Following the 2008 "Re-imaging Cities: Urban Design After the Age of Oil symposium, Penn IUR solicited manuscripts on environmental and energy challenges and their effect on the redesign of urban environments.

1. Working
Paper
The
Vertical
Farm:
Growing
Eco-­Cities
Dickson
Despommier
Currently,
over
800
million
hectares
are
committed
to
some
form
of
agriculture;
this
represents
about
38%
of
the
total
landmass
of
the
earth.
Over
the
last
10,000
years
of
human
history,
farming
has
increasingly
rearranged
the
landscape
in
favor
of
cultivated
fields
and
herds
of
cattle
at
the
expense
of
natural
ecozones,
reducing
most
of
them
to
fragmented,
semi-­‐functional
units
and
completely
eliminating
others.
This
incursion
has
had
significant
costs
in
terms
of
both
human
and
ecological
health.
On
the
human
side,
the
transmission
of
a
wide
T
variety
of
infectious
agents—influenza,
rabies,
yellow
fever,
dengue
fever,
malaria,
AF
trypanosomiasis,
hookworm,
schistosomiasis—occurs
with
relentless
and
devastating
regularity
at
the
tropical
and
sub-­‐tropical
agricultural
interface
and
emerging
infections,
many
of
which
are
viral
zoonoses
(e.g.,
Ebola,
Lassa
fever),
R
rapidly
adapt
to
the
human
host
following
human
encroachment
into
natural
environments.
Exposure
to
toxic
levels
of
some
classes
of
agrochemicals
(pesticides,
D
fungicides)
and
trauma
are
two
other
significant
health
risks
associated
with
traditional
agricultural
practices.
On
the
ecological
side,
farming
consumes
huge
quantities
of
fossil
fuels
in
the
developed
world.
In
the
United
States,
alone,
over
20%
of
all
the
fossil
fuel
consumed
is
used
for
agriculture.
This
of
course
translates
into
ever
increasing
levels
of
greenhouse
gasses.
Both
of
these
human
and
ecological
costs
are
likely
to
grow
more
severe
as
the
human
population
is
expected
to
rise
to
at
least
8.6
billion
over
the
next
40
years.
This
growth
will
require
the
support
of
an
additional
109
hectares
(roughly
the
size
of
Brazil),
using
current
technologies.
That

2. Working
Paper
quantity
of
farmland
is
no
longer
available
and
so
these
increases
will
have
to
be
supplied
in
part
by
more
intensive,
and
potentially
more
environmentally
degrading
practices.
And
even
if
farming
on
this
scale
were
not
itself
energy
intensive
or
environmentally
depleting,
the
cleared
land
necessary
would
still
hamper
one
of
our
best
and
most
economical
ways
to
slow
the
rapidity
of
climate
change:
re-­‐
forestation.
[INSERT
FIGURE
1]
It
is
clear
that
we
need
a
solution
to
the
entire
problem,
not
just
to
the
food
and
agriculture
part.
But
how
can
we
supply
10
billion
people
with
adequate
food
T
and
water
and
still
repair
the
environment?
In
my
view,
if
just
50-­‐60%
of
traditional
AF
farming
could
be
replaced
by
constructing
urban
food
production
centers,
then
a
long-­‐term
benefit
would
be
the
gradual
repair
of
many
of
the
world’s
damaged
ecosystems
through
the
systematic
abandonment
of
farmland.
This
is
already
R
happening
in
places
where
agriculture
has
failed,
particularly
in
the
northeastern
region
of
the
United
States.
In
the
Midwest,
large
tracts
of
land
in
Minnesota
and
D
Wisconsin
are
being
abandoned.
We
need
to
see
these
vacated
lands
not
simply
as
empty
sites
but
as
sites
of
active
recovery.
Ecological
repair
is
what
nature
is
best
at,
so
a
hands-­‐off
policy
actually
works,
and
in
most
cases,
within
a
very
short
time
frame.
An
excellent
example
is
the
de-­‐militarized
zone
between
North
and
South
Korea.
No
one
has
stepped
into
it
since
1953
and
it
is
the
most
verdant
portion
of
either
country.
The
dust
bowl
of
the
1930s
has
come
back
to
a
tall
and
mixed
grass
prairie.
Even
Chernobyl
has
recovered
its
biodiversity,
again
due
to
human
abandonment
of
the
area.
The
restoration
of
natural
balance
in
even
those

