EAT UPamber waves of grain
In Chicago, green roof designer and Omni Ecosystems CEO, Molly Meyer, selected an unlikely plant species for atop Studio Gang’s office: hardy winter wheat. A wildflower meadow mix was originally slated for the 5,000-square-foot roof, but…
graze the roof
In La Pampa, Argentina, the Figueras Polo Club offers an unexpected form of rooftop agriculture: pastureland. The club’s 44-stall stables and surrounding polo grounds provide owner Ignacio Figueras — Argentinian polo star, celebrity horse breeder, and the…
data we can eat
Edible crops are dappling our cities’ skylines in growing numbers, and yet, the blossoming North American rooftop agriculture movement remains in its infancy. As rooftop farmers and gardeners increasingly build knowledge by experimenting and improvising with…
chocolate skyline
This Valentine’s Day season I’d like to be as close to chocolate as possible, and consumer market trends suggest that I’m not alone. For those of us living far from the equator, though, the main ingredient…
food city scenario
What would your city look like if urban agriculture drove development? The University of Arkansas Community Design Center posed this question in 2012 when a team of designers, scientists, lawyers, and students explored what their rapidly densifying city of Fayetteville, AR would…
major league crops
The Kansas City Royals may have won this year’s World Series, but the Boston Red Sox were the real 2015 winners. While this American League team’s game may not have been up to snuff, it’s historic stadium…
hungry for acreage
We’ve been keeping an eye on Gotham Greens since the rooftop farming pioneer opened its first commercial greenhouse in 2010. The Brooklyn-based company’s 15,000 square foot (0.3-acre) flagship farm, in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood, yields 100 tons of…
jet setters
Like most of us, you probably spent a fair slice of this holiday season in transit, traveling by car, bus, train, or perhaps even by airplane. With time-sucking security check points and flight delays, airline travel certainly…
Toronto-style thin farming
As ornamental green roofs increasingly coat our skylines, some urbanites have begun re-purposing older vegetated rooftops for agriculture. One example, north of the border in Toronto, is Ryerson University’s George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre, constructed in 2004….
a salute to urban fish
Some days you can eat leafy greens until the cows come home without ever feeling full. The missing link? Protein. While chickens and livestock often play a key role in addressing this classic omnivorous hunger, raising…