio is offered in cooperation with ILPÖ
EDIBLE CITIES: Integrated Research and Design Project
Urban agriculture has re-emerged as a key strategy for fostering more sustainable and resilient cities. Beyond food production, it strengthens social connections, supports local food security, enhances urban biodiversity, and contributes to climate protection through cooling, carbon sequestration, and more circular resource use.
This project explores the concept of edible cities and the transformative potential of urban agriculture as a driver of ecological and social innovation in urban development. It views food-producing landscapes not as temporary add-ons, but as long-term structural components of urban systems that can reshape how cities function, how public space is used, and how communities interact.
Within the broader transformation of urban and public spaces, the Studio focuses on a specific site in the municipality of Fellbach as a real-world setting for urban change. Traditionally shaped by a strong industrial presence, Fellbach is now envisioned as a forward-looking urban environment where production, services, housing, education, culture, and urban agriculture coexist in close proximity within a mixed-use urban fabric.
The work is situated within the framework of the International Building Exhibition 2027 Stuttgart Metropolitan Region (IBA’27) and the local initiative “Agriculture Meets Manufacturing” in Fellbach. These initiatives promote a model of urban development in which industrial production and urban life are no longer separated, but productively intertwined. Urban agriculture plays a key role in this vision by linking ecological performance, local economies, and everyday interaction in urban life.
In cooperation with the City of Fellbach and under the guidance of an interdisciplinary teaching team (urban ecology and urban planning), students will analyse existing urban dynamics and infrastructures with regard to their (A) ecological significance and (B) social significance and (C) urban agriculture potential. Based on ecological and socio-spatial analysis, the Studio will develop visions, strategies and design concepts aimed at securing, enhancing, and making these qualities accessible in the long term.
Through the analysis of IBA’27 Stuttgart projects and other reference examples from Germany and beyond, as well as excursions to relevant sites in urban areas, students will gain insight into diverse strategies for integrating urban agriculture into contemporary urban development models.
