Role of Architectural Design in Urban Food Systems
Urban food resilience has become a critical issue, particularly from two vital viewpoints. First, sustenance or self-sufficiency and second sustainability, with an ever urgent need to reduce the carbon content associated with food production. Both issues have been put to a greater relief in our word today as we endure the various effects of the pandemic, the global trade dispute, the war in Ukraine and above all, climate change.
Urban agriculture holds potential to address these challenges. But it requires space and resources like water and energy. All of these are premium and over-strained commodities in cities where multiple interests/ needs are already competing for the limited available space, energy, and water.
Integrated architectural design and urbanism holds the answer to this predicament. As demonstrated in several projects across the world and my own projects - designers have the ability to adapt existing typologies or create new archetypes that integrate high intensity urban farming into the urban fabric and infrastructure. In our projects we collaborate closely with entrepreneurs and farming technologists to understand their systems and integrate these as part of the built environment. We do this by adopting a systems design methodology that facilitates the creation of synergies and circular networks which reduce resource consumption and optimize productive capacity.
In doing so, we hold the potential to not only improve our supply and sources of clean food, but also create new values that urban agriculture can yield - from salutogenic benefits to creating new businesses to strengthening the social bonds in urban communities.
About the Session
Urban food resilience has become a critical issue, particularly from two vital viewpoints. First, sustenance or self-sufficiency and second sustainability, with an ever urgent need to reduce the carbon content associated with food production. Both issues have been put to a greater relief in our word today as we endure the various effects of the pandemic, the global trade dispute, the war in Ukraine and above all, climate change.
Urban agriculture holds potential to address these challenges. But it requires space and resources like water and energy. All of these are premium and over-strained commodities in cities where multiple interests/ needs are already competing for the limited available space, energy, and water.
Integrated architectural design and urbanism holds the answer to this predicament. As demonstrated in several projects across the world and my own projects - designers have the ability to adapt existing typologies or create new archetypes that integrate high intensity urban farming into the urban fabric and infrastructure. In our projects we collaborate closely with entrepreneurs and farming technologists to understand their systems and integrate these as part of the built environment. We do this by adopting a systems design methodology that facilitates the creation of synergies and circular networks which reduce resource consumption and optimize productive capacity.
In doing so, we hold the potential to not only improve our supply and sources of clean food, but also create new values that urban agriculture can yield - from salutogenic benefits to creating new businesses to strengthening the social bonds in urban communities.
The Future of Food Production Summit!
