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Bundesverband GebäudeGrün e.V. (BuGG)
The Bundesverband GebäudeGrün e.V. (BuGG) is the well-established center of knowhow and information of on Green Roof, Façade Greening and Interior Greening topics and technology in Germany.
More than 340 members belong to the BuGG. These include manufacturers, suppliers and distributors active in roof, façade and interior greening, as well as architects and landscape architects, cities and municipalities, universities and institutes, as well as private individuals and students.
Roofs and façades are very important parts of the building. Therefore, we place particular importance on high-quality greening systems, professional application and maintenance and compliance with standards.
Bundesverband GebäudeGrün e.V. (BuGG) is one of the NGOs of EdiCitNet and the expert for building greening. This includes technical and practical knowledge of all aspects which are connected with Green Roofs and Green Façades. In EdiCitNet BuGG will share its knowledge and guide the other participants in installing Green Roofs and Green Façades for urban farming.
Official Website
mundraub.org
mundraub.org is an online platform for all who want to discover local fruits, nuts and herbs in public spaces and help shape the edible landscape worldwide.
More than 70.000 users share POIs, set up planting and harvesting events and share information on everything fruit-related in local groups.
By developing mundraub regions and/or edible districts, mundraub combined the digital aspect with real-life experiences – bicycle tours, harvesting & planting events. This involves preparation, organisation, execution and follow-up activities.
As a social enterprise with an array of business models, mundraub supports the project with its expertise in the field of business model developing and market uptake.
A central part of mundraub is the mundraub map, a mapping tool already serving as an Edible City Solution itself. Our almost ten year knowledge in collecting and visualizing data will aid in creating and visualizing the Edible City Network.
Official Website
NABOLAGSHAGER
NABOLAGSHAGER is an Oslo-based social enterprise and consultancy kickstarting a transition to a greener and more just society.
Our goal is to promote a shift to sustainability through entrepreneurship and knowledge exchanges. Through local initiatives and international collaborations, we co-create multifunctional bottom-up solutions to urban challenges, such as facilitating green job opportunities for youth, creating rooftop gardens, integrating vulnerable groups, and increasing urban biodiversity.
Key local projects we have initiated include an award-winning rooftop farm, an entrepreneurship program where green jobs and circular economy are co-explored and co-created with local minority youth, and various community gardens and biodiversity-enhancing in public space.
Internationally, we collaborate with partners in academia, business and the public sector across Europe on projects related to urban farming, placemaking, entrepreneurship and the circular economy.
Having extensive experience with the practitioner perspective of edible city solutions, Nabolagshager bridges knowhow from academia and hands-on experience directly from the hands of urban changemakers across Europe.
Locally we work with both the public and private sector to ensure that existing practices and pilot projects move into the mainstream.
To encourage the spreading of good ideas and working solutions, we organize seminars, workshops, guided tours and lectures on timely topics, and host student projects from different faculties and backgrounds. We also use social media extensively as a platform for inspiration for edible city solutions.
Official Website
Nolde & Partner
Nolde & Partner for innovative water concepts look back on more than 25 years of expertise in the field of sustainable water and wastewater management.
We are specialised in the planning, design and R&D of decentralised wastewater recycling systems, in combination with heat recovery from wastewater in addition to decentralised rainwater management solutions.
For us, wastewater is a source of water, energy and nutrients and therefore an essential component of any Edible City Solution (ECS).
The long-standing experience and research results from the “Waterhouse” will provide quantifiable evidence with regard to the ecological, social and economical impacts of such innovations on the urban environment and will contribute to an efficient water resources management and increased water reuse with the active involvement of stakeholders and end users.
Another challenge would be to look for efficient contracting models to professionally operate and maintain these innovative systems.
The so-called “Waterhouse” in the centre of Berlin is a lighthouse project that demonstrates innovative and sustainable urban water management solutions at a decentralised, local level.
It incorporates household wastewater recycling and reuse in addition to onsite rainwater management.
The Roof Water-Farm project further explores the treated wastewater to produce food (aquaponics and hydroponics) and liquid fertilizer, in addition to the non-potable water reuse in buildings (toilet flushing, irrigation).
The Waterhouse is suited to demonstrating innovative water systems and services for efficient and sustainable water reuse in the city. It improves public awareness and acceptance for resource recycling and acts as a living laboratory for education and research and is frequently visited by researchers, experts and students from all over the world.
Official Website
Official WebsiteHumboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (UBER) coordinates the project EdiCitNet and is involved in all 9 work packages via the Integrative Research Institute for Transformations of Human Environmental Systems.
UBER is one of Germany’s leading research universities with around 5,000 employees, 35,000 students, and an institutional budget exceeding 250 M€ per year. As one of eleven German universities, the Humboldt-Universität was chosen “University of Excellence” in June 2012. In the Excellence Strategy research competition run by the German federal and state governments 7 Clusters of Excellence of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have been approved. As of 2019, the interdisciplinary research projects are each being funded for seven years with up to ten million euros per annum.
In an international comparison, Humboldt- Universität ranks among the top ten of German universities. Scientists here research socially relevant topics and challenges of the future and communicate these with the public. Humboldt-Universität invests all its energy in being a place of excellent research and teaching. Its aim is to promote young talents and to positively influence society and economy outside the university framework.
Wageningen University
As academic partner, the Business Management & Organisation (BMO) chair group at Wageningen University & Research takes care of strategic management and monitoring of the EdiCitNet project, stakeholder management and analysis, business model analysis, and business development. It is co-lead for the ‘Spreading the Seeds of Success’ workpackage on consultancy, business development and market uptake of Edible City Solutions (ECS) to drive urban resilience and enable global knowledge sharing. In that role, the BMO group supports edible city startups with tools and strategies for lasting economic, environmental, and social impact, including analysis and further development of P(eople)P(lanet)P(rofit)-layered business model canvasses.
