Location
69214 Heidelberg | between Bahnstadt, Pfaffengrund, Kirchheim
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![]( "Bordered between three neighbourhoods")
The area of the Agricultural Park is surrounded by Bahnstadt, Kirchheim and Pfaffengrund and encompasses mainly private individual areas used for food production, as well as other uses, buildings and paths. The area includes the conversion area Airfield. Image: Philipp Hössel
![]( "An agricultural park for Heidelberg")
Which landscape and agriculture do we need within urban agglomerations? On the basis of a cooperation network of farmers, residents and local institutions, IBA is planning an Agricultural Park in Heidelberg. Image: Philipp Rothe
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Planning
Initial idea:
Wolfgang Roth, Heidelberg
Steffen Becker, Heidelberg
Oskar Harbich, Heidelberg
Study
bauchplan ).(, München mit
Dr. Thorsten Haase, Wiesbaden (Entwicklungsstrategie)
Further Partners
Dirk Wascher, Wageningen
Prof. Antje Stokman, Hamburg
Katrin Bohn, Berlin/ London (beratend)
Project Partner
Initiative for an agricultural park, Heidelberg
Contact Person
Moritz Bellers
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A 420-hectare stretch of land used for agricultural purposes lies between the four Heidelberg districts of Bahnstadt, Patrick-Henry-Village, Pfaffengrund, and Kirchheim as well as Eppelheim.
Heidelberg is growing and people are increasingly using the area during their leisure time – just as agriculture, too, is in a process of constant change.
The objective of the Agricultural Park project, which is designed as a process, is to identify the desired usages and conflicts, interface them and arrive at a vision developed together.
The large number of property owners and of users means change can only be realized with a network. To this end, an initial concept was devised through intense discussion and a workshop process with local residents, farmers, and interested members of the general public, and a study of the fundamentals completed. In 2019, the district council tasked the administration and IBA with developing and audit and planning report in order to translate conceptual ideas into guidelines for discussion. Developed by Munich’s Bauchplan practice, the report will now serve as the basis for the forthcoming civic participation and will be further elaborated in a second phase.
The Agricultural Park will show how existing economic and material cycles can be intensified further. The goods produced here are in part already being sold directly to customers. The Agricultural Park is intended as a »display window« where you can see how foods can be produced more efficiently and in an eco-friendly way. New agricultural methods developed from the idea of a circular economy and energy generation will be tested here and showcased. The centrally located airfield once used by the US Army has been incorporated into the ideas, and its new usage will derive from the context of the Agricultural Park.
The plan is for loop roads of different sizes to access the park to avoid conflict with agricultural vehicles. Trees and shrubs will be supplemented, and an historical avenue of mulberry trees restored. At different points, people will be able to view information on the park and its agricultural use. Some of these stops will feature lookout platforms, others mark the park entrances.
The idea is to develop and gradually realize the Agricultural Park in coming years together with the farmers and the city’s inhabitants. The goal is to work with the local players involved to create a special outdoor world for the urbanites and at the same time ensure a stable operational and business structure. Here, the shift away from mass industrialized farming will be visualized and civic society and farming will mutually support each other.