The 1st Working Group Meeting of COST Action Urban Agriculture Europe has taken place at RWTH Aachen University 9 -12/7/12.

53 COST UAE participants met for a first time to start the work of the Action. More than 40 guests (local stakeholders and researchers from Aachen, Cologne, Maastricht and the Ruhr Metropolis, RWTH Aachen students, interested individuals) joined the public part of the conference.

The first day of the meeting presented the opportunity to start the work of the Action with public discussions, first WG sessions and a field trip to Urban Agriculture in Aachen.
A global view on Urban Agriculture and its history was given by COST UAE overseas correspondent Prof. Christopher Bryant, University of Montreal, and his keynote speech “The discovery of Urban Agriculture”.
The work of the Action started with keynote statements of the WG Chairs.
The field trip presented different strategies of agriculture in an urban environment. Strategic greenspace planning of the City of Aachen was presented in the Pferdelandpark agricultural park. Farms with different entrepreneurial models and a garden allotment relocated due to urban pressure were visited.

The second day of the meeting was used for intensive discussion in Working Groups. All four WGs set up their method to approach the subject and distributed working tasks. The closing plenary session allowed to share the results with all participants.

The third day consisted of an optional field trip to Greenport Venlo in the Netherlands, where vegetable production on an industrial scale and its integration in the region’s development were presented.

The documentation of the meeting can be downloaded here:

Documentation 1st Working Group Meeting
Author:Frank Lohrberg, Axel Timpe (editors)
Published:Aachen 9-12/7/2012
File size:6,93 MB

Documentation of the first Working Group Meeting of the Action in Aachen including WG keynote speeches, results of WG sessions, working tasks and regional case studies.