Window Agriculture

An alternative way to practice urban agriculture where there are no gardens or balconies around. Before the beginning of the last millennium, most of the food was produced in rural areas, and shipped to big cities. The city depended on the rural environment to feed itself. Today, there is more people living in the cities as in rural areas, making a shift of how food is being produced. Instead of local farmers growing in a small scale, agriculture is made in mass-production agriculture plants that significantly pollute the environment delivering a “product” in a single serving package.

Today the Urban Dweller does not know where its food is coming from.

With the practice of urban agriculture, the city dweller is trying to secure the need of food and economic security in a certain level, but lack of farming space is increasing. At least two million houses lack gardens alone in the UK. This means that a smart use of space is paramount in the near future.

Window Agriculture allows the urban dweller to farm indoors, using the window as a light resource and saving space. This transparent window pots encourage people to grow their own herbs, fruits and other ingredients, together with a sharing platform where farmers (like Jan Robbens from Aardbeien Academy) or researchers to provide the “know how” of traditional farming.

The Urban Dweller can be involved in the process of taking care of its own food. Knowing exactly where the food comes from: Their own window.

Design:

How can a city dweller grow it’s own food when there are no gardens or balconies around? This project explores how the city dweller can grow their own food, by using the window as a resource for natural light and transforming it into a personal parcel. A number of modular transparent pots are attached on the window, where soil is placed so vegetables, herbs and small fruits can be grown.