Rethinkinh Cities’ Relationships with Nature: Robotic Urban Farmers

In our current context of ecological crisis, global warming, biodiversity loss, human population growth, and urban sprawl, we need to rethink the way we build and live in our city. We have observed the consequence of uncontrolled urban planning and construction driven only by a capitalist and productivist vision of the city, packing as many humans as possible in the cheapest constructions available, without consideration for the impact on our planet, our fellow animals &  plants inhabitants, and our own wellbeing. The concrete jungles we have been building for the past century have proven to be disrupting our climate (Global Warming, Local heat island effect), our ecosystems (loss of biodiversity, and recess of animals & plants population), and our economy (the food and product industry have been displaced far away, replaced by the only service industry, and the generation of the huge amount of waste in the city).

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Rethinking the way we build and live in our city requires a holistic approach, to the interaction of multiple disciplines and scales of operations. Cross-disciplinary studies have demonstrated that our cities can benefit from a more symbiotic relationship with nature. Nature Base Solution (NBS), incorporating plants and animals into our environment can bring the following benefits :

• Mitigation of global warming (Plants absorb C02 and reduce Albedo)
• Mitigation of global biodiversity loss (Preserving habitat for a variety of species)
• Reduction of the local extreme heat and humidity (via the evaporative cooling of plants)
• Reduction of the local air pollution (filtering C02 and other particles)
• Improve the thermal performance of buildings (providing shading, thermal mass, and insulation)
• Improve the well beings of humans (both physically and psychologically).
• Provide a part of the local energy & product needs (BioFuels, BioPhotovoltaic, BioPlastics)
• Provide a part of the local food needs (Km0, ultra-fresh vegetables, Fungi, and, Algae )

But why are we not doing it yet? Our assumption is that economic pressure on city and building planners have made the integration of nature in our city a challenge, especially on two fronts: The cost of valuable land space, and the cost of maintenance. To solve the first topic of land use, many projects of green walls and facades have demonstrated the possibility (and benefit) to integrate nature into our built environment, facade, and green walls, unfortunately at the extra expense of raising maintenance costs.

On the other hand, the rise of digital technologies such as AI, IOT, Computer Vision, and Robotics have demonstrated the possibility to automate many aspects of our industries, from logistical centers to Industrial farms. Recent developments are bringing these advances at a much smaller and more distributed scale, towards a more ubiquitous layer of information and robotics distributed around our cities.

Small-scale, open-source farming robots are now capable of scanning plants & soil, detecting their health status, providing the right nutrients & water, removing weeds, harvesting, and seeding the next plants.

Other robots specialized in logistics are capable to deal with the movement of packets in both 2-dimensional flat space as well as 3D. Could we integrate robotic technologies with the green facade?

Finally, “smart” green walls that use IOT, Biophotovoltaic, 3D printing & Web Apps are now capable to offer a new interface between humans, plants, and animals, collecting information about air, water, plant, insects, and animals’ health to engage local residents in the maintenance and care of this ecosystem. 

Can we envision a future where new technologies help us to reintegrate nature into our city?

In the context of the Tallinn Biennale 2022: Edible, the IAAC team has explored the integration of robots within our built environment to enable plants and food crops to be part of our city.

The project Robotic Urban Farmers is a physical installation exploring the future of our habitat, where humans, plants, and robots will cohabit symbiotically in cities. The project proposes a new facade system that integrates robotic agents and edible plants within our urban environment. A transversal data-driven protocol will grant a novel experience of spatial symbiosis among humans, edibles, and environmental agencies, turning architectural components into an augmented ecological interface of urban intervention.

The proposed facade system is a modular aluminum structure that can integrate the requirements:

• for the robots: the horizontal and vertical elements are rails for the robot
• for the plants: a flexible infrastructure that provides support, water, and data connection
• for the building: a lightweight adaptive system that can provide where needed increased sun protection, thermal mass, and/or insulation)
• and for humans: including spaces for plant care and harvesting, but also balconies and terraces to enjoy this outdoor space.

In this envisioned system, robots have the possibility to move the plant from one location to another, and over countless operations. could reconfigure the facade along the day and seasons. Plants are moved to new locations according to their climatic needs (such as the sun), brought to humans for care & harvest, and placed in special spaces for more specific treatments. The building can benefit from those movements, for e.g. increasing thermal protection in summer and bringing all the plants to the sunny facade. An application and AI system allow mediating the various requirements of plants, insects, animals, humans, and robots, toward a symbiotic city.

The built installation Robotic Urban Farmers at Tallinn Architecture Biennal 2022 pretends to be a manifesto of a new architectural organism enhancing a productive urban environment, generating fresh and local food, while improving the urban microclimate and local biodiversity.

See you in Tallinn to continue the discussion.

Project Credits

• Robotic Urban Farmers is a project by the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), in collaboration with the Master in Robotics and Advanced Construction (MRAC) from the Advanced Architecture Group (AAG). The project is exhibited and partially funded by the Tallinn Architecture Biennale 2022 (TAB22).
• Project lead : Cristian Rizzuti, Alexandre Dubor
• Project contributors: Areti Markopoulou, Aldo Sollazzo, Shahar Abelson, Michael Dicarlo, Francesco Polvi, Laukik Lad, Nareh Khaloian Darnaghi, Helena Homsi
• Project Sponsors: LaMaquina (3Dprint), WearPureTech (Material).