Figure - uploaded by Kathrin Specht
Content may be subject to copyright.
Source publication
Urban agriculture of the future – on inner-city buildings
Urban agriculture is a major trend throughout the world at present – also in Germany. Within the “ZFarm” research project, researchers from the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) joined forces with its partners Institute for Urban and Regional Planning (ISR) of Techni...
Citations
... Short-term business opportunities may imply unproven profitability in the long-term along with indispensable financial and political support, which is not always assured (Palmer et al., 2016). The economic feasibility of these projects must be assessed on a case-by-case basis (Freisinger et al., 2015). ...
The main objective of this study is to analyze the perceived barriers and opportunities with regard to the implementation of urban agri-green roofs (UAGR) in cities. The case study was conducted in Barcelona, a Mediterranean compact city. The World Café method was used in this work. Five categories of barriers and opportunities were discussed (social, environmental, legal/administrative, technological/architectural, and economic) by interdisciplinary stakeholders.
A total of 129 barriers and opportunities were identified. The main barriers identified were as follows: the lack of information and social cohesion regarding UAGR projects; the Mediterranean climate; the lack of specific regulations and protocols; the initial investment; and the pre-condition of the roof and its load bearing capacity. The main opportunities were social cohesion; improved life quality; new specific regulations; the profits derived from UAGR projects; and aesthetic improvement.
The UAGR's scale of impact results showed a homogeneous distribution between “building” and “city”, while the “global” scale remains residual. Regarding the stage of the UAGR life cycle at which barriers and opportunities emerge, the results highlight how most opportunities appear during the “use” stage of the roof, whereas barriers do so during the “project” stage.
... Also because the characteristics of each region must also be kept in mind, a white base color was chosen for the color of the bellows. [5] Also after installing the bellows, a method of diversifying the colors of the LED lights was chosen. Taking into consideration conservation of energy, SOLAR WARM AIR CIRCULATORs were planned to be installed. ...
In this study, we evaluated the purpose and method of new facilities for the urban farming in neighborhood regeneration during establishment of the plan for regeneration of the castle village in Haengchon District, which was recently carried out by Seoul. By utilizing the unused rooftop spaces of multi-family houses, the economic burden of residents to purchase land decreased, and although at a small scale, a method to generate profits together with neighbors is examined. So selecting the rooftop of the "Haengchon Lot", which is the revitalization center of Haengchon-dong, the business trial and research were officially launched. Unlike vinyl greenhouse that are planned at the ground level, the prefabricated greenhouse on the rooftop has been designed. The expansion models must be lightened and miniaturized. By taking into consideration the different installation conditions of different rooftops and also taking into consideration the convenience of installation, the safety of the structure and economic costs etc.
... Production planning (e.g., Products/Production methods/Greenhouse parts/Energy optimization and resource efficiency/Quality assurance and certification) v. Financial planning (e.g., Economic feasibility/Forms of financing and funding opportunities) vi. Project support (e.g., Involving the public/Networking) As the main outcome of the participatory process, a guidebook that addresses the identified potential benefits, challenges and key issues was developed to enable administrators, politicians, citizens and future operators to address ZFarming in Berlin [39]. ...
... The applied participatory process could contribute to increasing the potential use of ZFarming in different ways. As a very concrete outcome, the results presented in the jointly published manual for RTG can help to make meaningful use of the potential benefits of ZFarming while addressing associated problems and challenges [39]. Similar to what has been described by Schwerdtner [36] for an earlier application of the ROIR approach, the ZFarming process was highly appreciated by the participating stakeholders because it allowed them to reflect and select various development options. ...
