With office usage hovering near 50 percent of pre-pandemic levels, cities are putting the underutilized space to new use growing food
Again, all i see are vegetables that wont help with food security.
It will help a bit. I’m not a fan of these light grown plants really though. Too much energy for too little gain
Can’t grow much else in vertical farms. Growing staples is hard and could not compete with prices from those grown outside.
What you see for sale from vertical farms is vegetative plant organs (not seeds/fruits) with water making up almost all of the mass.
If the city has vacant offices, it can generally afford grains.
there’s so much wrong with this I cant even begin. why would abandoned buildings be a sign of wealth?? You cant eat money, a city isnt a person, cities have high rates of hunger amongst its people
Unless your country has collapsed economically, having abandoned office buildings is a signifier that the city is still relatively integrated into a greater economy. At that point, it will be cheaper to buy grain from somewhere else than to grow it in a building.
Most vertical farms are designed for fruit and vegetable growth because the price of that produce justifies the expense of growing indoors.
Also, the problem with a lot of food deserts isn’t lack of access to any calories, but healthy and fresh food.
having abandoned office buildings is a signifier that the city is still relatively integrated into a greater economy
no, no it’s not, it’s historically a signifier of an economic downturn. I have no idea where your mind is here.
Most vertical farms are designed for fruit and vegetable growth because the price of that produce justifies the expense of growing indoors
I think you might not get what is happening and what Im talking about. They’re not growing fruit, and they’re only growing one kind of vegetable: leaves. Im not exaggerating when I say they’re growing things with single digit calories. Im all for them growing fruit, and substantial vegetables, all full of micronutrients but also healthy calories and proteins and complex carbs. They dont grow these things because these vertical farms are always just a tech fad, not actually good at growing anything but the least demanding of plants, the stuff that basically grows from nothing but the nutrients inherent to the seeds themselves, microgreens and young lettuces. I say fad but it keeps popping up and failing as tech startups pitch it to new investors, for short lived projects that dont make it to market.
Fast growing leaves probably have the best economic case going for them; relatively high value and with a high travel cost.
I didn’t say that vertical farms are a great idea, just that they shouldn’t be used to grow carbs. Carbs are a low cost to grow and a low cost to ship. You wouldn’t use vertical farms for general food security because there are far better options.
I’ll be curious to see if any of the project survive long term. A similar project in my city unfortunately collapsed a couple of years ago due to rising cost.
TBH I think in most situations this excess office capacity could be most useful as affordable housing to bring a degree of sanity to rent and house prices.
I think you’re both right. We need more building designed to be flex spaces. It’s impossible to guess what we need 20 years from now. Let’s make sure new construction can handle a wide range of use.
I’m halfway through Psalm for the Wild Built, and uh, this link is relevant.
I loved that book so much. I have the sequel on my nightstand for when I take a little break for Malazan, whenever that ends up being.
