Growing up in China in a concrete forest, my family used to raise chickens on the balcony and grew herbs in pots. People from our apartment would plant a mini farm downstairs in the tiny community garden. On another rooftop near us, a man would let hundreds of pigeons out of his farm for a “fly” every morning and afternoon. I understand the feasibility of urban agriculture since a young age. One of the most popular games on the Facebook equivalent Chinese social media allowed users to grow a digital farm, users can also steal vegetables from their friends’ and families’ digital farm. I often got robbed badly…

During the pandemic, food suddenly disappeared from the shelves briefly and we became isolated from people. My partner and I decided to grow plants as companions and as a source of food despite having no garden. We faced many frustrating issues but seeing plants grow slow made us feel accomplished and proud.

Urban agriculture is not without flaws. It may introduce disease and agricultural pollutants to the urban ecosystem, create conflicts over land use, and add complicated, maintenance intensive systems to the urban infrastructure. It is still at an infant stage of implementation and estimates are based on idealistic models.

However, according to research, the benefits it can potentially provide is worth striving for. In this application (and website) I have limited the focus to ‘Urban Horticulture’ – growing crops for food. In the following content, I demonstrate my research, validations and initial plans for this application (and website).