Agromere: Integrating urban agriculture in the development of the city of Almere
The objective of Agromere, a planning concept for an area situated in the rapidly growing Dutch city of Almere (185,000 inhabitants), was to explore opportunities to re-integrate agriculture into modern Dutch city life, while at the same time inspiring stakeholders to incorporate urban agriculture in the city’s actual development plan. Through a combined stakeholder and design process, a virtual city district on 250 ha was designed which integrates living space (for 5,000 inhabitants) with urban agriculture. This concept design contributed to the municipality of Almere’s own development plan, which was launched in 2009. The city’s plan highlights urban agriculture and is in this regard a unique system innovation in Dutch urban planning.