Nordic urban farms
Did you know know that Gothenburg is one of the pioneering cities when it comes to urban farming in Europe. But we are not alone. A lot is happening also in Denmark and Norway and their urban areas and in this article we will explore the pioneering nordic urban farms on rooftops, unused buildings and other urban areas that you might not expect in Copenhagen and Oslo. Jonathan made some visits and will take you on a virtual urban farming safari to these Nordic urban farms!
Østergro, Copenhagen – Roof top farming on a previous parking lot!
Meet Livia, cofounder of ØsterGRO, Denmarks first rooftop farm. Learn about their farm and interesting model of CSA – Community Supported Agriculture! In the summer of 2018 Jonathan went to Copenhagen for the Terra Madre Nordic conference and there he met Livia from ØsterGRO and did a spontanoues interview about their amazing rooftop farm and their new CSA concept called FællesGro.
Wanna know more? Check out the ØsterGRO rooftop farm on facebook here and read more about the CSA on the website of FællesGro.
Olso – an urban farming pioneer thanks to policy
What else is happening on urban farming in the nordic countries. Well as a member of the grow Gothenburg community you know Gothenburg is a pionering city when it comes to urban agriculture but a lot is actually happening in Norway and Oslo in specific. In fact they had a political mission to increase urban farming much like Gothenburg and a very succesful policy that meant that all new housing developoment needed green roofs that were actually having deeper soils allowing for urban gardens rather than just sedum roofs. This was done to be able to work with climate adaptation as green roof top with deeper soils can catch and harvest water and slow down the flows of storm water during heavy rains which will benefit the whole city. Olso became a pioneer thanks to top down policy in combination with bottom up initiatives and in the video below I explore and visit some of the pioneering urban farms.
Join us on a virtual urban farming safari in Oslo!
Here comes a short video with some clips from a visit and urban farming tour in Oslo – who won the European green capital of the year in 2019 when we visited these farms. Visits include “Tak for Maten” by Nabolagshager, Tåsen Microgreens, Losæter urban farm i Bjørvika and the new rooftop farm at Clarion Hotel “The Hub” – one oof many urban farms on rooftop developed thanks to the new policy for green roofs.
Wanna learn more?
Find out more about Oslo’s urban farms on the fb-page “Spirende Oslo”: https://www.facebook.com/spirendeoslo/
If you want to check out the urban farms established in Gothenburg in the spring of 2019, mentioned in the last video, here are their instagram profiles:
- Slaktarens trädgård – (find there instagram page here)
- Färgsakslandet (insta page) (currently transformed into a garden collective called Stalltäppan)
The farms were created and matched due to the Grow-here.com and our landsharing platform (in partnership with property owner Higab). Here property owners can share unused land and growers can find their dream plots. Read more about this pilot project with Higab in this article.
Hope you got some urban farming inspiration from our closest cities in the nordic countries.
Happy Gardening!
Jonathan
Grow Here