Europe’s largest rooftop farm, Nature Urbaine in Paris, can produce 10 tons of produce each season.
Photo: Peter Yeung/Bloomberg CityLab
Environment
Can a City Feed Itself?
In Paris and elsewhere, cities are exploring the economic and environmental benefits of building-based agriculture and racing to protect farmland at the urban edge.
Hundreds of immaculate white columns dotted with small cylindrical outlets cover the rooftop of the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles exhibition center in the south of the French capital.
Fragrant basil, scarlet strawberries and unwieldy masses of dark green kale are among the colorful produce sprouting from each of the holes, which form part of a soil-less farming device known as an aeroponic growing tower.