After six years of a long negotiation with the city of Cologne, we finally got the authorization to develop our project of an edible forest grown by design students and kids from the neighborhood. With strong partnerships with urban agriculture associations of the neighborhood and with organizations such as the dietarian committee and the green spaces department, we kickstarted the project in November 2025.
Our site, Alteburg is surrounded by two railroad tracks and a spontaneous forest culminating our plot. In winter, we planted green manures to loosen the very compact soil, traced paths and elaborated a design with Claire Mauquié, a food forest expert from France. In december, we planted dozens of trees and shrubs with kids from the primary school nearby, made hugels, keyholes and flags for signage. A group of design students are continuously working on the infrastructure, water management and soil quality of the garden in the frame of a mid-term project held by Prof. Heidkamp at the KISD (Köln International School of Design).
