Green Skyscrapers
In the next few days we will showcase 25 innovative proposals for green skyscrapers. These projects were submitted for the Annual Skyscraper Competition from 2006 to 2009.

Project 18 of 25

Guillaume Letschert, Dorian Bernards, Myriam Cesaroni
France

Urban Farmlands

Today more than 50 percent of the world’s population live in urban centers, by the year 2050, it will be nearly 80 percent. During the interim it is expected that the population will increase by an extra 3 billion people. With today intensive farming practices, characterized by high inputs of capital, water, fertilizers, and waste; an estimated 10,000,000 hectares of new land will be needed to grow enough food to feed them. At the moment we have nearly reach the maximum of land that is sustainable for crops. Each year we are losing about 100,000 square kilometers of topsoil around the world, the majority with poor management and poor urban planning.

Our project seeks a miniaturization of agriculture for cities around the globe.

Principles:
Think global, act local
Maximize returns
Produce food where people live
Obtain maximum yield and caloric production
Minimize transportation, storage, and energy waste
Integrate natural systems
Use limited area of land
Reduce energy consumption
Recycle
Share and distribute excess

Urban Farmlands - 1