Wageningen University & Research (WUR) focuses on the domain ‘healthy food and living conditions’. Located in the Netherlands’ ‘Food Valley’ region, a hub for over 15,000 professionals working in food related areas, WUR is dedicated to conducting highly interdisciplinary research and translating knowledge into practice, collaborating with governmental organisations, businesses, and fellow institutions/universities worldwide.
The Business Management & Organisation (BMO) chair group at WUR specialises in understanding and managing innovation, governance and sustainability of agri-food enterprises embedded in the value chain and influenced by the broader network of public and private stakeholders. In a globalising world, where firms face major challenges related to global warming, urbanisation and food security, the chair group provides the knowledge and insights needed to internally organise and govern firms appropriately and for firms to effectively collaborate in chains and networks.
SEMIDE
UT SEMIDE is an institutional network of Ministries in charge of inland water of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership countries. It has a core activity on data management for integrated water resources planning. It aims at collecting and facilitating the sharing of information and experiences in the water sector.
UT SEMIDE is part of the Management Committee the Cost Action Circular City and developing the exploitation plan, including business plans for circular economy solutions based on Nature Based Solutions for providing water to local food production.
UT SEMIDE will contribute to monitoring activities on water, environment issues and links with EU policies as well as on business development and market uptake. It will also use its wide network in the Mediterranean for transfer and dissemination as well as to support market uptake.
Some of the best practices of SEMIDE are the development of “Business models for regenerative and nature-based water solutions” in the framework of HYDROUSA project, and the implementation of Sustainable Mediterranean Cities platform to promote the exchange of good practices on water and waste management.
Official Website
Hidrolab d.o.o.
Hidrolab d.o.o. was established in 2009. The basic mission of the company is to provide expert engineering services for designing and consulting in the field of water, drinking water, wastewater and irrigation management, enriched by years of experience and continuous improvement of knowledge.
With state-of-the-art knowledge we connect technical, legal and economic aspects of the complex area of the public utility infrastructure and water management. The company is specialised in storm water, wastewater and drinking water management modelling, with a special emphasis on sustainable use and management and risk prevention.
Proprietary and open source CAD and GIS software is being used to develop and manage complex projects. All the activities are supported by spatial databases with real-time data acquisition and analysis.
We have participated in national and international projects funded within FP6, FP7, Cohesion founds and IPA Adriatic Cross-border Cooperation Program.
With our expert knowledge we are actively participating in the development of a comprehensive web-based EdiCitNet toolbox. The company is supporting the transition of the Follower City (municipality) Šempeter-Vrtojba to edible cities by exploiting, utilizing and adapting the experiences from front-runner cities and by implementing a high-benefit nature-based edible city solutions.
We are „Demonstrating innovative nature-based solutions in cities – Nature-based solutions for inclusive urban regeneration” and address societal challenges such as mass urbanization, social inequality and climate change in cities.
Official Website
Brighton & Hove
As a not for profit organisation that has been working since 2008 at a citywide level on initiatives that use community food growing to improve the health and wellbeing of residents, regenerate areas experiencing anti-social behaviour and improve bio-diversity we are able to offer expertise to other places wishing to do the same . All of this work sits as part of our City Food Strategy, which BHFP wrote so we are also able to offer support / advice about food governance at a city level. We are also happy to work with other initiatives to pilot ideas emerging from the programme.
Brighotn & Hove is a compact city on the south coast of England with a population of 230,00. The Brighton & Hove Food Partnership (BHFP) is a hub for information, inspiration and connection around food. We help people learn to cook, grow food, eat a healthy diet and waste less. We prioritise work with people experiencing deprivation, isolation, poor health and other life challenges. Independent evaluation shows that our work makes lasting changes to habits and behaviours which improve lives. We all eat, and food is central to life’s celebrations and memories – food activities can engage a wide range of people. Our approach uses this power of food to bring about change.
Official Website
Transition Oststeiermark (TO)
Transition Oststeiermark (TO) is a not-for-profit grassroots NGO that operates in and around Gleisdorf in south-eastern Austria. It was created in 2012 and registered as an association on 30-01-2013. We believe that an environmentally friendly way of life is characterized by improved quality of life, an expanding number of social contacts, and increasing meaningfulness. By engaging citizens in active projects we can stimulate community awareness and create a world that lives in harmony – with nature, and with our fellow human beings, and improves the quality of life for generations to come.
TO is part of the global Transition Towns Network, a movement of communities coming together to reimagine and rebuild our world and achieve a resilient society free of fossil fuels in a planned and smooth way. The idea is to make concrete small steps together in groups to ease the transition.TO consists of people working together in different groups, supporting a repair initiative, planning the erection of PV systems on individual and public houses, and closing resource loops, not least by making settlements edible.
Official Website
Association la Recherche en Action (REACT)
REACT is a sustainable development association with an expertise in the fields of Water management and the integration of non-conventional water (rainwater, wastewater) for optimal use of water resources in arid environment and to achieve zero discharge. The treatment of non-conventional water by nature-based systems (CW) to be in accordance with planned use, health requirements and the reuse of the related nutriments.
Protection of biodiversity while developing and integrating endemic plants into both ecological and production systems. Governance and institutional aspects related to water and health and support to decision-makers and main actors. Moderation, dissemination and awareness-raising among different target groups including young people.
Some of our best practice examples are:
- Contribution for the identification of suitable plants for an installed community garden (Project JaCoTuCo Tunis/Cologne).
- Creation of micro-reserve for the conservation of Jerba’s heritage species (CEPF project, Jerba).
- Elaboration of a charter for the conservation of a strict endemic species / development of Garrat Sajnane (CEPF Project, Save Plants).
- Assistance to decision-makers concerning water governance / water code and national health policy (water governance project and social health dialogue).
- Awareness and training of young people in the creation of terrariums.
- Raising awareness among young people on water management by developing interesting collective games with the collaboration of the City of Science of Tunis (Water Governance Project).
- Awareness-raising among decision-makers and the local population on the conservation value of Garaat Sejnene plants (IUCN-Med project).
