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Sustainable Productive Landscape in the
Amsterdam Metropolitan Area.
Towards analysis on different scales
Daniele Burrascano1
,
Abstract – Over the next few years the global popula-
tion will continue to rise. The number of people living
in urban areas surpassed the number living in rural
areas. Thus, the world has become more urban than
rural. This change implies cities will need to further
develop urban food production systems. Furthermore,
we need to increase sustainability of urban develop-
ment. Urban agriculture is becoming an integral part
of urban planning and design to develop and sustain
our cities. The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area is one of
Europe’s most stable and successful regions. By 2040
the population of Amsterdam is expected to grow by
half a million. The city will need an improved infra-
structure to accommodate hundreds of thousands of
new homes. This includes facilities needed for their
sustenance.
Efficient planning and food distribution strategies will
be crucial to develop the Amsterdam Metropolitan
Area.
The goal of this research is to analyze and compare
several typologies of urban agriculture. This considers
different scales (within the city, a metropolitan park
and urban district development).
Keywords – Sustainable Productive Landscape, Urban
Food Planning, Amsterdam Metropolitan Area.
Introduction
In 2009, the number of people living in urban areas
(3.42 billion) had surpassed the number living in
rural areas (3.41 billion). Since then, the world has
become more urban than rural (United Nations, 2010).
The distinction between rural and urban area within
the metropolis is vanishing. The urban-rural fringe is
where the landscape acquires value through urbani-
zation. These urban expansions have formed com-
plex hybrid landscapes. They consist of residential
areas, commercial zones, agricultural land, recrea-
tional functions and natural areas.
Rural areas can play a strategic role for the sustain-
ability of urban development. This will affect the
quality of life in the cities.
The incentive for the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area
(MRA), over the next few years, is to come up with a
plan for sustainable metropolitan development;
based on incorporation of local food resources.
Therefore a good food-strategies are becoming es-
sential for re-locating the production and consump-
tion system in metropolitan areas.
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Daniele Burrascano Assistant Professor from the University Rome
Tre, Department of Architecture and Urban Design, Rome, Italy
(danieleburrascano@yahoo.it)
Prof. Dr. J.S.C. Wiskerke Head of the Foodscape Research Group at
the Academy of Architecture Amsterdam, The Netherlands
(han.wiskerke@wur.nl)
Prof. Luca Montuori, Associate Professor from Rome Tre, Department
of Architecture and Urban Design, Rome, Italy
(luca.montuori@uniroma3.it)
Johanse Wiskerke, Luca Montuori
This is an incentive for the to reduce the impact of
food importation as well as to involve more sustain-
able and local food sources.
The concept of Sustainable Productive Landscape
developed in European context in the recent years
within the CPUL concept. (Viljoen, CPULs Continuous
Productive Urban Landscapes: designing urban agriculture for
sustainable cities., 2005).
The CPUL advocates such productive landscape as
essential elements of sustainable urban infrastruc-
ture (Viljoen, The CPUL City Toolkit: planning productive urban
landscape, 2012).
For architects and planners, the question of how to
design and build must now be weighed against con-
ditions in which finite global resources will play an
even greater role.
Integrating the food system into urban planning
implies that some urban areas must be devoted to
food production. It would be also important to de-
velop a local food system linked to urban planning in
multiple levels, to protect and foster the environ-
mental development.
The aim is to exploring the possibility to incorporat-
ing urban agriculture into landscape strategies and
city planning.
In order to achieve this task, we analyzed and com-
pared several typologies of urban agriculture, in
different scales and typologies. The goal is to find
several satisfactory responses to the project’s re-
search questions in order the ambitions of MRA.
We have been considered several questions regard-
ing new strategies of sustainable production for
future the cities and the peri-urban zone.
What are the developmental models that are emerg-
ing in MRA?
How the future cities should guarantee healthy and
local food?
What are the innovative challenges for conventional
food system planning in the MRA?.
Methods
The methodology used in this research has been to
gather information through several interviews as
well as the analysis of a considerable amount of
planning literature and scientific planning journals.
