Is future farming meant to take place in skyscrapers? Does the scarcity of resources and the climate change require new ways of thinking that ensure our and our children’s survival – and that of generations to come? Does vertical farming maybe even present a solution to the problem of malnutrition and starvation?
These and other questions have been asked since the 60s by scientists attempting to solve the problem of providing for a steadily growing world population. Or should we go start with the Gardens of Babylon back in the days?
Humanity Has One Huge Problem – We Cannot Support Our Population
Half of earth’s population is living in overcrowded cities. According to certain projections, this number will increase and come up to 70% about fifty years from now. A challenge that seems to be hard to bear. The magic trick requires for metropolises around the globe to be able to provide for seven billions of citizens without over-exploiting natural resources.
One answer to this future problem is the concept of “vertical farming”, also referred to as “agricultural towers”. While inherently quite clever, the idea calls for the use of advanced technologies. In principle, most of these already exist. The goal is to minimize the distance between end-consumers and production sites by means of urban agriculture. Production of botanical and animal products happens within the cities, saving time and money by reducing transport costs. Different levels, one on top the other, offer more acreage compared to traditional agricultural areas. Crops can be planted perennially without rotation as the environment creates ideal conditions of irrigation, fertilisation and lighting.
One Agricultural Tower Could Support up to 50.000 Lives
Dr. Dickson Despommier, an American scientist, developed the concept of vertical farming at the Columbia University in New York for the first time in 2000. He has been regarded a visionary ever since, spreading extraordinary ideas that look simple at first glance. By now, many research institutions around the world have adopted these ideas and further developed them into interesting pilot experiments. At this point, what would be more obvious than building farms in a self-supporting skyscraper? According to Despommier’s evaluation, a multi-storey building with the dimensions of a football field could provide for up to 50.000 people per year.
One of the most visionary examples, Project Dragonfly in New York City, is being developed by the French architect’s office Vincent Callebaut, combining housing and usage of agricultural production areas in New York City. The layout includes a large farm on 132 storeys. With its height of 700 metres, the skyscraper is expected to produce food from multiple sources – mushroom cultivation, orchards, fish and chicken farms and cow pastures – that can sustain the lives of more than 150.000 New York citizens.
“Grüne 8” at the Alexanderplatz
Before long, there will be high-rise farming in Germany as well. Architects Agnieszka Preibisz and Peter Sandhaus are currently working on a project that is meant to make life in an urban environment as natural and organic as possible. “Grüne 8” is designed for the Alexanderplatz and offers a mixture of apartments, workplaces, exercising and recreational activities and, last but not least, orchards. The goal is reconciliation of the wish to live urban-style and the desire to exist in harmony with nature.
Sustainability is a priority, trying to avoid long transportation routes for groceries and basic necessities. Water treatment plants are part of the design, just like incineration plants for organic waste which in turn can be used for fertilising. All-year supervision and care will prevent crop pests, guaranteeing a fruitful harvest. Combined with a sophisticated technology regulating temperature, brightness and humidity, crop failures will be virtually impossible.
Beside orchards and vegetable gardens, “Grüne 8” will have another feature that is meant to encourage residents to take up gardening. Crop production is located in a central atrium with access granted to every occupant. On top of that, every family will be offered a garden right in front of their doors. Preibisz and Sandhaus see an ideal future prospect of local cooperatives, acting independently as executives for their projects to ensure that business is conducted in a sustainable manner. Investors or companies solely aiming for profit or yield are to be excluded from the project.
Whatever the future may hold, skyscrapers will likely be a part of it, making life easier with all kinds of resources at our disposal. Whether the generations of today are going to be able to benefit fully from these advantages is not quite as certain. Yet maybe one day we will harvest tomatoes as eighty-year-olds on the 30th floor of a multi-storey building or take a quick fishing trip with our grandchildren, then go back to enjoying all the luxuries of urban life.
