Where the city touches the earth

In "Where the city touches the earth", I document urban farming in Amsterdam. I visit the quiet, human made green corners of Amsterdam, spaces where the city slowly fades and stillness and connection become visible.

Where the city touches the earth

Amsterdam has nearly 200 urban agriculture projects: green oases where neighbors garden together and find calm in the midst of the bustling city. In these gardens, connections emerge—between people and with the earth—and they provide a counterbalance to urban chaos.

What makes these places so meaningful? What do we discover when we step back for a moment, and what arises in the quiet of these human-made natural spaces?

In a city facing heat stress, flooding, and biodiversity loss, urban agriculture provides not only food but also cooling, space for social interaction, and moments of peace. In a highly urbanized environment with climate challenges, these gardens are spaces of connection, both with each other and with the earth.

Over the years, I have visited diverse Amsterdam gardens, (tiny) food forests, CSAs and other neighborhood community gardens, often at times when no one else was there. In the silence, I experience how the city slowly fades away, revealing something else: stillness and the traces of human presence.

Marjolein Vinkenoog
www.mvinkenoog.nl
info@mvinkenoog.nl