Our main role in the project is to support the Follower City Carthage with the integration of ECS into urban master plans and the ECS development adapted to specific climatic, social and cultural contexts. This implies the integration of sustainable components on ECS linked to water and biodiversity, co-creation and exchange meetings with main actors as well as the implementation of the Carthage city team, including the awareness-rising, capacity building, dissemination and the sustainability of EdiCitNet achievements.
Official Website
Fundació Solidaritat
The UB Solidarity Foundation (FSUB) has a large experience in promoting the social and labor integration of people at risk of social exclusion in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona through social agriculture. FSUB has implemented several social farming projects and has focus its work on the educational, recreational, personal well-being and social functions of the urban gardens.
FSUB also promotes other types of NBS for sustainable development and social resilience in several countries (Senegal, Mauritania and Vietnam). FSUB through its water and environment program aims to contribute to the sustainable water management promotion and has an active role in boosting and implementing nature based technologies (e.g. Constructed wetlands) at international level.
Some of our best practices are Social gardens in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona in Sant Feliu de Llobregat, providing an occupation to unemployed people in 70 gardens and 3 Plots of 2.300 m2 in Santa Coloma de Gramenet also with unemployed, pensioners and vulnerable groups. In addition, we’ve been taking part in the technical course on urban gardens maintenance, composting and gardening) with ASSÍS Verd Foundation for homeless people, as well as the constructed wetland pilot plant in the Campus of the University Gaston Berger of Saint Louis (Senegal) for wastewater treatment and reuse in agriculture.
FSUB provides technical advice to the Follower City of City of Sant Feliu de Llobregat (SFLL) for the planning and implementation of ECS in the municipality. FSUB will facilitate the commitment and citizen involvement in the project and the dynamization of local actors, including the most vulnerable social groups.
Official Website
WaterLove
The nonprofit organisation Waterlove gUG was founded in Andernach in 2018 with the goal to save our seas and especially their inhabitants.
Our central feature is to inspire rethinking how to treat nature with care. We stand for nature protection, sustainable environmental protection and above all for protection of water.
Waterlove successfully organizes a lot of clean ups anywhere in Germany. We have a good cooperative partnership with many organizations, associations, companies, schools and kindergartens.
We really enjoy visiting different fairs to inform people about how to prevent waste and we therefore show them several opportunities to replace plastic.
Waterlove has a huge field of action with a lot of projects. One of them is a corporation with a local garage, where you can bring your old tires to. This way we can avoid, that tires are disposed in the woods or in our rivers.
More projects to name are: collection of cigarette butts which are reused again as portable ashtrays; planting trees together with a local supermarket; offering different workshops for example for self-made toothpaste.
Everyone is invited to support Waterlove, come and join us!
Official Website
Address:
Hochstraße 85-87
56626 Andernach
Germany
GRÜNE LIGA Berlin
GRÜNE LIGA Berlin is an NGO comprehensively supporting environmental protection and sustainable social development. GRÜNE LIGA Berlin’s specialization and focus are directed at environmental education and counseling, education promoting sustainability and supporting urban gardening.
The Berlin Landesverband (state association) is a member of GRÜNE LIGA Germany, a network for eco-friendly movements and an environmental association active on a national level, which is historically rooted in the environmental and peace movements of the GDR. The network’s objective is to provide support as well as specialized coordination for independent environmental groups and initiatives.
Actually GRÜNE LIGA Berlin conducts the project “Integrierte urbane Gärten – Schul- und Nachbarschaftsgärten in Marzahn-Hellersdorf” in the district of Marzahn-Hellersdorf. The project is supporting school and community gardens by building up garden infrastructure for the various projects as well as conducting regularly workshops for for the urban gardeners.
Official Website
Address:
Prenzlauer Allee 8
10405 Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg
Germany
Tarpuna
Tarpuna is a non-profit social initiative cooperative formed by a team of people committed to sustainability, equality of opportunities and social justice.
We do social innovation at the service of the community, through transformative local projects with sustainability criteria. We essentially work on three basic areas of everyday life: agriculture (and food), energy, and manufacturing (the objects).
We are passionate about cooperative projects, and what motivates us is not only ‘what’, but ‘how’ and ‘why’. We organise ourselves with self-managing work, with a continuous communication among us and with all the network we build on.
Tarpuna means “to sow” in Quechua. We took this word to call ourselves because we like to give birth to transformative initiatives that have their own lives. To do this, we work transversely with people from different fields.
Social growing gardens in Sant Feliu de Llobregat, is one of our agricultural projects, with which we aim to help people with social, education or economic problems to empower themselves and to develop useful skills to live better. Sant Feliu de Llobregat is one of the cities, among others, that has bet on growing gardens as a very complete strategy to improve the quality of life of the citizenship.
Official Website
Gruten AS
Click on the image to go the video
Gruten is a Oslo based business giving coffee waste new meaning & purpose. We make products containing coffee grounds (soaps and body scrubs) and run courses and workshops to raise awareness and build practical knowledge. The autumn of 2018 we established an urban mushhroom farm, the first of its kind in Norway. There we grow oyster mushroom on coffee waste. Which we sell to restaurants and private customers through the service called Dagens (https://dagensmat.no/) and the Reko network (https://www.facebook.com/rekonorge/).
We are engaged in a project at the moment at Linderud Gård in Oslo where Edible Cities also is present (through Oslo Kommune i believe, Stephanie Degenhardt). There we are building mushroom beds with the local cmmunity and looking at how our end substrate can be of use in growing. We have previously registered through the network and feel the work we do has relevance for what Edible Cities stands for and does.
We grow food in the city/urban area. And that on reused materials and resources. We produce oyster mushrooms, a very healthy and nutritous mushroom. Which we see increased interest for as people want to healthier and have a less meat based diet. We run courses and workshops on the theme of using coffee grounds and have 5-6 years of experience in this field.
