Food-hub as a common platform for food in Luleå : Is urban food growing the educational tool needed to increase Norbotten´s self-sufficiency?

Sammanfattning: Food has lost its important role in city´s life thus its presence in people´s life has also weakened. Cities are less able to sustain themselves and rely on import food. Supermarkets, which offer a broad scale of groceries from all around the world, are the number one food resource in Sweden while people are getting detached from the region they live in and from the origins of the food they consume. Local farmers struggle to survive economically while the population is slowly increasing, so does the demand for food.[1] The current context leads to the question: can Norrland be less reliant on import food? This thesis seeks answers and possibilities for cities with cold climates specifically using Luleå in Northern Sweden as a prototype and urban agriculture as a tool. It researches the past and the current situation of food production in the area. It also explores existing initiatives which are working on local food level and possibilities for cultivation in cold climates. The purpose is to understand the existing environment, the structure of resources in and around the city. In addition to existing resources, this thesis also explores urban voids for indoor production and connects them to the main intervention, a hub, which works as a platform for education, meetings, and distribution of local products. The focus of the proposal is the public, urban level. This platform is located close to the city center and has a scale which makes it able to reconnect the otherwise fragmented city. By parks included, which are planted with autochthon plants this intervention becomes a representation of the region, a living exhibition of the possibilities in Norrbotten. It accommodates several functions such as restaurant, greenhouse, shop, research center and a market in order to reach a broad scale of users. The intervention introduced in this paper is an outcome of the specific context rather than an ultimate solution for every city with cold climates. This proposal suggests possibilities to bring food closer to the people by raising awareness and seeking opportunities to implement food production into architectural planning and design as well as showing the existing possibilities in Norrbotten. [1] Luleå Kommun, Befolkningen i Luleå 2000-2014, https://www.lulea.se/kommun--politik/fakta-kvalitet-jamforelser-och-statistik/befolkningsstatistik/befolkningen-i-lulea/befolkningen-i-lulea-2000-2015.html