More and more citizens live in cities. Metropolitan areas usually also mean that green space is scarce, the distance between city and countryside is quite large, aspects of the living environment are under pressure and healthy eating is less accessible or self-evident. Cities and the hinterland are the driving force in the transition to a new food system.
Almere is such a fast growing city. Located at the junction of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area and the countryside, where city and country meet, Almere is excellently positioned to be a green and healthy city. The city would like its citizens to eat fresh and healthy food from the regional food chain. Flevo Campus was founded with this aim in mind.
Almere will almost double in size in the coming 30 years. Flevo Campus was initiated by Almere’s city council to support the city’s future growth with investments in the educational and research sector. Flevo Campus is a scientific hotspot for innovations, in which students, researchers and businesses are brought together to explore and test how food provisioning can change and innovate in growing cities.
Flevo Campus is a collaborative effort between AMS Institute, Aeres University of Applied Sciences Almere, City of Almere, and the Province of Flevoland. AMS Institute leads the Flevo Campus research program and as from January 2017 various exploratory studies have started. Involvement of all Flevo Campus partners and stakeholders provide a Living Lab setting that enables to valorize our research in practice in public city governance as well as in business opportunities.
Flevo Campus partners jointly organize summer schools, think tanks, business challenges, business vouchers, and events such as Flevo Campus Live and Floriade Dialogues.
AMS Research projects part of the Flevo Campus program "Feeding the City" are: