Singapore's biophilic design

Looking back through my draft box I re-discovered this fantastic film on the biophilic movement in Singapore.

Singapore's supertrees

Last week Philadelphia's city council introduced resolutions calling for the expansion of urban and vertical farming. What that means is still unclear, does anyone know what happens next in this process?

The grand opening of Europe's largest urban farm, capable of churning out 45 tons of vegetables and 19 tons of fish, May 20. The founding company is expanding to the US, they hope to open 10 sites in the New York Tri-State area. 2016 will be an interesting year rooftop farming!

-The USDA announced a urban agriculture toolkit for aspiring urban farmers. Wow!

-A $6.5 million dollar private-public partnership in New Mexico will create 14 permanent jobs and another 35 construction jobs to build an urban aquaponic system capable of feeding 16,000 people. And the micro-algae which grows as well will be supplied to another company to produce omega-3 nutritional supplements!

-Hamilton, Ontario's first legal marijuana production facility is capable of producing 2,700 kilograms per year.  And because it's marijuana, they have bank level security.

-This is really fantastic. Vacant lots in Germany are being turned into public gardens and I mean truly public. Anyone can, even tourists, can pick a tomato or two.

-Did you know in the UK sustainable drainage systems (like water retention ponds, green roofs, permeable paving) for all new developments is now the rule? Perhaps we should look to places like Singapore for the next wave in water usage. Faced with tremendous constraints, they have innovated unlike any other place. Two desaslination plants produce a quarter of the city's needs. And wastewater is being reused in all sorts of fantastic ways. Check out these super trees:

Solutions for Change takes aquaponics higher

San Diego's largest aquaponics farm will triple its size, making it one of the largest in the country. This is a tremendous success story for the industry and Solutions for Change.

-This was a good week for green jobs, as another innovative green jobs training program pairs New York residents in public housing developments to work on environmental sustainability and energy efficiency programs.

-Mesa Community College continues to revolutionize as they now offer an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Sustainable Agriculture, the first of it's kind in Arizona and really one of the first nationwide.

-This isn't really about sustainable agriculture, living architecture or green architecture, but is still amazing all the same. Look at the many ways the Colorado River effects the American West.

-The City of Halifax has released a handbook for community gardening on municipal lands. Very handy!

-Let's finish up with the best stuff last. The rising popularity of Freight Farms container gardening system makes me wonder if one day we'll see these systems for community (by block...neighborhood?) food security.

The world's first desktop edible insect harvester

 I think this week marks an important point in the urban agriculture revolution. A group (which may or may not be based in Germany, it's hard to tell) launched a Kickstarter campaign to manufacture the first desktop edible insect harvester. As many know the idea of eating insects, in much of the West, is absolutely foreign to most people. But with people now keeping chickens in urban environments instead of depending on farms, it was only a matter of time before someone decided to up the game.

I predict that there will be a slew of imitators very soon, who strive to make desktop harvesters sleeker, easier to use, smaller, you name it. But this is the first. Tell your kids (or grandkids) about it.

-Singapore now has 72 hectares of rooftop greenery (enough to cover 100 football fields, says this article), an increase of 8 hectares in a year. There's of course room for growth. In Melbourne, Australia they currently have only 5 hectares of green roofs and rooftop gardens, but the city council is really behind the idea and have mapped out over 240 hectares, across the city, which would be suitable for greening!

-In Memphis, Tennessee, if you mow the vacant lot adjacent to your piece of property, you can now own it! Wow!

GILA words of the week: Pizza farm + mobile green wall filter

Before getting to the word of the week, here's the new title holder for the largest green wall.

A Taiwan based company built this nearly 2,600 square meter green wall, it beats the previous biggest in Singapore by more than 300 square meters.
An even bigger development may be the invention of a mobile green wall filter. Keep an eye on this company!

-On to the pizza farm! In Minnesota and Wisconsin agritourism is taking off and some farmers have cut out the middle man. Why not grow (or source locally) all of ingredients for a pizza, bake it and serve it up on a farm? You can't get much fresher!