We have a good connection with many of the food/growing initiatives in Oslo. We sell mushrooms through Dagensmat and Reko, we are involved with projects at Linderud gård (with a community supported agriculture scheme), we have cooperated with the organization Hagecrew at Vollebekk fabrikker (they have used our end substrate to build vegetable beds) and we give + sell our end substrate to growers in Oslo/surrounding area, we have contact with Nabolagshager, and we have been funded by Spirende Oslo two times (for establishing the mushroom farm and for project at Linderud gård). We also have good relations to the mushroom association around Norway and in Oslo.
Some of our main achievements are starting up first business in Norway focusing on the use of coffee grounds. ; Establishing first urban farm in Norway growing oyster mushrooms on coffee waste.; Educating and inspiring thousands of Norwegian to use coffee grounds at home for gardening, skin care and to grow oyster mushrooms.
A crucial point in our process was the earthworm who got me keen on finding out about the possibility of using coffee grounds. I build a worm compost bin 7-8 years ago and started feeding the worms quite a bit of coffee grounds. The worm got energy from it (still some caffeine left) and produced amazing compost. Thereafter i found out that coffee grounds can be used to grow oyster mushrooms and much more. Then i was hoooked.
Official Website
Address:
Bentsebrugata 11
0476 Oslo
Norwegen
Andernach.net
Andernach.net is an urban subsidiary, which is responsible for tourism, city marketing and business development. The Company is counterpart in all questions concerning the marketing of the city of Andernach. In the business segment of city marketing and tourism Andernach.net is for example responsible for making the city more attractive as a tourist-destination or for the local retail.
In co-operation with the urban administration as well as local associations Andernach.net is responsible for the conception and realization of various city festivals and events.
We offer packed tours and guided city tours to our guests, and the team of our tourist-information will assist in all the questions around the travel planning. One can reach information about the historic old town of Andernach, Andernach Geyser, the edible city, cultural events, hiking or bicycle tours. Furthermore, guests can use our free room service.
The aim is to be of help and make the stay in Andernach a pleasant one.
In the segment of business development, you are welcome as an entrepreneur or start-up. Start-ups can also use our consulting service.
Tourists which visit the city of Andernach are very interested in the project of the “edible city” for which reason we are the intersection to transport also the activities of the project of “edible cities Network” to our guests and to support the network with our expert knowledge in question of marketing.
Official Website
Address:
Konrad-Adenauer-Allee 40
56626 Andernach
Germany
Maltaflor
The company Maltaflor Europa GmbH is a fertilizer manufacturer based on the development of an entirely new bionic fertilizing technology that uses special plant hormones and growth compounds extracted from malt sprouts (malt-culms).
Maltaflor has become one of the leading fertilizer manufacturers in Germany by having invented products such as Symbio® which can recreate natural habitat in any soil environment including toxic landfills, especially when the microbial is not in balance.
All fertilizers made by Maltaflor are engineered to address all aspects of a healthy cultivation, from plantations to urban greening while giving priority to preserve water quality, chemical exposure and use of natural resources.
Maltaflor has supported the EdiCitNet program with knowledge & experience in soil management technologies and continue to support the program with education for students by providing soil analysis facilities.
Address:
Kirchberg 37b
56626 Andernach
Germany
Moestuinman
Moestuinman is a small business owned by Max de Corte. They started with community vegetable gardens and urban farming in general. Nowadays they mainly do (edible) greening of schoolyards projects (development, designing and implementing) and Food Forest and Edible Forest Gardening (development, designing, implementing, maintenance and harvesting). All these projects are done together with a network of other local entrepreneurs.
With 5,5 years of experience in running a market garden run with volunteers in 10 years of activating volunteers Moestuinman has a big social component and involvement.
Moestuinman also calls itself a permaculture entrepreneur which means we work with the following ethics: take care of the planet, take care of the people and share the abundance!
Moestuinman is involved with the Living lab and City Team of Rotterdam and is leading a research of urban farming projects with the goal of setting up a city wide network and/or organization which can support all the projects involved.
Official Website
Address:
Brouwersstraat 34
3061 NG Rotterdam
Netherlands
Degewo
degewo is a leading residential company in Berlin. With around 69,000 owner-occupied apartments and more than 6,000 third-party apartments as well as around 1,300 employees, it is one of the largest and most efficient housing companies in Germany. Their quarters are located in almost all parts of Berlin.
degewo is part of the City Team and supports with their experience in the management of numerous community gardens and insect-friendly and species-rich open spaces in their living quarters.
Official Website
Address:
Postdamer Straße 60
10785 Berlin
Germany
Food Policy Council of Berlin
The Food Policy Council of Berlin is a broad coalition of citizens that share the vision to transform the food system of Berlin and its surrounding countryside to become more sustainable, just and democratic. As a platform it encompasses members from all sectors of the food system, e.g. consumers, farmers, urban gardeners, food sharing activists, small and medium enterprises in food processing, restaurants, cafés, scientists, representatives of associations and NGOs, teachers etc. The Food Policy Council considers itself as an advocate and mouthpiece for civil society positions and demands.
Official Website
Address:
Postdamer Straße 105
10785 Berlin
Germany
Network Community Gardens Berlin
The Network Community Gardens Berlin is a self-organized activist organization, who supports the creation, protection and networking of community gardens in Berlin. It participates in political and strategic discourses concerning urban development in Berlin, especially green space, urban agriculture and environmental justice.
In the last years more and more community gardens in Berlin are at risk because of construction projects.
Until now there is no clear framework or urban concept to support and protect the gardens in the city. The Network Community Gardens Berlin wants to change this and aims for long term recognition and protection for these socially and environmentally important spaces. Therefor the network collaborates with activists from other local, national, European and international urban gardening networks as well as with activists from allotment garden organizations in Berlin.
Official Website
Address:
Schliemannstraße 8
10437 Berlin
Germany
Kindertagesstätte Löwenzahn
The municipal daycare center „Löwenzahn“ provides all day care for 110 children aged between one and six years. The pedagogical concept is based on the work of Jean Jacques Rousseau, Maria Montessori und Jean Piaget, who focus on the child as an independent person.
