Being part of the multidisciplinary process allows us to meet both specific needs from the municipalities and combining them with locally existing potentials to set up an action plan to prepare a solid basis to implement new building typologies.
Read moreUpcoming EU Taxonomy, ESG-criteria and all related changes to CO2-emissions lead to rethink potentials of low-energy-standards of existing buildings. Expanding the lifecycle of buildings by activating it for food production leads to effective productive and resilient cities.
Read moreThe city of St. Pölten, in pursuit of its vision of becoming the fittest city of Austria, has aligned its strategic goals with the Smart City concept; urban food production asks for being the fourth column of it.
Read moreConsulting and research activities have been gaining exponentially in importance for several years - especially to enable the measurability of sustainability figures.
This is currently increasingly demanded at the international political level (ESG) - and also on the part of far-sighted, sustainability-oriented investors, there is a growing realization that the production of healthy food must once again increasingly move to the side of the consumer, not least in order to ensure food security with regard to new challenges in terms of the supply chain, which influences procurement and pricing. But also to provide access to healthy food for all, thereby strengthening local socio-economic networks (keyword COVID-19) and building resilience/resilience in our society. Urban agriculture is thus becoming increasingly important for urban planning and policy.
Research results from the vfi show potentials on how cities can incorporate urban agriculture into their policies and, for example, activate vacant land for food production. In addition, concepts for new building typologies - vertical farms - can open up new business areas and, at the same time, jobs for new occupational groups, thus making a positive contribution to moving closer to the Global Sustainable Development Goals.
The upcoming weeks and months, supported by recommendations from scientists to narrow down the effects from the new COVID-19 virus, should be used to understand how much potential there is to really become part of a critical mass which wants to contribute to make the city of the future a more resilient, a more culture ‑based and — most of all — a more life-affirming environment.
Read moreFood production in greenhouses has a long tradition. New technologies give the opportunity to develop this kind building type. The development of alternative cultivation methods, compareable to the invention of the elevator for skyscrapers, lead to a new building typology – the vertical farm.
Read moreDesigning and developing the city of the future needs a multidisciplinary collaboration. By now this challenge no longer can be applied only to architects or urban planners. The growing world population implies to rethink cities from scratch.
Read more
