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urban greenhouse talks

Urban Greenhouse talks - exploring the world of urban farming in a podcast series

The Urban Greenhouse Talks is a five-episode podcast series organized by the Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and hosted by EatThis. This series explore the world of urban farming through the lens of the Urban Greenhouse Challenge #3, an international student competition organised by the WUR. 

The competition took place in 2022 and aimed to catalyse innovation in urban farming by challenging multidisciplinary and international student teams to bring professional food production (back) into urban neighbourhoods, integrating social, economic, environmental and technical aspects in one coherent concept. 
The third edition of the Urban Greenhouse Challenge focused on creating an urban farm concept that ensures year-round sustainable and affordable food production while also generating income for the local residents of Ward 7, one of the most diverse lower-income neighbourhoods of Washington D.C., USA.

podcast episodes

Episode 1 🎧

The first episode of the Urban Greenhouse Talks podcast series aims to inspire the participants of the Urban Greenhouse Challenge and urban farming professionals to rethink urban food production. Instead of focusing purely on technical and financial aspects, the podcast invites everyone to include social impact in the equation.  Podcast hosts Renee Snijders and Ed Smit of EatThis discuss the origins of the Urban Greenhouse Challenge, explore the development and future of urban farming with their guests professor Gert Spaargaren, doctor Sigrid Wertheim-Heck (both WUR) and Henry Gordon Smith, founder and CEO of Agritecture.com. Together they will evaluate the role of food innovation in relation to social innovation and share best-practices in the field of urban farming.
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Episode 2 🎧

In Episode 2 hosts Renee Snijders and Ed Smit (@Eatthis.info ) are joined by three prominent women in the sector to explore sustainability and circularity of urban farms: Meiny Prins, CEO of @Privagroup, initiator of the @sustainableurbandelta and one of the @inspiring_fifty, takes a look forward into the future of urban farms. Tiffany Tsui, @tiffanyshuyunfotostory is an ‘Urban Greenhouse Challenge’ veteran and CSO of @verticalfarminstitute. She delves into the roles of local communities in the development process. Manila de luliis, Chief Urban Development Officer of World of Walas shares her tips on financial sustainability and how to integrate existing infrastructure in the urban development process.
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Episode 3 🎧

Episode 3 of the Urban Greenhouse Talks podcast is here! On our way to the finals of said challenge, we turn our attention to the technological feasibility of the student designs. For this, we enlisted the help of three horticulture sector leaders. Tune in to hear Art van Rijn (Artechno), Sandro van Kouteren (Parusplantlight Europe) and Manuel Oomen (The Hawthorne Gardening Company) on the importance of a solid production system. With the current focus of student designs on form over function, the expert trio shares how the right technology, and the right product can push the students a long way into the competition.
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Episode 4 🎧

For the 4th episode in this series, presenters Renee Snijders and Ed Smit interview the UGC selection committee on how they perceive the Urban Greenhouse Challenge, what they think of the proposals and how they envision the future of urban farming in Washington D.C. or more specifically East Capitol Urban Farm, the site of this social impact edition. What’s in store for the winning proposal and how can it become reality and a true life changing project for the local residents in Ward 7? The selection committee includes Kathy Dixon, Principal at K. Dixon Architecture; Eric Harris, PhD student at UDC; Commissioner Antawan Holmes and Jimell Sanders, President of the Deanwood Citizens Association.
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Episode 5 🎧

The 5th and last podcast was a 2-hour live show on Paprika Tasy Radio. Presenters Ed Smit and Renee Snijders interviewed various teams (including winner Lettus Design), jury members and previous participants. The show and this last podcast are a nice recap of the Challenge. The third edition of the Challenge started in November 2021 with 30 student teams from 70 Universities in 20 countries joining in. After the first selection, 20 teams made it to the second round where they received coaching and advice from over 30 partners supporting the Challenge. Ten teams were selected for the finals, including teams from Colombia, the USA, Peru, China and the Netherlands.
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about the challenge

In July 2022, the winners of the 3rd Urban Greenhouse Challenge were announced after the exhilarating finals where 10 international student teams presented their final concepts to the jury.

If you are curious to know more about the winning concepts, then click on the button below to read the Urban Greenhouse Challenge magazine.
Or have a look at the aftermovie to get an idea of what the competition was all about.

Read the UGC3 magazine
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