UURBAN AGGRICULTURAL SPACCE
ARCH 22: Architectural Design IV
It is predicted that by the year 2030, 60% of the world’s population will live in cities (United Nations, 2016). By the year 2050, the world’s population is projected to increase by 25%, from 7.8 billion to 9.9 billion people (IISD, 2020) (UN, 2020). Concurrently, global food demand is forecasted to increase by 70% (Lu & Grundy, 2017). This projection, ascribed to population growth and urbanization, highlights the need to address food security and food production sustainability in urban environments.
With more and more people inhabiting urban areas, finding solutions for sustainable food sources also becomes an issue of siting and the proper use and allocation of scarce urban spaces.
One approach is the integration of urban agriculture in existing buildings or residual urban spaces. Urban agriculture supports the local food supply, reduces dependence on rural to urban food value chains, and has the potential to contribute significantly to food security and environmental sustainability (Armanda et al., 2019). However, in densely populated urban areas in Metro Manila, finding spaces for urban agriculture is a major challenge.
Parasitic architecture is defined as a structure that is attached to or is dependent on an existing larger host structure. This design approach may provide strategies to integrate urban agriculture in existing structures to maximize urban space and promote environmental sustainability in communities.
The design exercise aims to find solutions to integrate urban agricultural systems through parasitic architecture in densely populated urban areas in the Philippine setting with the following features:
- The space must integrate technologies for urban farming (e.g. green roof, vertical garden, raised beds, aquaponics, hydroponics etc.).
- The space must be structurally supported or attached to a larger existing structure located in a densely populated urban area in the Philippines (e.g. residential/ commercial/ civic building, infrastructure such as bridges and overpasses, socialized housing developments, community spaces such as barangay halls and basketball courts, parking structures, etc.).
- The selected host structure and its location must be appropriate for the allocation of spaces for urban farming.