Urban vertical farms as new urban infrastructures

Vertical farming has had a remarkable technical and applicative progression in recent years, since its diffusion could contribute significantly to the achievement, by 2030, of the UN’s global goals. The EU has funded several projects aimed at promoting new models of urban vertical farms, which are reported in this essay. The paper presents a strategy for the implementation of urban vertical farming at the urban scale, as an infrastructural form for the local community, that also became a system of urban regeneration. The implementation strategy, based on the hypothesis of reuse of abandoned or underused urban areas, is tested in the specific context of Milan, with maps and simulations, and shows how vertical farm systems can address the declining per capita agricultural land and meet the growing food demand due to population increases.