Urban, 3D, farms!
I guess all farms are ‘3D’ by nature…but it makes the title a bit more interesting right? An interesting article on the Web Urbanist blog prompted my posting of this…the article talks about the concept of having actual farms in dense urban areas, but instead of the typical land mass that a farm today requires these ones would require very little by simply going up. Skyscraper acres if you will. Wow, I just came up with that…you heard it here first, ha. If anything, its just a fun concept to think about. And the pictures in the article certainly jog the imagination. The idea of a 100 story building that essentially doesn’t have walls and each ‘floor’ is an acre of corn, or soy bean, or potatoes, or lettuce, etc…with all sorts of clever ways to get the plants sunlight, water, etc. I love thinking about it just from an engineering standpoint. Lots of interesting potential benefits too: job creation in distressed urban areas, less transportation from the ‘field’ to the market/store, and fresher air maybe? All sorts of good stuff. Plus, doesn’t it seem like that would get us back into the ‘village community’ style way of living a bit more? The farms and the town all in one area…and in a much denser area. Seems like we could leave more of the earth ‘unspoiled’ by concentrating things a bit. Hmm…it sure would look crazy. Half the skyline of a city would be farms…ha, quite the the thought. It’s interesting, the first time I ever considered ‘stacked’ fields was during a conversation with my brother-in-law about how production of E85 fuel might prompt engineers to figure out ways to get more from an acre than just an acre…naturally stacking things comes to mind. Anyway, interesting article…interesting thing to think about. ***I can just see like a whole new genre of those city-hipster-hippie types…farming plays so well with their aesthetic, you know? Like, now you can have a loft AND be a farmer. Skin tight farmer overalls are about to be the next big thing, ha.