We assume that the child experiences its environment in action and that its own actions make it satisfied. Children learn holistically and for this reason education and training areas are closely linked in our institution and are designed to be interrelated and interdependent in order to make it possible for the children to experience meaningful action contexts.
The stay in nature enables children to develop different sensory, motor and cognitive abilities. We would therefore like to offer our children a variety of experiences in nature. In addition to designing our own garden and taking regular trips into the forest, we also enjoy the opportunities offered by the edible city. Our children demonstrate manual skill in the construction of flower beds, they observe plant development, taste the different varieties and experience self-efficacy through the cultivation of their own food. We support the festivals of the edible city and are involved in the EdiCitNet project as participants of the living lab and organizers in the city team.
Official Website
Address:
Rennweg 66
56626 Andernach
Germany
Geschwister-Scholl-Realschule plus Andernach
Geschwister-Scholl-Realschule plus is a secondary school in the city centre of Andernach. Our students are aged between 10 and 17 years and come from Andernach itself or surrounding villages and towns. They aim to achieve a graduation which enables them either for a vocational training or a higher school education.
True to our name – the Scholl siblings were a resistance group against the Nazis – civic courage and tolerance play an important part in our school life. As a Schule ohne Rassismus – Schule mit Courage = school without racism – school with courage we had an event Kochen gegen Rassismus = cooking against racism, where our students prepared typical dishes from the countries where their families had come from. This food was served to other students and to visitors of an edible-city-festival in Andernach.
Other focal points of our school are sports like athletics and football, music like instrumental lessons and trashdrumming as well as languages like French and bilingual teaching in English.
Although we are an inner city school we have a small school garden and try to create a greener school yard. In cooperation with the city of Andernach a group of our students recently built several wooden raised beds which will be planted with flowers and vegetables in spring.
Official Website
Address:
Salentinstraße 12
56626 Andernach
Germany
Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation – City Council
Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation is the successor to First Garden City Limited, formed by Ebenezer Howard to develop the world’s first garden city in 1903.
Today the Foundation is a community benefit society, acting as a place based endowed charitable organisation that works to maintain and enhance the world’s first Garden City, managing a local property portfolio to generate income, to re-invest back into the community and landscape of Letchworth Garden City through a series of charitable commitments. This means that the greater proportion of Letchworth and the surrounding farmland sits within the Foundation’s freehold.
The Foundation’s property portfolio held in Letchworth and other assets are in excess of £170 million, with an annual income is in circa £12 million, the surplus of which (£7.7 million in 2018) is reinvested through various charitable activities and grants. This includes a range of services, such as a cinema, theatre, family/educational farm, day hospital, tourist information, museum services, allotments and rural/environmental improvements, as well as a grants programme for local groups and individuals. The distribution of this charitable reinvestment is determined by a community governance structure that is formed of local volunteers and a Board of Trustees that includes a District and County Councillor.
Official Website
Address:
Broadway Letchworth SG6
3BF Great Britain
Dida Seeds
I am Karla, a young founder from Germany, living in Berlin. Currently, I am starting my own sustainable business – an online shop for organic seeds, packed in a fully organic and recycled packaging. Sustainability is the base of my business concept and a driving force of motivation to have a positive impact on our environment and social development.
I found out about Edible Cities during a webinar workshop on sustainable business canvas models. ; In my opinion, networks such as this one is are crucial to any kind of organisation – especially while starting. I’d love to be able to collaborate, contribute and learn while growing as a sustainable business and being part of an internationally growing network.
The expertise I am offering is my knowledge and passion for horticulture and social entrepreneurship. Being a native speaker in Croatian, German and Spanish, I am also very much interested in the cultural variety of international collaborations, which is why I studied Cultural Studies and Anthropology in the first place.
As I am just starting to develop my business, I’d be glad to make the Edible cities one of my first ones. Other than that I am involved in rather artistic networks and communities, as I was working as a Gallery Manager in contemporary art gallery.
My core product are organic seeds. Parallel to that, I will be offering a service to health institutions (starting in Berlin): a collaboration with hospitals and therapeutic institutions. ; In order to promote gardening as a form of therapy, already acknowledged in different parts of the world, I will be offering the service of sowing seeds with patients and their doctors / therapists as a means of therapeutic exercise, supporting their individual healing processes.
Address:
Auguststraße 63
10117 Berlin
Germany
Slow Food e.V.
Slow Food promotes a sustainable global food system and culture based on responsibility and respect towards the environment, the farmers and animals involved in this system as well as on the importance of enjoying good and tasty food. The basic prerequisite for this approach is to preserve the bio-cultural and taste diversity and to acknowledge the value of food as a “means to life”.
We are committed to upholding small-scale agriculture and artisanal fishing practices as well as food production chains that are in harmony with our ecosystems, animal welfare, the revival of rural areas, and our cultural traditions. To achieve this goal, Slow Food provides nutritional and taste education for children, youths and adults, as well as training programs for young professionals in gastronomy, agriculture, and the food sector. We connect artisanal food producers with conscious consumers, the so-called co-producers.
Slow Food Deutschland e. V. (Germany) was founded in 1992 – as the first national association outside Italy. At the beginning of 2019, it counted over 14,000 members in 85 local groups. The office of the national organization is located in Berlin.
Role of Slow Food Deutschland within EdiCitNet project:
Current environmental and climatic challenges make it crucial to work on a more sustainable food system on all levels and in all areas. It is more necessary than ever to find sustainable and local ways of growing and sourcing food in the growing urban centers, which is why Slow Food supports the initiative of edible cities. One of our local groups collaborates on one of these projects in the city of Andernach. Slow Food Deutschland would like to use this and other contexts, such as our educational work and our formats for raising awareness for more sustainable production and consumption patterns, to jointly make the idea of edible cities more known. Within the framework of edible cities, we would like to connect actors working in the field from different networks.
Further points of action are:
- Slow Food educational programs for children and teenagers about food, soil, the climate and the global aspects of food production. Our current projects such as the Slow Food Youth Akademie and Edible Connections are listed here: https://www.slowfood.de/was-wir-tun/bildung. These projects also come with learning aids to be distributed. Our communication channels are used to amplify the importance of these important topics.
