Urban Agriculture is an old practice that started at the small scale. Gardens are the simplest form of growing food in the city, and have existed probably as long as towns and cities. Advancements in this are difficult as small scale production can only produce food for an individual or family. In New York examples exist of this turning in to a profitable activity with low income families selling food to there neighbors. This fresh produce has health benefits for people that often don't get fresh food but it isn't practical to feed all of New York city. Normally the soil in a city environment that has seen construction is viewed as unusable agriculturally, but some research has shown that if the pH level is kept neutral, by compensating for acid rain, it can be cultivated turning vacant lots or roof tops into productive land. Homes, balconies and roofs become more then just a shelter; the community becomes an ecosystem. Please see Urban space reclamation, City farming and Metropolitan farmville.
To provide food for the growing urban population we need to move up the scale. Cuba has been extremely effective at the medium scale of urban agriculture. This local level of farming was part of Cuba's response to the increase in the cost of soviet oil. This revamp of their agricultural system lead to sustainable practices, water management and fertilizes in a local area. This highly sustainable practice, that's entirely organic, is only threatened by outside markets that would make the practice unprofitable in comparison to importing food. The limitations of this practice is that the level of distribution is only local. Please see Cuba: Pioneer in urban agriculture.
Large scale urban farming is the new frontier introducing problems and considerations that are not inherent to the other two. Small and medium urban agriculture can squeeze in to the gaps sit, on the roofs, or hang off the walls. Large scale urban agriculture confronts architecture by being more then a surrounding feature of the landscape; this thing will take the form of a building and a colossal piece of infrastructure. Many such proposals exist take a look a these at http://www.verticalfarm.com/.With available technology, and enough funding these proposals are reasonable. See the bellow PDF on materials that the structure could be made out of. Please see the blogs on Vertical farming.From what I have read large scale urban farming is the direction of urban agriculture in developed nations. It solves many of the issues that are caused by transportation and energy problems, having the advantage of local farming and distribution with industrial efficiency. But this is for the parts of the world that have the resources already. Poorer nations like Cuba are an excellent example of the successes of low tech solutions, tackling the infrastructure and water problems without resorting to expensive solutions. For the percentage of the population that will move and continue to move to slum cities the low tech solution may be the more practical one, dealing with the problem by absorbing it into the city that exists. While wealthy nations solve the problem with increasingly complex answers.
Timothy Baker
Resources:
Except see technology in 5th section and scales of urban architecture in the 3rd
-Vertical farming
-Materializing the Idea: Innovative Solutions for the Vertical Farm Leslie-Anne Fitzpatrick Rory Mauro Kathleen Roosevelt Athina Vassilakis
-A structure called "Skyland" proposed in Italy http://webtv.sede.enea.it/index.php?page=listafilmcat2&idfilm=289&idcat=22
-NY Times Urban Farming
-Cuban Agriculture
-Slum Cities
-Water treatment process called
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