The research involved several semi-structured inter-
views of 60 minutes, addressed to different repre-
sentatives of projects the MRA and of Province of
North Holland.
During these interviews, we analyzed and highlight-
ed important concepts related to the food system
and planning process.
These projects, was examined to discover the extent
to which we could define them Sustainable Produc-
tive Landscape.
Yet, if they will contribute and interaction with the
city on different ecological, social and cultural levels,
thus creating new synergies.
The analysis of Urban Food system in MRA becomes
important as a starting point to understand how to

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develop a resilient urban food system based on
suitable spatial planning concepts.
The results denotes that city and agriculture are
closely intertwined.
According to the statistic, on land-use in the Mra,
one of the most relevant components are the agri-
cultural fields. At the moment, they take up twice
the space of the build up area (Provincie Noord-
Holland , 2014). On the other hand, in terms of
populations, are absolute numbers.
Amsterdam is growing most rapidly, followed by
Almere. It is expected that the population of Am-
sterdam until 2035 with 101,300 increases and that
of Almere with 83,000. Almere has relatively the
strongest rise: 42% (in 2035). The municipality of
Haarlemmermeer will follow with an increase of 23%
in 2035 (Bureau Onderzoek en Statistiek, 2014).
Thus, the big challenge will be to develop a sustain-
able productive metropolitan landscape system,
which operates between urban and rural factors but
also public and private parties.
One approach is to work in a multilevel of govern-
ance with both parties and promote shorter supply
chains. This will promote sustainable urban devel-
opment and offer further opportunities for the re-
gional economy.
In this regard, the MRA has two main goals: integra-
tion of diversity (new urban-rural relation, landscape
and functional) and sustainability (healthy food and
diets, climate, and air quality).
One of the most important aspects analyzed in the
MRA is the different scales of food production sys-
tem. Amsterdam and the whole Metropolitan region
are all dependents on food imports and exports,
although it has been drastically reduced towards a
favorable development of biological and multifunc-
tional agriculture.
Recently, there has been a greater awareness about
the proximity of food production and processing.
People want to know where the food comes from,
how much space, energy, and water are required for
the production and processing.
The sustainable Metropolitan landscape enable the
analysis of the city as a complex system.
The word ‘system’ is used as a general term to indi-
cate several configurations of interconnection be-
tween cities, and various defined elements within
the city, and theorize on their development and
demographic implications (Berry, 1964).
Conclusion
Through this research, we analysed three different
projects in the MRA. Strategic project planning
develops in the Sustainable Productive Landscape in
the MRA scenario.
These case studies analyze how we will produce food
in 2040 while also accounting for population growth,
transportation, homes and commerce in the MRA.
The first case study is about urban agriculture pro-
jects in the city of Amsterdam Nord.
We explored the use of public space, considered
marginal space.
Nevertheless, this space becomes socially produc-
tive in terms of education, research about healthy
food.
In this context, projects like NoordOogst, depends
on citizen’s involvement for maintenance and im-
provement.
The second case study (project "park21") a metro-
politan park situated between Hoofddorp and
Nieuw-Vennep, shows the integration and involve-
ment of farms in the spatial planning and develop-
ment strategies. This park indeed will be an im-
portant ecological and environmental infrastructures
such as biodiversity, water management, and cli-
mate mitigation in the MRA..
Finally, the Productive Landscape is defined as “an
urban interpretation of the cultural landscape, of
open space, is generated not only through its de-
signers, but equally through it users" (Viljoen, The
CPUL City Toolkit: planning productive urban landscape,
2012).This reflects the project of OOsterwold in Al-
mere.
This a new sustainable approach for the future of
city of Almere, where urban agriculture is incorpo-
rated in the city’s development plan.
This is particular relevant for planners, designers,
and local authorities to enforce new ways of plan-
ning our cities in relation with food.
A vision for the future was created. Success can be
achieved only in the long-term.
We need to be prepared and the Mra strategy is
meeting those expectations.
References
Bibliografia
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