- In Andernach: Slow Food Garden in Andernach – raised flowerbeds with permaculture
- The International Ark of Taste project and other Slow Food projects dedicated to safeguarding biodiversity: https://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/what-we-do/the-ark-of-taste/.
Official Website
Insect2eat
Food made from insect flour, or insect food for short, a sustainable, alternative source of protein with many advantages for healthy eating and our environment. Insec2Eat wants to face this challenge and make insect food known. Many people in Germany shy away from unknown diets, especially when it comes to edible insects. The reasons for this are mostly poor education and natural disgust. Precisely because of this sensitive product, Insec2Eat has set itself the task of putting taste, sustainability and quality first. The breeding of edible insects is inherently sustainable. For this very reason, Insec2Eat continues there and only produces in Germany and only uses biodegradable packaging. To give the products a unique taste, our chilli rillis, crispbread and crackers are handmade according to original recipes. These measures are also decisive for the quality of the products.
Edible Insects – Insect2eat
If we do not concentrate soon on alternative food concepts that are also sustainable, there is a risk that we will knock ourselves out. Factory farming and monocultures in conventional agriculture will not withstand in the long run. More and more animals that need more and more space, that consume immense resources for their breeding, a no-go.; This is exactly the starting point where I want to go and integrate insect food into people’s menus. Insect food consists partly of insect flour. Insect meal from freeze-dried insects consists of 50-70% protein which stimulates muscle growth through the protein and is also sustainable for the environment, through the resource-saving breeding of insects. Since insects do not need much space for their breeding, they can also be bred in small warehouses in the city.
Sandro Tornow – Insec2Eat
7.8 billion people need food, but traditional resources are no longer sufficient. What can we do to avoid hunger while protecting the environment?; Solution; Over 2 billion people worldwide eat insects or insect products. Insects contain between 50-70% proteins, important nutrients such as vitamins B2 & B12, healthy omega-3 fatty acids, and trace elements (iron, zinc, magnesium, potassium, etc.).; -healthy; -rich in essential nutrients and trace elements; -space-saving in breeding; -consume only 1/10 of the resources of conservative animal husbandry; -are bred according to strict HACCP rules; -can be a varied alternative to conventional nutrition; -no pesticides or antibiotics are used for breeding, only organic feed.
Official Website
Address:
Wriezener Str. 13
13055 Berlin
Germany
Spreeacker
Spreefeld Spreeacker – Community Gardens. Edible Landscapes – Photo. Michael LaFond
Spreeacker was called into life in 2011 by the Spreefeld Cooperative, as a collection of gardening, education and cultural initiatives. The goal was inviting the neighborhood and the larger community to discover, explore and activate the open spaces next to the River Spree, surrounding the construction site that would become the Spreefeld Neighborhood. The Spreeacker non-profit association emerged out of this, and has gone on to develop and manage a number of community gardens at this location. This garden work is meant to be enjoyed as well as to be educational, for all involved and the wider public. ; The first plots with native fruit trees have long since been planted. A model project for edible landscapes – a Food Forest – has been initiated in public space: in cooperation with the Spreefeld Cooperative and the District of Berlin-Mitte. The Food Forest brings together practices of permaculture and edible landscaping with nature’s way of developing forests. More than 80 different plants in this garden are edible and/or productive: everything from the leaves of small herbs or fruits and nuts produced by trees and bushes. This Urban Food Forest is growing with the support of the surrounding community. Spreeacker aspires to a wide range of external collaborations and partnerships with experts, students, neighbors, activists and interested persons.
Spreeacker is committed to developing and demonstrating the practice of edible and productive landscapes in urban, public spaces. Spreeacker understands itself as part of a larger movement actively working to stay ahead of the emerging food and climate crises.
Spreeacker is committed to developing and demonstrating the practice of edible and productive landscapes in urban, public spaces. Spreeacker understands itself as part of a larger movement actively working to stay ahead of the emerging food and climate crises.
The practice of developing and demonstrating edible and productive landscapes in urban, public spaces, in cooperation with private and public partners, neighbors, experts, students and activists. ; Educational work regarding tours, visits, workshops and discussions with a wide range of groups. Currently working on a new project, KollektivesLernen, with Marco Clausen. ; https://www.kollektiveslernen.net/; Contacts with permaculture experts, community garden activists and other food experts.
Some of their achievements are the development and start of the Food Forest, Waldgarten, in the Wilhelmine Gemberg Weg; managing community gardens with refugees and immigrants and bringing food growing into the public spaces of our neighborhood, including raised beds into the street space.
Click on the image to go to a video
Food Forest. Spreeacker. Spreefeld.
A crucial turning point for them was signing the use-agreement with the local government to be able to develop the Food Forest on land owned by the government. In the future we expect to be producing a good amount of food, especially fruits and berries and nuts.; for now, our main service is educational.
Official Website
Address:
Wilhelmine Gemberg Weg 12
10179 Berlin
Germany
Marktschwärmer
Marktschwärmer creates a direct connection between producers and consumers of a region: Customers order comfortably in the Online shop in one of the 17 “Schwärmereien” in Berlin on www.marktschwaermer.de.
On one day in the week they fetch their fresh purchases then at a central place in their neighborhood and meet there the people, who produce their meal.
The movement already has more than 80,000 members, almost 1,000 regional producers, more than 50 hosts of local markets and a small team of dedicated Marktschwärmer in Berlin and Paris who connect these people.
In over 50 local “Schwärmereien”, many thousands of people shop differently. With each purchase they directly support almost 1,000 small and artisanal producers in their region.
Uncle Trolls Pantry
We are: Uncle Trolls Pantry; We forage mushrooms and herbs from Norwegian forests. Most of what we forage we turn into products, and some we sell fresh to restaurants and end customers.; We also make courses to teach people about edible mushrooms and plants, and how to prepare them.
