Luxembourg is looking for urban farmers

A new pilot project in the capital will try out multi-faceted farming in a built-up setting as a source of food and environmental awareness

This week, authorities in Luxembourg City put up an ad looking for candidates to run the urban farm in the Kuebebierg eco-district currently under construction. The position is part of the city’s bid to introduce urban farming at scale.

Martine Hemmer, head of the Kirchberg Fund, a public organisation tasked with the Kuebebierg construction project explained that the urban gardening at the new district would be a pilot project for developing more urban gardening initiatives throughout the city.

Furthermore, this is part of the Luxembourgish National Urban Farming Strategy to bring food production closer to urban centres and promote more circular and sustainable nutrition. Ms Hemmer was quoted by L’essentiel explaining that the goal is to produce closer to where we consume.

The educational element of urban gardening

According to the Kirchberg Fund’s timetable, urban farming should begin as early as 2024, despite the fact that residents are scheduled to start moving into the new district in 2028. This is because farming can start earlier than construction is scheduled to finish.

Additionally, the urban farm will have multiple uses, apart from food production. They include micro-livestock like chickens and rabbits, and an orchard but also the service and maintenance of the neighbourhood green spaces.

According to Ms Hemmer, the urban farm will also have an educational role, bringing topics of ecology, preservation and landscape heritage to the forefront of the Kuebebierg community.

The new district

The new district will be built on an area of 33 hectares and feature a multi-modal traffic plan with cars only allowed at certain crossings. It will cost around 77 million euros and will provide about 3,000 housing units.

Furthermore, it will be constructed on the Kirchberg Plateau which is currently a green area. One of the unique features of the district is that it will be integrated with the existing green spaces and provide a way for nature to intermingle with the urban environment.