Sustainability Problem:
By 2050, the world’s population is expected to swell to 9.6billion, with around 66% living in urban areas. This projection is leaving many cities wondering how they will feed all those people.
Solution: A Swedish food-tech company called Plantagon is proposing that cities consider building what it calls “plantscrapers” — office towers that contain giant indoor farms. Plantagon is constructing its first plantscraper in Linköping, Sweden.
- Called The World Food Building, the tower will operate hydroponically, meaning vegetables (mostly greens) will grow without soil in a nutrient-rich, water-based solution.
- This building will produce approximately 550 tons of vegetables annually — enough to feed around 5,500 people each year.
Stakeholders: City municipality, builders and contractors, urban farming specialist, large multinational companies
Deployment: Construction of this $40 million building began in 2012, and it’s set to open by early 2020.
- City administration and planners should visit Plantagon and meet its management to understand the technology, landscape, city issues and administrative challenges.
- City should engage large multinational companies, including large food retail giants operating within the city, who may be willing to rent / invest space in such buildings
- For engagement, best practice sharing and leading towards solutions – there will be need to conduct round-table discussions and conference between urban framing specialist, building contractors, developers, investors and city administrators
- Since this is longterm solution and will need time to implement, learn from Plantagon’s experience once its operational in 2020.
Source:
- http://www.plantagon.com/about/business-concept/the-linkoping-model/
- https://futurism.com/the-age-of-vertical-farming-is-officially-upon-us/
Comment on other post:
vertical farming is one of the innovate ways to feed the growing population in areas where there isn’t a lot of arable land. There are a lot of start ups experimenting with ways to improve vertical farming. The down side is energy usage.
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The business model of Plantagon is based on retrofitting, extending existing buildings, developing new buildings and establishing a symbiotic system. The whole goal of the initiative is to reduce transportation costs and emissions.
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