Urban symbiosis through building integrated agriculture: Transforming vacant areas of a multi-storey carpark into an urban farm

Date

2024-7

Author

Gönençen, Kaya Emre

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Demands of increasing population cause not only rapid urbanization and the absence of greenery in the urban context but also insufficiency and infertility of conventional agricultural spaces. Both the built environment and agriculture become major consumers of energy and resources to fulfill the needs, while urban agriculture (UA) and building-integrated agriculture (BIA) have started to emerge as possible remedies towards revitalizing their ancient bond. This study aims to indicate conventional problems of agriculture and the built environment regarding environmental loads and to investigate possible symbiotic relationships between them to enhance resource use efficiency and local self-sufficiency. This research investigates the impacts of agricultural methods and conducts circular scenario analysis of a proposal to transform a multi-storey carpark in Ankara into an urban farm with BIA methods and urban symbiosis options. As methodology, quantitative data about agricultural methods is gathered for meta-analysis comparison from producers in Turkey and literature review among 156 reference sources. Moreover, the scenario is analyzed for capturing surrounding CO2, utilizing water sources, and producing renewable energy. In summary, this study outlines the potential, limitations, and impacts of BIA methods from environmental, economic, and social perspectives. The analysis indicates that while BIA techniques, especially the controlled environment agriculture (CEA) method used in the proposed transformation, are costly, energy-dependent, and complex to operate, they offer considerable potentials for food production, resource use efficiency, and mitigating environmental loads of logistics, irrigation, and waste management. With symbiotic urban opportunities, BIA methods can benefit the local built environment and enhance local self-sufficiency.

Subject Keywords

Building-integrated Agriculture (BIA), Urban Agriculture (UA), Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), Urban Symbiosis, Environmental Load

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/110135

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis