Building-integrated agriculture: a new approach to food production

Every person physically consumes products made from biomass. Our lives are thus inextricably tied to the crisis facing global agricultural land and water supply. The design of truly sustainable cities must, therefore, incorporate a more comprehensive assessment of the energy, water and land consumed during food production, processing, storage, preparation, distribution and disposal. One way of doing this is building-integrated agriculture (BIA) – high-performance hydroponic farming systems located on and in buildings, using renewable, local sources of energy and water. Integrating farming into the built environment has the potential to significantly reduce fossil fuel consumption, improve urban ecology, enhance food safety and security, enrich the lives of city dwellers and conserve building energy. This chapter begins by providing an overview of global food system challenges. A detailed analysis of BIA follows, including technical descriptions of BIA systems, environmental performance, economic models, sustainability challenges and future trends.