CONTEMPORARY PROPOSALS: CENTRALISATION, MECHANISATION & FOOD FACTORIES As awareness grows of the unsustainability of the current food system, there has been an increase in proposals from different fields of expertise to address the topic. From architects and engineers, to ecologists and greenhouse technologists, there is a common acknowledgement that the problem needs a new visionary approach. VERTICAL FARMS Dr. Despommier, professor of environmental sciences and microbiology at Columbia University, has been working with students to develop his concept for vertical farms. He proposes that 150 of these self sustaining towers could feed the population of New York City, and act as net producers of clean water and energy.
11. Chamberlain, L.,
2007. Skyfarming.
The circular design and glass facade allows light to penetrate deep into the floorplate. Runoff water is collected for filtration and irrigation. The controlled interior environment would grow fruit, vegetables, grains and even fish, poultry and pigs. Wastewater is treated to make it usable again as drinking water while producing fertilizer and heat energy. All steps of the growing and harvesting process would be highly mechanized.12 PIG CITY
12. de Vries, N.,
Harvesting Space; in: White, M., 2010. Bracket: On Farming.
MVRDV's concept for Pig City proposes to concentrate all pork farming in the Netherlands into highly productive multi-storey towers. Within the towers, space is allocated for not only the pigs, but also for the growing of grain required to feed them, using their waste as fertilizer. The towers reduce the land area required for pork farming and minimize the need for transportation and distribution.11 SUSTAINABLE CITIES High on the international agenda are new sustainable towns, like Masdar in Saudi-
22
Edible Infrastructures
Arabia or Dongtan near Shanghai in China. Considering the claims of sustainability and the role of agriculture in climate change, one would expect that these cities would incorporate a strategy for food production. However neither address the issue. In our discussions with engineers for the Dongtan project, we learned that in the design stage, highly productive plant factories were proposed for Dongtan. 9 hA of these technologically advanced enclosed spaces would produce the food for it's 800,000 inhabitants, while generating it's own energy needs from solar panels. This aspect of the project was cut in value engineering which highlights the need for an integral approach, one which is woven into the fabric of the project from the beginning. *
*
*
The proposals discussed here show a promising shift in attention to a discussion about the world's production-consumption model. Action is needed to keep food security at a manageable level. As we stated before it is important to maintain and even increase the biodiversity of our food production, to be able to cover single failures or diseases possible somewhere in the food chain. Our concern is that both Despommier's Vertical Farms and MVRDV's Pig City rely heavily on technology (which will likely change rapidly), require an extremely high level of capital investment and serve to consolid both ate sources of food into fewer hands, as these solutions would likely be owned large agribusiness conglomerates.