Urbanana: The Tropical Urban Farm For Cold Cities

Instead of producing local food on small urban wastelands, urban farming could better focus on producing fruits and vegetables that are not really growing naturally. The French agency SOA Architects did so by designing an urban banana farm for cities like Paris. The so-called Urbanana (nice name) is a huge greenhouse that actually fits the dimensions of the city — it can be built right in between houses and offices and offers the opportunity to produce food on the scale needed in the city. When this project will be realized, Parisians can eat local bananas that are both sustainable and a real contribution to a city’s food culture.

Over the last years urban farming has transformed into a DIY trend that mainly focused on empty urban lots. This idea for European cities with a far from sub-tropical climate can also be used at the same kind of location, although someone has to properly invest in it, like a real farmer does. Urbanana is largely made out of glass, which provides enough sun entrance for the palms to grow. The structure should have six floors and also includes an exhibition area, a research laboratory and public space to teach people about urban agriculture.