Ambitious aquaponics operations

There seems to be some political momentum for putting an aquaponics operation in an empty, east end Toronto convenience store. I hope that they have an owner/operator in mind, it's wonderful a politician is so enthusiastic about creating a food hub!
It makes me think of those fellows who headed to the suburbs just a few months ago, if they only knew this store front would be available, maybe they would've chosen it?

-New York City doesn't have an commercial aquaponics operation yet...or didn't until earlier this year. With the price of real estate there, perhaps the suburbs would make more sense than setting up in Brooklyn.

-One more aquaponics story. Here's a team of folks trying to make "the largest aquaponics farm in the US" via strictly crowdfunding. That means they need millions of dollars. Ambitious! I hate to be that guy, but if I'm going to give $251 dollars to a venture, I would probably want more than a coffee mug.

-I had no idea that Calgary's first living roof was in 1875. Someone (maybe you, faithful reader) should do an inventory of all the green roofs (and walls!) in North America's major cities.

-Foraging in Singapore! This is definitely a first for me.

-Coca-cola has converted its concentrated beverage drums and donated dozens to community gardens in Toronto. This is a great upcycling idea!

Fearless forecast for 2015!

A brand new year is upon us and here's what I think is on the horizon!

1) I think aquaponics will cool down a bit. Why's that? There has been so much activity, so many huge projects have been announced, that people will just get down to business and start doing the work.

2) With the rise of the sharing economy and urban agriculture, you'll see more policy changes to allow urban and maybe even some suburban agriculture and more sharing between municipalities on how to get it done.

3) The second half of last year it didn't see that many big urban agriculture projects were coming down the pike. So I think that means early this year we'll some impressive stuff is in the works.

4) Has anyone noticed that permaculture was all the rage a couple of years ago and now, very little is said about it? I think the permaculture is so huge and all-encompassing, practioners and participants started talking about and focusing on the smaller tenants.

5) Singapore will continue to lead the charge in vertical gardening experimentation and commercialization.

6) With great swaths of the USA under some level of drought pressure, rainwater harvesting (especially grey water) will enjoy a tremendous year. Maybe there will even be a huge project which focuses on these new technologies!
Combining 5 and 6 a bit, there are those who have said urban agriculture cannot supply most of our food. I'm not sure if they are right, but what happens if the California drought continues? Will people have to start growing more food at home? Or will produce begin to trickle in from other countries? Like Singapore?

Australian children's hospital goes green wall crazy + "rain vortex" in Singapore airport

-Lady Cilento Children's Hopsital in South Brisbane, Australia spared no expense in designing and building their bring new children's hospital. Look at these incredible green walls and rooftop gardens!

-Have a gander at this Singapore airport, which is in the works, the picture below shows their 40 m rain vortex in the middle of the building!

-Soil research is helping us learn more about contamination at individual urban gardens and also giving us clues to look for overall. Here's an important take away: "Urban gardeners should consider Kentucky bluegrass the 'canary in the mine shaft' for foods grown in the city, especially near busy roads and transportation corridors."

-Here’s a new app which helps urban farmers know where they can go and what the rules are. Urb.ag, “hones in on the location of where someone might want to start a farm and then applies the exact codes and what is required of the new law.” This app could save a potential farmer a lot of time and hassle.

-Could San Francisco's New Bay Bridge turn into the next iconic green infrastructure project. Dare I say it...highlinesque?

-Montreal, in two years time will have something iconic of its own down at the Old Port.

-For you green roof geeks, here's an interesting study about the carbon sequesteration potential of using sewage sludge in green roofs in China.

-Most people remark how cities are becoming less and less green, some parts of New York City have become more green over the years and that’s even before their Million Trees NYC campaign. Here are the photographs to prove it.

-Among everyone's favorites, like sweet corn, potatoes and tomatoes and lesser known treats (crambe...cuphea...luffa gourds?), the USDA has now recommended aquaponics as a viable crop for diversification.

Singapore - the green leaders keep pioneering

Singapore is definitely a green infrastructure and living architecture leader. And they proved it once again with the announcement of $41 million dollars (USD) in funding for tropics oriented green research (into technologies like green roofs) and incentives for green retrofits.  The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations even dropped by recently to have a look at what they are doing.

