SLU Urban Futures, in co-operation with Umeå municipality, will launch a student design competition in March 2024. Students in the field of Landscape Architecture and sustainable urban development will be given the opportunity to design processes of co-producing a multivalent urban landscape – shaping a unique urban setting of Umeå’s future.
SLU Röbäcksdalen, a large agricultural field research station operated by SLU located on the outskirts of Umeå City, lies adjacent to residential neighbourhoods to the north, and open agricultural land to the south. The site provides an important urban recreational environment for the metropolitan area, as well as a vital research environment for SLU. Currently, the land and research infrastructure are used by several of SLU's faculties as well as for external activities by other governmental and societal stakeholders connected to agriculture and food production as well as to nature conservation, historical heritage, transport infrastructure and urbanisation as well as water management and urban forestry.
The ongoing urbanisation processes in the region and the requirement for extended research on site bring forward questions such as: How can the site retain scientific integrity while remaining open and publicly accessible? How could an urban multifunctional site for recreation, biodiversity and research be co-created? How can the public awareness of SLU research conducted at the site be increased?
The incoming designs should combine urban development and ecological demands, support multiple and co-present uses and users, reveal untapped on-site potentials, envision innovative socio-technical solutions to sustainable growth challenges, and identify opportunities for an on-site urban Living Lab approach to scientific research.
More information about the competition will be shared as soon as possible. Keep informed through SLU Urban Futures channels.
