Embedding Ecological Networks and Envisioning Agricultural Practices in the Neerpede valley

The development and design of ecological networks in the Brussels Metropolitan Region is hindered by the shortcomings of top-down planning and bottom-up initiatives. One the one hand, technical planning instruments, such as the Regional Plan for Sustainable Development (RPSD) (2013) and the Regional Nature Plan (RNP) (2016) tend to reduce ‘ecological’ networks to autonomous ‘green’ frameworks, disconnected from daily practices of local communities living in the surrounding urban fabric. On the other hand, bottom-up initiatives such as urban agriculture are initiated and embedded locally, but tend to lack visioning on a regional scale and explicit design imaginaries. What is needed is an approach which combines the shortcomings and advantages of both. This paper takes the pilot projects of BoerenBruxselPaysans in the Neerpede valley as a starting point to discuss the potential of urban agriculture initiatives in the development of ecological networks. Our hypothesis is that these initiatives could actively contribute to a ‘landscape of practice’ on a regional scale, which is providing a way to deal with ecological networks on several levels: (1) as a way to embed the active production of landscape in local communities through work and leisure and (2) as an example of how new forms of design can accommodate and develop ecological infrastructures.

ISBN:9789491564130

Jaar van publicatie:2018

Toegankelijkheid:Open