-A Calgary urban agriculture farmer wants to create the world's biggest farm. Which made me think, the biggest is a tremendous achievement, what would be even better is the world's most PRODUCTIVE urban agriculture operation. Case in point, Calgary was just hit with a September snow storm. Just being big isn't great if you can't produce food. 

-Trinidad and Tobago has another aquaponics project in the works.

-Why do people reject urban agriculture operations in their neighbourhoods? A report from Johns Hopkins investigates and proponents to take note.

-If you're in the field no doubt you've had to address the questions or assertions as to why urban agriculture can't work. This article summarizes all of them, with plenty of snark and condescension (why not ask legal marijuana growers how much light they require, instead of illegal ones?) to make it go down easier.

Trend alert? Rooftop vegetable gardens on residential condos

I'll let you be the judge. Two articles in the last month have touted the additions of rooftop gardens, sometimes edible, sometimes not, to pricey developments in Miami, London, Singapore and beyond.

Living architecture movies galore!

On April 14th a Toronto filmmaker will release (via youtube) a 20 minute long film about a man who "has single-handedly planted a 1400 acre forest" over the last 35 years. The preview looks incredible, a GILA sleeper hit of the year?

Here's a second film in the Kickstarter phase; it looks promising indeed!

And one more to check out, it's all about Singapore and its vertical (I can NEVER type vertical, without typing verticiel these days!!!) farming revolution.

More horizontal greenhouses, not vertical farms says professor

Many people aren't sold on vertical farms yet. Which is understandable, there haven't been many...or any, that I can think of...throughly documented studies on their pros and cons. Heck, there are very few which have even been built. But it seems like something we can technologically make happen down the road, something that we need to make happen. So it's big news when a respected Cornell University-based biological and environmental engineer comes out and says "It just won't work" and gives several cogent reasons why. He uses lettuce as the prime example of why vertical farms are unsustainable. But I'm wondering if a less energy and water thirsty veggy might fit the bill.

-Horticultural therapy week is just around the corner. The Michigan Horticulture Therapy Association (MHTA) is holding its 35th annual conference starting March 7-8.

-Here's a fantastic article about an intergenerational rooftop aquaponics farm in Singapore and it looks like Larry Ellison, yes, billionaire Larry Ellison, is looking to get into the aquaponics business! Wow!

A few quick hits

-After a few years China's green wall has finally been planted!

-If you're looking for some creatives ideas for green walls a recent green walls article highlights some very creative installations.

-There has been further fallout from the tragedy in Latvia as the prime minister has resigned!

-I often do book reviews (and maybe I should do another one some time soon), but over at Greenroofs.com they profiled the new book by Tan Puay Yok. It looks like it's worth the read.

An Indianapolis hospital gets a rooftop farm

Hmm..it seems like just yesterday we were talking about how hard it is to find long term employment in the urban agriculture field. Actually, it was two days ago.  The International Labour Office of the United Nations has a handy guide for getting and keeping a job in the urban agriculture field, globally, and the Resource Centre of Urban Agriculture and Food (RUAF) provides further advice.

-An MIT researcher has his second installment in the exploration of how different kinds of urban agriculture can affect communities. Here's the first, if you want to start from the beginning.

-And the big news of the week is the new (almost $800 million dollars new!) Indianapolis hospital releasing details of its full scale rooftop farm which will provide its cafeteria and occupants with plenty to eat.

-Almost nearly as exciting is the Biophilic Cities project launch. Devoted to "understanding how cities can become more biophilic", the efforts of 13 cities is currently profiled.

Green roof research, near and far

A couple of months ago I highlighted a green roof research project which is investigating native plants suitable for the Mediterranean region. Important stuff, as is a recent project which highlights plants that can work well in the area and how much additional water plants must be given if there’s a decrease in substrate.

-A Walmart in Portland, Oregon has stepped up in a big way, offering it’s rooftop for research.

-Toronto's FoodShare posted a little more about the new and totally unique School Grown Rooftop Garden. Prepare to be amazed.

-Occasionally I like write posts featuring new and exciting projects from one country to help understand what’s going on in their GILA world. The last Singapore post was in June, here’s one article which gives us a look into what some other innovators are doing in the sovereign city state.