Our relation to ECS is given by a project in Linderud Gård Nærmiljøhage where we are experimenting with growing herbs, which is one of our expertise areas, along with knowledge about mushrooms.
Some of our achievements are becoming certified mushroom controllers in Norway; making a range of tasty products from what we forage in the local forests and arranging our first courses about foraging and preparing the catch.
It began as a hobby and with making products for family and friends. One step led to another and we began learning more about foraging from nature. The things we foraged became products like sauces, spices, pickles, pestos, chutneys and syrups. With small steps we experiment and find better and better recipes, and expand our markets. Though foraging is extremely time consuming and dependant weather conditions, experience and luck, it is also a very rewarding work. The forest is the best employer! (Even though the hourly pay is quite low…); Now after 4 years we deliver fresh mushrooms to some restaurants, and we have a range of different products within our brand.; We also started making courses and hope to expand that part of the business as it is a bit easier to plan though it is also dependant on the season.
Our core products are a range of sauces, spices, pickles, pestos, chutneys and syrups that we manufacture from foraged, grown and surplus food. We also provide educational services through courses and guided tours.
Address:
Ole Reistadsvei 9c
1068, Oslo
Norway
BAUFACHFRAU Berlin e.V.
BAUFACHFRAU Berlin e.V. is an association working in the field of Education for Sustainable Development. We qualify in themes like Green City, Sustainable Building and Zero Waste strategies. Our work includes the theme of edible cities as well in our participation projects with neighbourhoods, where we built and work with different people.
In our work in the context of sustainability we include and promote the theme of Edible Cities, because we estimate it as important as well as integral relevant for changing cities to liveable places for their inhabitants.
We promote ECS in our work theoretically as well as implement realization of small activities towards ECS in Berlin in our practical participation projects.
Some of the networks we have been involved with are the RENN network, which links stakeholders from all areas of society to make sustainable development everyday practice at regional level (https://www.renn-netzwerk.de/en/) and the Deutsche UNESCO Kommission / Education for Sustainable Development (http://preview2018.unesco.de/bildung/bne-akteure).
Our main service includes Promotion of ECS-Goals by work-based-learning-qualifications in the theme of “Green Cities” as well as participation projects in the neighbourhood within the themes of urban gardening and ECS.
Official Website
post [at] baufachfrau-berlin [dot] de
Address:
Lehderstr. 108
13086 Berlin
Germany
Stadt macht satt
“Stadt macht satt” (Harvest the City) is an initiative of the artist Anja Fiedler. “Harvest the city” gathers and develops ideas on how we can harvest delicious things in the city and how we can produce food ourselves – even in the smallest of spaces.; ; Anja Fiedler developed different prototypes of vertical gardening (window garden, salad and vegetable trees), different interactive social sculpture events to activate people to rethink our food system and find their own way to change it.; ; With her other initiative “Apfelschätze” (Apple treasures) (www.apfelschaetze.de) she rescues tons of apples every years from rotting.
Anja Fiedler believes that own FARMING, GROWING, HARVESTING and COOKING, we townspeople come closer to nature and our food. This not only makes our cities greener, but also our actions. The UNESCO has awarded “Stadt macht satt” and “Apfelschätze” as an exemplary project to teach children and adults how to think and act sustainably.
Food is one of the most effective ways to solve some of our main future problems like feeding the growing world population, climate change, preserving soil and water,etc. More than 50 % of the world population lives in cities, so edible city can help solve some of the supply questions, but also educate people and make them rethink. I made research to other edible cities and would love to have more connections and exchange.
My approach as an artist of social sculptures helps me to develop low-threshold, but emotional actions that reach very different people. Within the project people reflect their own possibilities to change things in there everyday life and most of them put it in their practice. I also give lectures and people replicate my projects with great success.
I am also connected with urban gardeners in Berlin and in Toronto. Some of the achievements of this initiative are providing to 50-70% of the people the chance to pick their own apple supply continue to do this in the following years. Children eat and cook fresh food and make their parents rescue food themselves. There is also Skinfold – where I cook together with children and adults different fresh food and make at the same time all sorts of cosmetics. People also learn how buy differently afterwards. No microplastic, no palm oil. Eat better.
Official Website
kontakt [at] anja-fiedler [dot] de
Address:
Habersaathstr. 39
10115 Berlin
Germany
AnkerBuch
AnkerBuch is located in the heart of the “Essbaren Stadt Andernach”. The company has been pursuing a holistic digital strategy since 2016. A core element of this strategy is AnkerBuch-Verlag, with a focus on regionality, sustainability and biodiversity.
In autumn 2019 the book project “Moss and the bee tendrils” was started. The author Stefan Gemmel and eight teenagers from the Kurfürst-Salentin-Gymnasium Andernach wanted to write a book together. The idea was developed by Stefan Gemmel and Ralf Anker to bring children and young people closer to the joy of reading and writing. In cooperation with the head of the Real-Labor in Andernach, only the basic idea, that it should be history about wild bee protection, was developed.
AnkerBuch has always tried to orient itself thematically in its range of products to the theme “Edible City” and is also part of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (The German Publishers & Booksellers Association).
The highlights of this project were the enthusiasm of the young people for the topic “book” and their commitment to the protection of wild bees. Carried by the energy and enthusiasm of the young people, the project got off to a furious start. But then two events brought the project to a standstill. The corona pandemic and the loss of the head of the Real Laboratory in Andernach, however, the joint efforts of author, publisher and accompanying teacher ultimately made it possible for the book of Stefan Gemmel „Moos und die Bienenranger“ to be published in autumn 2020.
Official Website
ralf [dot] anker [at] anker-Buch [dot] de
Address:
Obere Wallstraße 10
56626 Andernach
Germany
Prinzessinnengarten /Nomadisch Grün gGmbH
In 2009 the Prinzessinnengarten was founded at Moritzplatz in Kreuzberg, a community garden and learning place on a former wasteland in the middle of the city. Since the Prinzessinnengarten was designed from the very beginning as a mobile urban garden, Nomadisch Grün – the supporting organization of the Prinzessinnengarten founded in 2009 – has now moved to a new location in Neukölln with its activities after 10 years in Kreuzberg. Here, a new form of community garden is establishing itself on parts of the New St. Jacobi Cemetery, thus supporting the possibility of maintaining this place as a publicly accessible green space.
