Ecology, landscape and urban agriculture. An innovative envelope for vertical farms

Abstract

This text explores the birth of the science of ecology relating to the landscape architecture discipline and, through the lens of circular economy and recycling, urban agriculture and its most recent experiments concerning vertical farms. Agriculture, which has always been an integral part of the urban landscape, plays an ecological, social, cultural and aesthetic role in the sustainable growth of contemporary cities. With the development of vertical farms and new production technologies, urban agriculture is increasingly evolving towards new architectural experiments. In its final part, the text describes a building envelope, a patent developed by APS spin-off UNIRC, for vertical farms to be organised in unfinished buildings.