Food Innovation Strip Ede-Wageningen

Ede-Wageningen takes part in the Food Valley region. Both municipalities share the ambition to strengthen their position as an (inter)national business location for innovative companies and knowledge institutions in the field of Agrofood. The Food Innovation Strip plays an important role in this, as a physical connecting structure. The axis covers a distance of 11 km and forms the connection between Wageningen University & Research with the Business and Science Park Wageningen, the Kennis Campus Ede and the future World Food Center in Ede. slider The focus of the public space manual for the Food Innovation Strip is coherence and recognizability, by making the Agrofood theme physically visible in the design of the entire axis.    Site-specific measures that anchor the axis into its surroundings, are combined with spectacular interventions that emphasize the unique identity of the area. The axis can be read as a ‘linear arboretum’. A collection of special trees in bio-based, 3D-printed pots is placed in short strips along the route. The shape of the pot is based on an Erlenmeyer flask – the conical test tube that is present in every laboratory. The arboretum is a historical reference and the pots a contemporary expression of the research and innovation character of the companies and knowledge institutions in the area. Between the ‘Arboretum strips’, area-specific trees are carefully fitted along the road section, to anchor the route in the surrounding landscape. The road is furnished with wooden light poles and benches. The function of the Axis as a key corridor of slow traffic and public transport is being strengthened; cycle paths get a specific color and are illuminated by dynamic lighting, responding to the intensity of cycling.