Here are some designs for crazy urban agriculture from the past, present, and future
We always laugh at ideas from the past-
Robots tend crops that grow on floating platforms around a sea city of the future. Water from the ocean would evaporate, rise to the base of the platforms (leaving the salt behind), and feed the crops.
Advantages of Vertical Farming
Year-round crop production; 1 indoor acre is equivalent to 4-6 outdoor acres or more, depending upon the crop (e.g., strawberries: 1 indoor acre = 30 outdoor acres) | |
No weather-related crop failures due to droughts, floods, pests | |
All VF food is grown organically: no herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers | |
VF virtually eliminates agricultural runoff by recycling black water | |
VF returns farmland to nature, restoring ecosystem functions and services | |
VF greatly reduces the incidence of many infectious diseases that are acquired at the agricultural interface | |
VF converts black and gray water into potable water by collecting the water of evapotranspiration |
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VF adds energy back to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edible parts of plants and animals |
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VF dramatically reduces fossil fuel use (no tractors, plows, shipping.) | |
VF converts abandoned urban properties into food production centers | |
VF creates sustainable environments for urban centers | |
VF creates new employment opportunities | |
We cannot go to the moon, Mars, or beyond without first learning to farm indoors on earth |
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VF may prove to be useful for integrating into refugee camps | |
VF offers the promise of measurable economic improvement for tropical and subtropical LDCs. If this should prove to be the case, then VF may be a catalyst in helping to reduce or even reverse the population growth of LDCs as they adopt urban agriculture as a strategy for sustainable food production. |
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VF could reduce the incidence of armed conflict over natural resources, such as water and land for agriculture |
This is Gordon Graff’s Sky Farm proposed for downtown Toronto’s theatre district. It’s got 58 floors, 2.7 million square feet of floor area and 8 million square feet of growing area. It can produce as much as a thousand acre farm, feeding 35 thousand people per year and providing tomatoes to throw at the latest dud at the Princess of Wales Theatre to the east, and olives for the Club District to the north. Thankfully it overwhelms the horrid jello-mold Holiday Inn to the west. (From TreeHugger)
One of my personal favorites…
Daekwon Park, seen in the 2008 Evolo skyscraper competition, is a way to reunite the isolated city blocks and insert a multi-layer network of public space, green space and nodes for the city.
Daekwon Park clips on to the exterior of existing buildings a series of prefabricated modules serving different functions would be stacked on top of each other, adding a layer of green space for gardening, wind turbines or social uses to make new green façades and infrastructures.
There are modules for vertical gardens and connections to other buildings through a network of skywalks;
Wind turbine units and program units that could serve many public functions.
The concept of adding a layer of complexity and usefulness to the under-insulated glass dinosaurs that are sprouting up everywhere may save them and their owners from the inevitable hike up 24 flights of stairs with their meagre rations. via ::Prunedand ::Archinect
There are lots of awsome skyscraper designs at Evolo
Last but certainly not least, is the Vertical Farm project
Several of the designs we have looked at come from the Vertical Farm project, which promotes local fresh and healthy foods in gravity defiying ways. This project was started by a professor at Columbia, Dr Dickson Despommier. His theory, that ‘skyscraper farms’ could provide plentiful food organically, without herbicides, pesticides or fertilisers, has attracted venture capitalists and scientists from around the world, intent on making the theory into reality within 15 years.
Designed by Chris Jacobs for the Vertical Farm Project. Check out this great article in the New York Magazine for lots of pictures, interviews, and breakdowns of the design.
Links to cool things on the Vertical Farm website
The Vertical Farm Essay by Dickson Despommier
Materializing the Idea: Innovative Solutions for the Vertical Farm A study conducted by: Leslie-Anne Fitzpatrick Rory Mauro Kathleen Roosevelt Athina Vassilakis
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