-Sign up right now to follow this urban agriculture series, it’s going to be a good one!

Singapore + vertical farming

It feels like just yesterday (it was actually Wednesday) that I said there seems to be more urban agriculture stories coming from Singapore. And then wouldn't you know it, I stumbled upon a story from last week in addition to this PBS video...

Watch Singapore Looks Skyward to Take Farming in New Directions on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

The European Commission set to support green infrastructure

So much good news from the GILA world over the last week!

-The European Commission adopted a, new, long term, strategy to encourage green infrastructure projects including identifying possible projects, expanding the knowledge base of innovative, green infrastructure supporting technologies and most importantly, financing through the European Investment Bank.

-If you're at work and can listen to a podcast, without getting in trouble, give a listen to Will Allen's latest interview.

-A 7.5 million euro German/African partnership, UrbanFoodPlus, has been created to boost the productivity of urban farming in Africa. Although there will be a range of project groups focusing on different elements of food production across the continent, initially grower, seller, and government officials will be interviewed in Burkina Faso and Ghana to understand their current realities.

-What do you get when you combine martial arts and urban agriculture? Boston's own Green Dragons of course!

-There are very few vertical gardens anywhere around the world. If you are in Singapore or stopping through, one is actually open to the public!

Is rooftop and vertical farming the key to a true local (food) movement?

-Two weeks ago the world was a buzz with the news of the first commercial vertical farming system in Singapore. Just two years ago analysts were saying the technology was at least five years away from implementation, even in the experimental stage.
The most illuminating part of the second article is the assertion that sky farms could play a roll in places where land is at a premium and few big rooftops remain. That kind of common sense is refreshing in an industry full of promise, but, pardon the expression, needing of grounding.
The next step, pairing these businesses with groups to process the food and make value added products, like in Washington DC and somewhere that can compost (like in Tennessee) the refuse to create a nutrient-rich topsoil. Then we're talking about a true local food movement.

-While it would take years to build an integrated system I have envisioned above, in disadvantaged communities there are already programs, practices and policies working to sustain urban agriculture efforts on a smaller scale.

-Apps, apps and more apps. A multi-billion dollar industry has hardly touched the the GILA industry until now. Thanks to the Harvard Graduate School of Design the app helps unite environmentalism and urbanism.

-The last article for today is a fascinating one. One woman's 20 year journey from planting vegetables on a balcony to eventually becoming a major force in possibly eliminating Mexico City's pollution problem.

A living wall fails...or did it?

Whenever a green or living wall fails in the UK, it always hits the newspapers, so it comes as no surprise the Guardian is all over the latest failure. What makes it even worse is that it was controversial to start and, over the course of the last month, seems to have increased in price by about $34,000 USD. Yikes! It's unclear if a few plants didn't make it or a substantial number died, either way, it's not good.

-When chatting with prospective clients interested in living walls they are always floored by the cost. Me too! The industry is still new and it will probably be a few years before the costs come down. Research on how to make them more affordable and sustainable is definitely needed, so it's great to read what is happening in Singapore.

-A recent report, summarized nicely by the Guardian, (they are really on it today, huh?), details how white roofs might actually increase temperatures all in all. U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, we await your comments. So the moral is, we shouldn't rely on one technology (not that we have even made it that far). And we must also finds ways to make technologies inexpensive, so that everyone can participate in lowering our collective carbon footprint.

Africa's local food production...indispensable?

-Considering booming urban populations, stretched environmental resources and growing income disparities a PhD student believes local food production might soon be indispensable throughout Africa.

-This week perhaps marks the first step in the fragmentation of LEEDs global green building certification empire (ok, being a little dramatic!) as Singapore's Building and Construction Authority unveiled what the world's first green building certification for eateries. Could we one day see this certification land on North American shores? Also, did you catch that McDonald's with a green roof???

-Turning military bases into farms? What a great idea! Why haven't more communities done this? Two words...Superfund sites. Oh dear.

-Minneapolis has joined the food policy club! This R.T. Rybak seems like a true supporter of green initiatives! WWHAT ELSE HAS HE DONE????

-Didn't we just talk about this earlier in the week? The Wall Street Journal weighs in on suburbian small-scale agriculture.