How can buildings be combined with agricultural production and what are the major potential benefits and challenges for the introduction of zero-acreage farming (ZFarming) in Berlin from the relevant stakeholders’ perspectives? These questions were explored through a series of interviews and stakeholder workshops held between 2011 and 2013. The aim was to identify the most suitable building-integrated farming model for the Berlin metropolitan area and to develop guidelines for the model’s successful and sustainable implementation through a stakeholder-driven approach. This paper provides an aggregated synthesis of the outcomes derived from the qualitative interviews and stakeholder workshops. As the results reveal, the stakeholders perceive potential benefits and challenges related to the issue of ZFarming in all dimensions (economic, social, environmental and political). They largely agreed on the importance of focusing on local resources, using energy-efficient production—including social and educational aspects—and developing new market structures when introducing ZFarming to the city of Berlin. The stakeholders identified urban rooftop greenhouses (RTG) as the most promising farming model for Berlin. In a joint collaboration of all stakeholders, a manual for RTG was developed within the participatory innovation process that addresses the identified problems and challenges associated with future implementation and governance of RTG in Berlin and beyond.
http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/4/4511
With more care about safety of food in general and vegetable in special, the seriousness of air pollution in big city in Vietnam, citizens are now planting more fresh vegetables in their houses, especially in the rooftop. The research was carried on by personal interviews with 252 respondents in Thainguyen city, a big city in the Northeast area of Vietnam, to describe the situation and affecting factors toward the willingness to practice the “rooftop vegetable garden”. The results of research show that only 33.7% respondents had high willingness to practice the “rooftop vegetable garden”, however, there’re up to 43.7% respondents who have “rooftop vegetable garden”. Five factors have effects on practitioners’ willingness to practice the “rooftop vegetable garden”:1. Urban environment pollution, 2. Urgency of fresh vegetable, 3. Knowledge about farming on the roof, 4. Time to practice and 5. Lifestyle. And three factors effects on non-practitioners’ willingness to practice the “rooftop vegetable garden”:1. Lack of knowledge about farming on the roof; 2. It is easier to buy than to grow fresh vegetables and 3. Lack of time.
In Germany, the percentage of sustainable food production like organic farming increased in the last decades, but is generally still low in comparison to conventional farming. Organic farming provides an approach to increase the sustainability potential of the food supply in the frame of bioeconomy. The assessment of the potential of sustainable urban food supply was in the focus of the present investigation, having as investigation scale the city of Magdeburg in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Scope of the investigation was the feasibility assessment of implementation options as well as the perception of the consumers. Following systems were investigated for Magdeburg: urban farming, vertical farming and aquaponics. In terms of the use of urban spaces were considered roof farming, land recycling, as well as the refurbishment of former farms and greenhouses. The feasibility analysis was supported by an option analysis regarding the potential for the use of renewable energies. The results show that even the consumers are willing to pay for organic food, but there are too few sustainable, organic and local urban food products on the market yet. The needed energy for modern urban farming projects is still high in climate areas like the north of Germany. New technologies and the assessment of renewable energy source potential for urban food production is a site specific decision, which might ensure the support of the operational cost of the urban food production systems.
Air and climate in addition to saving energy during the air-conditioning season, cool roof surfaces help mitigate heat-island effects in urban areas, reducing air pollution and global warming. This research plays to reduce the load energy of Lofts in the urban and industrial buildings by designing the greenhouse top surfaces for heat reduction and increase production of vegetables and ornamental plants as a source of beauty. The results indicated that, the rooftop greenhouse with shading (open system) reduced room temperature by 27%. This means that, the air conditioning operates from 29 to 22oC instead of 4.8 to 22oC, this will reduce the electrical power by (30 %) and CO2 emission by (54072 g(CO2-eq)/KW-he ).
This chapter describes how rooftop farming is affected by different policies. A policy is a set of rules or guiding principles that are the basis for actions within governmental as well as commercial and non-govermental organisations. For an understanding of how rooftop farming might be affected by policies, one has to regard explicit as well as implicit policies. A case study from Denmark shows how a rooftop farm may have to comply with a set of supportive and restrictive policies of a variety of governmental and private actors. Since none of the policies that came into action were actually directed at, or explicitly mentioning, rooftop farming, to understand how rooftop farming relies on policies it is important to identify the mechanisms that may facilitate or hinder it.
