The Design Exchange’s wildly received Carrot City exhibit envisions a fertile future where local farms line rail corridors, and greenhouses watered by the Don sprout veggies under the Gardiner.

Savour the possibilities...

1. Urban Agriculture Hub (Andy Guiry)

Spaces underneath elevated highways like the Gardiner aren’t just for wasting. This project envisions community greenhouses and outdoor gardens that use annual flooding of the nearby Don River to feed the crops. And tiny turbines along the highway powered by the wind of speeding cars to power the works. 

2. Ravine City (Chris Hardwicke)

Housing and gardens connected to Toronto’s ravines and river systems, and powered by solar energy, save sensitive wilderness and stop sprawl from eating up valuable agricultural land. A natural. 

3. Post-carbon Don Mills (Michael Blois)

Urban farms and communal gardens take root next to elevated cycle and small-vehicle paths along abandoned rail corridors. All aboard!

4. Science Barge (NY Sun Works)

Agriculture consumes two-thirds of global fresh water. Science Barge aims to change that by using purified river water and recycled rainwater from runoff to feed hydroponic crops. Insects replace pesticides, and solar and biodiesel produced from waste vegetable oil provide the power. 

5. Vertically integrated greenhouses (BrightFarm Systems and New York Sun Works)

Plants on trays suspended from a cable system rise up to 20 storeys inside office buildings that grow their own food. Like venetian blinds, the angle of the plants can be adjusted to maximize exposure to the sun. 

6. Pig City (MVRDV Architects, the Netherlands)

Farms in towers combine organic farming techniques and production activities under one roof, eliminating the need for greenhouse-gas-causing distribution and transportation to feed the masses. Something to chew on: it takes 1,726 square metres of space to raise one pig organically.

7. 60 Richmond Street EAST (Teeple Architects)

This is what the future of urbanism looks like: living, growing forms, with gardens to feed their inhabitants and sophisticated mechanical systems to reuse stromwater as well as green, cool and cleanse the air.

8. Rooftop garden (Trent University)

This 9,000-square-foot beauty planted in 1994 was first used to research the effects of ground-level ozone on crop production and the potential of plants to filter out air pollutants. Today, it’s a learning centre for students and a source of ancient grains and organic food for locals and biz concerned about food security.

enzom@nowtoronto.com