This new location is very large and close to nature with 7.5 hectares. The community garden is located in the middle of this natural space that has grown for 100 years. The activities are open to everyone and are gladly accepted by the neighbourhood and educational institutions. They range from sowing, planting, harvesting, seed production, processing and preserving vegetables, keeping bees and building a worm compost to questions of community design of urban habitat. Weekly gardening days take place on the raised-bed meadow, in the field and in the greenhouse. At the open garden meeting every week everyone can contribute with their ideas. The main aim of the work here is to provide low-threshold educational and participation opportunities.
Prinzessinnengarten has become an outstanding example of ECS in Berlin by growing vegetables in urban spaces with local communities, focusing on education & participation in order to create appreciation for food and bring people together who co-create liveable urban spaces, thus creating diverse edible landscapes within the city (school gardens, firm gardens, public gardens at social & cultural institutions)
Hence, they’ve gain great experience by bringing people together/community building in open activities with diverse backgrounds & expertise, creating innovative and low threshold concepts for urban green spaces / transforming urban green spaces.
Their networking efforts gather together people from different countries and other supporting organisation such as Gardening Network Berlin, as well as local neighbourhoods, who regularly come for an exchange, through volunteering services and educational programmes.
Some of their highlights are the model project implementation for long term conversion of urban green spaces e.g. cemetery, relocation to a new area with a long term perspective and since 2019 first time growing food on a larger scale directly in soil.
There are around 50 people involve in the organisation providing services as low threshold participation & education activities, as well as the transformation if urban spaces into edible landscapes.
kontakt [at] prinzessinnengarten [dot] net
Address:
Hermannstr. 99-105
12051 Berlin
Germany
Andes Bioenergy BDA
Andes Bioenergy use thermochemical conversion processes to transform agro-residues generated and accumulated in agro-industrial facilities, into carbon-related products (e.g. biochar, low cost filters, inks, animal diet additives, biofuels, or thermal energy) within a multifunctional approach. With a design and cost adapted to middle-income countries, BDA´s multifunctional facilities promote the bioeconomy, citizen science, gender equality, carbon sequestration, replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy and the creation of technology jobs in the rural sector.
There are significant common grounds between the thermochemical conversion of agro-residues into biochar promoted by Andes Bioenergy and the principles of Edible Cities, namely: the concept of multifunctionality, the citizen science or the participative action research. It is worth to highlight that the unique properties of biochar (e.g. low density; extremely light) can be of major relevance to promote the development and implementation of edible city solutions into urban infrastructures without increasing its weight. For instance, vertical edible/gardens and rooftop/edible gardens. Furthermore, the carbonaceous materials as the biochar are of importance in promoting the adaptation to climate changes in cities through solutions as rain gardens or greenery solutions in roads and avenues. Likewise, the use of certain urban wastes (as tree pruning wastes) as feedstock to produce biochar, can be of relevance for the treatment of contaminated soils in the urban sector or to support residential farming activities. The intersection between the technologies for the thermal refining of agro-residues / forest residues/ pruning waste, climate changes, the participative action research (i.e. transformative research), start-up development and applied research & innovation in the rural sector of middle-income countries.
Mario A. Heredia S. / CTO & Founder of Andes Bioenergy
They have also been involved in the International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Centre – ISC3 and the Green Talents network of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research – BMBF.
Some of their achievements are the 2018 Green Talent Award (BMBF) & 1st implemented reactor; 2019 Entrepreneurial spirit award (ISC3) & Implementation of four (+) reactors and the 2020 Implementation of a 1000 t/y capacity facility to produce biochar and bio-oils within the Palm Oil Sector of Ecuador.
Andes Bioenergy BDA (Alivio) is a cooperative start-up with a unique and own technology, that can convert agro-residues (e.g. husks, shells, parchments) currently hoarded and decomposing in agroindustrial facilities/farmers cooperatives, into biochar and renewable thermal energy. The core technology used for the conversion of agro-residues results from a state-of-the-art integration of thermo-chemical conversion processes in a unique modular design, standalone from external energy sources. Essentially, the BDA technology concentrates the carbon content and the soil nutrients embedded in the agro-residues into a complex carbonaceous pore structure known as biochar. The biochar is an effective organic soil conditioner that can be used by farmers in their crops to reduce fertilizer utilization, increase crop yields, improve tolerance of crops to drought and even to restore eroded soils. Once the biochar is applied to the soil, it last for millennia storing carbon (CO2). Because of these properties, the application of biochar in soils is recognized by the IPCC as an outstanding alternative for carbon sequestration and utilization. Following the notions of multifunctionality of ecosystems, Andes Bioenergy has adapted a “cooperative model” that combines the definitions of “energy cooperatives”, “bioenergy with carbon capture and utilization”, “nature-based carbon sinks” and “regenerative agriculture” to the context of the rural sector in Ecuador. In this cooperative model the BDA technological infrastructure`s will provide a constellation of services for the community besides the mere thermochemical conversion of agro-residues, namely: (i)waste management services, (ii) carbon sequestration services, (iii) access to renewable energy production, (iv) replacement of liquid fossil fuels, (v) education and research services, (vi) employment for young`s in the rural sector, (vii) adaptation to climate changes and (viii) soil restoration (ecosystem services). Andes bioenergy-BDA is integrating a transparency on-line platform to upload in real time critical data regarding the renewable energy production rate, the ecosystem services provided, and the carbon sequestered during its operation. This data is monetized through carbon removal certificates, which are traded in the recently created carbon removal marketplaces (e.g. compensate, puro, nori, carbonfuture).
heredia [dot] mario [at] ua [dot] pt
Address:
Jose Luis Tamayo y Rafael Terán
Quito – Ecuador