The Productive Landscape of the IBA’27

IBA’27 (Internationale Bauausstellung 2027 StadtRegion Stuttgart) asked LAND to increase understanding of the Green Transition in the Stuttgart Metropolitan Region, explore what prevents us from changing to a more sustainable and productive city, and identify how we can overcome these challenges.

The declared aim of the study “The Productive Landscape of the IBA’27 – Applied Research Study on the Productive Landscape of the Stuttgart Metropolitan Region in the Context of the IBA’27” is to develop a lively and ecologically sound concept to increase acceptance among stakeholders and the attractiveness of landscape for residents, enterprises and investors. New sustainable development models for urban agriculture and circular systems are to be integrated into the process to make a concrete contribution to the objectives of the IBA’27. Adapting local planning instruments needs to be initiated in a future-oriented and cross-disciplinary manner.

The study starts with analysing current research and developing concepts that integrate urban agriculture, nature-based solutions, and attractive open spaces, thus promoting inclusive and profitable “Productive Landscapes” in urban spaces. To make a real impact, evaluating ecosystems and measuring their services are to be incorporated as decisive arguments into the concepts to present sustainable scenarios to investors, public administrations, citizens, or other stakeholders.

The claim of our applied research study developed with the LAND Research Lab relates to the paradigm shift in our European society. The individual cannot achieve the requirements of the Green Transition in the fight against climate change impacts alone; indeed, strengthening the understanding of a collective endeavour and the landscape as a collective asset helps to make this study a direct and contemporary tool. The beneficiaries of the study are fundamentally not only the IBA’27 and all the planners involved in the process but, at the same time, all landscape stakeholders, activists, and people who want to actively and sustainably shape their living space and regional and local politics. The parallel cooperation of LAND in the IBA’27 project “Agriculture meets Manufacturing” in the city of Fellbach, which is also about urban productivity, enables both content-related and practical synergies in the development of the study.

Expert consultants support LAND’s team: Dr. Christiane Gebhardt, Director of Integrated Urban Solutions at Drees & Sommer, contributes to the “Strategy and Organisational Consulting, Ecology and Circular Economy “; Prof. Dr. Detlef Kurth (TU Kaiserslautern) deals with “the Management of Regional Planning and Planning Instruments.”