Cultivate in the vertical? Why?

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Abstract

The use of vertical space for the cultivation of plants has origins in the past, but it raises today a renewed interest, both as innovative architectural element (green walls) and both as a system for the production of vegetables (vertical farming). The vertical farming finds its natural application in urban horticulture context, identified by many as an inevitable evolution of the concept of agriculture, motivated by the need to guarantee the satisfaction of the food needs for rapidly growing urban populations. Today, research in the field of vertical farming is focused on solutions with a strong technological connotation, combining the most modern hydroponic closed-cycle cultivation techniques with the intensive use of artificial lighting. While the adoption of these techniques can ensure the most efficient use of resources (water and fertilizers in particular), and higher yield and product quality than any other cultivation system, on the other hand it involves high costs that can slow down the large scale spread of vertical farming. It is therefore necessary to analyze the applicability of vertical farming in the various environmental, cultural and economic scenarios that characterize the different geographic contexts, not forgetting the need to adapt their traditional social and economic models at the base of the current agricultural product production-distribution-consumption system. Also, it should not be overlooked the potential of growing plants in the vertical as a possibility for requalification of fully cementified urban spaces, and as an opportunity for social aggregation and rapprochement with the natural mechanisms of food production.

Autore Pugliese

Tutti gli autori

  • F.F. Montesano; P. Santamaria

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Anno di pubblicazione

2017

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