Urban Agriculture as an Integrative Factor of Climate-Optimised Urban Development, Casablanca

„VISION VERTE invites you to learn more about Urban Agriculture. Come and see our exhibitions, workshops, screenings and sales show of local products.“

This citation from the event’s flyer announces activities arranged in and around Casablanca, Morocco to inform the public audience, stakeholders, experts and policy makers on the achievements of this German-Moroccan research project on the megacities of tomorrow.

This second edition of the VISION VERTE event took place at La Coupole, situated in the heart of Casablanca’s most popular public green space „Parc de la Ligue Arabe“. Activities started on March 31 and lasted till end of April and strived to demonstrate the bandwidth of projects and efforts dealing with this innovative approach of urban revitalisation.

The VISION VERTE activities have been performed around an exhibition, which brought together a selection of boards from the „Carrot City“ exhibit, set up by authors from Ryerson University, Canada;   the results of a  research competition of the UAC project  hold in 2010, examples showing the actions and progress made by the  4 pilot projects of the UAC project, and the results of a German –Moroccan Summer School on Urban Agriculture in the Mediouna Region . The final edition of the UAC exhibition has been organised by Frank Helten and Kristian Ritzman for ZEWK –kubus, Berlin Institute of Technology. The presentation of movie pictures on food production, climate change and urban agriculture in Africa and elsewhere contributed to expand the focus of the exhibition and to broaden the understanding of the challenges ahead.

The VISION VERTE event also included a couple of communicative activities not just to inform the public audience but also to address experts, scholars and policy makers:  The opening event in the evening of March 31 started with welcome addresses given by representatives from the funding Federal Ministery of Education and Research (Prof. Ehlers), the City Council of Casablanca (NN), Goethe–Institute Morocco (H. Meissner), the National Institute for Urban and Regional Planning- INAU (Prof. Adidi), the hosting NGO – Casablanca Carrières Centrales (M.Mellouk) and  of Urban Planning Agency Casablanca (M. Hafif).   Prof. Giseke, Prof. Amraoui (both UAC) and Joe Nasr, Ryerson University, continued by explaining background and thematic issues of UAC project and the exhibition.

A series of accompanying events have been hold to anchor the concerns of the project. Prof. Giseke, M.Mellouk, M.Hafif and NN discussed the opportunities for the greening of the Medina of Casablanca.  The scientific head of the Moroccan research group, Prof. Amraoui organised a forum on urban agriculture, where scholars from University Hassan II Casablanca, the Berlin Institute of Technology and University Hohenheim reported on their studies. Moreover, a highly frequented Round Table on  “Urban Agriculture in Morocco” has been prepared by INAU    addressing cities like: Fes, Marrakesh, Meknès , Agadir and Mohammedia. All these activities took place in La Coupole where also a Sales Show of local products, organised by members of the pilot project 4 was held and, not to forget, a so called VISION VERTE Chabab – a workshop with pupils and hands-on urban gardening activities– was carried out.

Further events have been arranged by pilot projects: Pilot Project 1, under the direction of Prof. Chlaida, hold two Round Tables: One on “Water Reuse for Agriculture “ attended by farmers, local policy makers, and representatives from the Urban Agency Casablanca and accompanied by a guided tour to a biological farm in the Mediouna region.  The second Round Table dealt with “Good Practices Regarding Industrial Water Management”, offered a visit to the Naturex Wastewater Plant at the Aéropole of Casablanca and was attended by participants from industry, administration, science and local councils.

Pilot Project 2   demonstrated the advances made in the school garden and the training of women at Ouled Ahmed’s Solidary Farm. Project posters were shown and explained during a Fantasia Festival hold at Ouled Ahmed between 8-10 of April. The members of this project  (M. Essoubi, M. Zini, M. Chahed) also arranged the presentation of some sketches addressing climate change, environment and ecology, the performance of a short play written and performed by female pupils and a painting contest.

Pilot Project 3 under the guidance of Said Berdouz and the members of the pilot project group   contributed to the sales show of local products and made a considerable effort to raise awareness for the agricultural produce and the touristic value of the Oued El Maleh valley.  Moreover the project arranged a contest for the design of mobile stands to offer and sell products.

Pilot Project 4, directed by Fattouma Benabdenbi, was the main promoter of the sales show and succeeded – together with NGO Terre et Humanisme Maroc - in ensuring the participation of around twenty exhibitors.  Furthermore PP4 arranged an Open Door day at the pedagogic farm in Dar Bouezza, offering a painting contest for the children and an awareness raising campaign on global warming.  

Some additional dissemination activities should also be mentioned. Members of the project gave several radio and TV interviews. Articles on Vision Verte were published in the Moroccan print media. A special report on these activities is under preparation.

 

Add –Ons

The Goethe-Institute Morocco took over the exhibition mid –april for a duration of four weeks, thus opening up the chance to multiply the frequency of visits. Moreover, the INAU hosted an edition of the exhibit (end april –end of july) at its premises in Rabat at the occasion of its 30^th anniversary where international scholars from Europe and the MENA countries discussed the challenges of urbanisation.