3. Working
Paper
environments
most
traumatized
by
humans
indicates
the
effectiveness
of
abandonment
as
an
ecological
strategy.
But
if
we
are
to
both
abandon
areas
currently
in
use
and
conserve
those
lands
not
already
under
cultivation,
our
agricultural
operations
will
need
to
be
located
in
places
already
of
relatively
high
density.
Our
farms,
this
is
to
say,
will
need
to
share
land
with
our
cities.
[INSERT
FIGURE
2]
A
vertical
farm
is
one
possible
solution
to
sustainable
urban
agriculture.
In
addition
to
reducing
the
diseases
transmitted
at
the
agricultural
interface
and
sparing
uncultivated
land
the
encroachment
of
agricultural
operations,
raising
crops
T
in
high-­‐rise
buildings
has
a
number
of
advantages
over
traditional
farming.
Crops
AF
are
protected
from
adverse
weather
conditions
(floods,
droughts,
etc.),
greatly
regularizing
the
supply
and
quality
of
produce.
Year-­‐round
production
is
possible,
thus
reducing
greatly
the
space
required
to
raise
large
quantities
of
produce.
Indoor
R
farming
employing
hydroponics
and
aeroponics
consumes
orders
of
magnitudes
less
water
(70-­‐80%
less)
than
conventional
outdoor
farming,
conserving
a
vital
D
resource
for
which
there
is
no
substitute
and
whose
supply
is
likely
to
be
an
issue
dominating
political
and
ecological
decisions
in
future
decades.
New
job
opportunities
will
result
from
the
establishing
of
vertical
farms
as
inner
cities
are
able
to
diversify
their
economies
in
a
hitherto
inconceivable
direction
and
abandoned
and
degraded
city
properties
are
reclaimed
and
given
new
value.
[INSERT
FIGURE
3a
AND
3b]
Vertical
farming
is
still
a
virtual
concept,
but
its
success
will
be
due
to
its
imitation
of
nature.
All
biological
material
will
be
re-­‐cycled
to
greatly
reduce
greatly

4. Working
Paper
or
completely
eliminate
waste.
Degradation
of
plant
and
animal
waste
into
energy
by
some
high-­‐tech
incineration
or
gasification
process
could
make
the
urban
high-­‐
rise
farm
completely
independent
of
the
energy
grid.
Urban
farming
in
tall
buildings
also
solves
the
global
problem
of
agricultural
runoff,
currently
the
number
one
source
of
pollution
worldwide.
In
addition,
some
city
farms
could
be
used
just
to
produce
bio-­‐fuels
or
to
remediate
gray
water
(de-­‐watered
sludge).
The
vertical
farm
will
bio-­‐remediate
gray
and
black
water
sources,
allowing
for
the
re-­‐cycling
of
potable
water
back
into
the
community.
The
safe
use
of
human
feces
and
urine
as
a
starting
source
for
energy
generation
further
reduces
the
chances
of
transmission
of
T
pathogens
that
depend
upon
the
fecal-­‐oral
route.
Vertical
farming
will
require
little
AF
in
the
way
of
cutting-­‐edge
engineering
technologies,
with
the
possible
exception
of
the
need
for
new
chemically-­‐defined
plant
foods
for
specific
crops.
Virtually
any
commercially
viable
crop
can
be
grown
indoors,
including
numerous
animal
species.
R
[INSERT
FIGURE
4]
Social
acceptance
of
vertical
farms
will
be
one
of
its
greatest
challenges,
but
if
D
community
ownership
can
be
incorporated
into
the
business
plan,
then
the
social
and
psychological
barriers
to
its
implementation
can
be
overcome,
allowing
for
a
potentially
radical
reshaping
of
society.
The
old
image
of
“down
on
the
farm”
will
take
on
a
whole
new
meaning,
with
urban
farm
buildings
finally
living
up
to
the
public’s
expectations
as
to
what
really
constitutes
“green”
architecture!
The
ultimate
goal
is
of
course
to
live
as
one
natural
species
among
all
the
rest
without
insuring
the
wrath
of
nature
due
to
encroachment
into
ecosystems
that
we
do
not
control.

5. Working
Paper
The
city
ecosystem
we
create
will
have
the
ability
to
live
within
its
means
and
thus
allow
all
the
other
ecosystems
to
do
the
same.
T
AF
R
D

6. Working
Paper
18.
The
Vertical
Farm:
Growing
Eco-­Cities
Dickson
Despommier
Figures
T
Figure
1.
The
demilitarized
zone
between
North
and
South
Korea
AF
R
D
Figure
2.
Chernobyl,
Ukraine

7. Working
Paper
Figure
3a.
Rendering
of
the
southern
façade
of
the
Center
for
Urban
Agriculture
by
T
Mithun
AF
R
D
Figure
3b.
Rendering
of
the
northern
façade
of
the
Center
for
Urban
Agriculture
by
Mithun

8. Working
Paper
T
AF
Figure
4.
Axonometric
section
of
La
Tour
Vivante
by
SOA
Atelier
R
D

9. Working
Paper
T
AF
R
D