Seoul Agropolis
Access to cultivable urban land is a rare commodity, as a result productive landscapes are taking over our streets, roofs, walls and undergrounds. These productive urban landscapes can have an impact on people that goes far beyond sustenance, from the creation of new economic opportunities, to the forging of social bonds and the rediscovery of one’s natural and cultural setting. A new type of city is emerging, one where every space and surface can have a different productive potential. In this new continuously productive city (an “agropolis”), production should only be seen as one part of a closed loop that also includes consumption and disposal / decomposition.
| Location: | Seoul, Korea |
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| Status: | Study submitted |
| Date: | 2021 |
Towards a Continuously Productive City
Access to cultivable urban land is a rare commodity, as a result productive landscapes are taking over our streets, roofs, walls and undergrounds. These productive urban landscapes can have an impact on people that goes far beyond sustenance, from the creation of new economic opportunities, to the forging of social bonds and the rediscovery of one’s natural and cultural setting. A new type of city is emerging, one where every space and surface can have a different productive potential. In this new continuously productive city (an “agropolis”), production should only be seen as one part of a closed loop that also includes consumption and disposal / decomposition.
The Seoul Agropolis will channel Mongok’s agricultural past to create new paradigms that bring together traditional farming methods and high-tech means for agroecological urban production, both above ground, below ground and within buildings. The Seoul Agropolis will be a space for public exhibition and engagement, research and education, and economic growth, all centered on urban farming and sustainable living.
To illustrate the diverse potential of this agropolis, we looked back to Patrick Geddes’ 1909 paradigm-changing “Valley Section”, which depicted every part of the landscape as having a different productive role and value. In each landscape a culture and an economy developed from that value. We believe it’s time to create a new urban “Valley Section” that imbues every urban space, every urban surface with productive meaning and value. From farming for sustenance, health and livelihood, supporting pollinators to harvesting water and energy. This new urban valley section will be designed to close the loop from production to consumption and waste to reuse, creating recreational and commercial opportunities and bringing communities together at every step of the process.
The agropolis functions similarly to an urban “Valley Section” with different locations on the site most appropriate (due to a host of different factors) for different types of activities and productive landscapes.
The placement and form of the building is defined by its program and its relationship to its context.
The agropolis is located in an optimal location to forge meaningful relationships with organizations like the Seoul Arboretum, universities, and community groups.
The site is designed as a flexible framework, with fluidity in mind. The building’s armature provides vertical circulation through a series of smaller cores, and depending on how the building is used, the spaces are able to transform, expanding and contracting as needed.
Mixed-Use Laneways
The City of Toronto’s public laneway network may have the potential to accommodate a broad range and diversity of neighborhood-compatible non-residential uses, which cannot financially justify or do not require a commercial main street frontage, but contribute to the creation of complete communities.
| Location: | Toronto, Canada |
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| Status: | Study submitted |
| Date: | 2025 |
The City of Toronto’s public laneway network may have the potential to accommodate a broad range and diversity of neighborhood-compatible non-residential uses, which cannot financially justify or do not require a commercial main street frontage, but contribute to the creation of complete communities.
From professional offices to maker spaces, artist studios, bicycle repair shops and green grocers, the potential to incentivize entrepreneurship may be significant. This is critical. In our efforts to accommodate population growth through intensification over the past two decades, we have lost many of the older, less expensive, and inherently flexible employment spaces. Such spaces were conducive to, and served to incubate, small business and entrepreneurship. In their absence, we must begin to look elsewhere.
The purpose of this study is to determine the potential for non-residential uses, and associated built form and public realm improvements, in public laneways within residential neighborhoods throughout the City of Toronto. In doing so, the intent is to establish a body of work that can be used to inform future city-building initiatives locally, regionally, and nationally.
Ada Park: Mixed-Use Community
Belgrade’s identity, ecosystems and history are defined by its relationship to the Danube and Sava rivers.
Ada Park will set a new precedent for sustainable and resilient development along Belgrade’s rivers, embracing old and new ways to engage with its landscapes in day-to-day life.
| Location: | Belgrade, Serbia |
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| Status: | Study submitted |
| Date: | 2024 |
Belgrade’s identity, ecosystems and history are defined by its relationship to the Danube and Sava rivers.
Ada park will set a new precedent for sustainable and resilient development along Belgrade’s rivers, embracing old and new ways to engage with its landscapes in day-to-day life. Ada Park combines office, residential, commercial programming, around transit-connected public spaces. It is place of business (Negotium) and of leasure (Otium), where urban fabric and local landscapes support one-another.
The site of future Ada Park is located at an intersection of two major regional transects: (1) the Sava River valley edge, and (2) the Belgrade suburban transition.
Sava River Valley Edge
Belgrade’s identity, ecosystems and history are defined by its relationship to the Danube and Sava Rivers, and the conditions of the river valley edge. On the lower part of its course, near its confluence with Danube, the Sava flow through a wide valley bounded on the south by forested slopes of Banovo Brdo, and extending far to the north. Tradionally, for vast majority of its history, the site was identified by its location within Sava River valley. The site is located near the bottom of the river valley, within a floodplain forest below the mesic forest of Banovo Brdo. Before 20th century, the spatial character and its inhabitation was determined entirely by the river valley transect.
Belgrade Suburban Transition
As the city of Belgrade expanded in the second half of 20th century, the site found itself in the transition zone between the rural and urban landscape. Today the site is situation at the precise point where the rural landscape ends and suburban landscape begins. The site is therefore equally defined by its location at the entrance to the city. It has become a gateway into Belgrade.
Both the river valley transect and the rurar-urban transition define the character and the unique opportunities of the site as it is today. The project should take advantage of the extremely unique condition that the site provides.
