Paris is opening the world's largest urban rooftop farm

Image: Agripolis
Europe’s most densely populated city is growing. 
But we’re not talking about people here: it’s growing fruit and vegetables.

At the edge of the French capital, an urban farm is being built that will supply 
residents with a tonne of food a day. Currently being renovated, the Paris 
Expo Porte de Versailles is set to become home to the  
world’s largest urban rooftop farm next year.

Image: Agripolis
The 14,000 m² of space – equivalent to about two football pitches – 
will be loaded with around 30 different types of plant. 
They’ll be grown in columns without soil and fed with nutrient-rich solutions 
and rainwater. This aeroponic method uses little water and means a large number 
of plants can be grown in a small area.

Image: Agripolis
Visitors will be able to purchase produce as well as sample it in the rooftop restaurant. 
The farm will also host educational tours and various events. And citizens will also be 
able to rent space to grow their own crops.

Image: Agripolis
Urban farming is a growing trend – in fact Agripolis, the company behind the farm, 
already runs other rooftop farms around France. Founder Pascal Hardy 
wants more urban spaces spaces to take up the mantle: 
“Our vision is a city in which flat roofs and abandoned surfaces are covered with these 
new growing systems. Each will contribute directly to feeding urban residents who 
today represent the bulk of the world’s population,” he told The Guardian newspaper.
Since being elected in 2014, the city's Mayor Anne Hidalgo has been on a mission to 
make Paris a greener city. The French government’s Parisculteurs initiative aims to 
cover 100 hectares of the city’s rooftops, walls and urban spaces with plants by 2020. 
One-third of this space will be dedicated to urban agriculture.

Image: Agripolis
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/08/vertical-urban-farm-city-
paris?fbclid=IwAR2-69hn9chnl9KO6iv51JcZlApJwf5K5_Qy2YSmt6dV4qLKj7GTGvT1bFc