Beyond Urban Agriculture
beyond urban agricutlure
Exploring the multiple potential impacts of building-integrated vegetation to give insight into new value structures.
what is building integrated vegetation?
Building-Integrated Vegetation takes advantage of the most substantial amount of area in cities by growing plants inside and on the exterior surfaces of buildings. Also call "building bound" spaces, or zero acreage farming
INDOOR GREEN WALL
INDOOR GREEN WALL ACTIVE
INDOOR LANDSCAPE
INDOOR FARM
GREEN FACADE
GREEN ROOF
ROOFTOP FARM COVERED
ROOF FARM UNCOVERED
BALCONIES / WINDOWSILLS
typologies of "building bound spaces" adapted from Skar et al 2019
beyond urban agriculture
why is there urban agriculture and why is it important that we get more out of it than just food
Urban agriculture is an industry that produces, processes and markets food and fuel, largely in response to the daily demand of consumers within a town, city or metropolis, on land and water dispersed throughout the urban and peri-urban area, applying intensive production methods, using and reusing natural resources and urban wastes, to yield a diversity of crops and livestock. (Smit 1996, United Nations Development Program Publication)
want to see more definitions of urban agriculture?
urban agriculture
building-integrated vegetation
The incorporation living plant systems inside or integrated into the envelope of buildings with multiple performative . (Yale CEA)
different evaluative frameworks
What is the value of building-integrated vegetation? It depends who's asking.
The vulnerability of complex value chains that became apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, are now driving cities to test new ways of facilitating access to fresh and healthy food. Urban agriculture has emerged as a solution to re-establish production-consumption ties in a sustainable way and reconnect not only urbanites with food systems but also cities with their peri-urban areas.
background
Since 80% of food will be consumed in cities by 2050, cities can significantly influence the way that food is grown particularly by bringing food production closer to urban centers and promoting shorter circuits of food. These show potential to enhance food systems circularity and resources management (e.g., sustainable production, with less waste, plastic, water and energy and transport) and to lead people towards more sustainable food consumption habits due to stronger connection with the food they eat. (Ellen MacArthur, 2019; The Veolia Institute Review, 2019). On the other hand, urban food consumption is one of the largest sources of urban material flows, urban carbon and land footprints, cities can leverage changes in their food systems to address their sustainability and resilience challenges.
cities as an important action hub