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"A captivating argument that will intrigue general readers and give policymakers and investors much to ponder." --"Kirkus Reviews"
"A visionary known the world over, Despommier believes that the 'vertical farm is the keystone enterprise for establishing an urban-based ecosystem' and for 'restoring balance between our lives and the rest of nature." --"Booklist "(starred)
"Despommier has quickly become the central figure in what could be a worldwide revolution." -"Scientific American"
"Nobody has ever dreamed as big as Dr. Dickson Despommier." --"New York"" Magazine "
"Despommier's . . . ingenious idea . . . could ultimately ease the world's food, water, and energy crises." --"The Huffington Post""Dickson Despommier is a futurist, an architect, and an intellectual in the same vein as Leonardo da Vinci, I. M. Pei, and Buckminster Fuller. Vertical farms will be remembered as one of the preeminent breakthroughs of the early 21st century, and Despommier will be remembered as the man who brought them to us." --Josh Tickell, director of "Fuel", winner of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary
"This book makes the case that urban agriculture can go vertical as well as horizontal, putting all those expanses of pretty glass to some actual use!" --Bill McKibben, author of "Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet"
"Cities of the future must generate their own food supply. Dickson Despommier's elegant, simple answer for achieving this goal is vertical farming. Welcome to the third green revolution."--Peter Diamandis, Chairman of the X Prize Foundation and Co-Founder of the Singularity University
Product Description
When Columbia professor Dickson Despommier set out to solve America's food, water, and energy crises, he didn't just think big - he thought up. Despommier's stroke of genius, The Vertical Farm, has excited scientists, architects, and politicians around the globe. These farms, grown inside skyscrapers, would provide solutions to many of the serious problems we currently face, including: allowing year-round crop production; providing food to areas currently lacking arable land; immunity to weather-related crop failure; re-use of water collected by de-humidification of the indoor environment; new employment opportunities; no use of pesticides, fertilizers, or herbicides; drastically reduced dependence on fossil fuels; no crop loss due to shipping or storage; no agricultural runoff; and, many more. Vertical farming can be located on abandoned city properties, creating new urban revenue streams. They will employ lots of skilled and unskilled labor. They can be run on wind, solar, tidal, and geothermal energy. They can be used to grow plants for pharmaceutical purposes or for converting gray water back into drinking water. In the tradition of the bestselling "The World Without Us", this is a totally original landmark work destined to become a classic. With stunning illustrations and clear and entertaining writing, this book will appeal to anyone concerned about America's future.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is like reading a student dissertation where the writer is trying to demonstrate everything he knows about everything. Over half the book is devoted to describing the problems with modern agriculture and past catastrophes such as the dust bowl. All are relevant but the writing is very disjointed and doesn't flow well in the book. I'm not sure who wants a school-book description of photosynthesis in a book supposedly on the specialist topic of vertical farms.
The author proposes that we will be relying on food produced in sterile disinfected soil-less environments in multi-storey buildings where you need an id card to enter. All waste will be burnt to provide energy to run the LED lights that replace sunlight. All very academic since we can't even run hospitals like this at present so very unlikely especially in third world countries. Don't get me wrong, I bought this book because I believe that urban agriculture (and vertical farming) will play a key role in the future. My problem with this book is that it didn't provide any discussion on examples nor strategies to roll this out. The author totally ignores the "green wall" and green roof movement which is rapidly gaining popularity and could be used for future vertical farms. He also totally ignores the potential of perennials in future agriculture (and in vertical farming). There is no discussion on integrating food, water and renewable energy into new architecture which will be the main challenge to overcome. Therefore,overall this book is very disappointing.
The author proposes that we will be relying on food produced in sterile disinfected soil-less environments in multi-storey buildings where you need an id card to enter. All waste will be burnt to provide energy to run the LED lights that replace sunlight. All very academic since we can't even run hospitals like this at present so very unlikely especially in third world countries. Don't get me wrong, I bought this book because I believe that urban agriculture (and vertical farming) will play a key role in the future. My problem with this book is that it didn't provide any discussion on examples nor strategies to roll this out. The author totally ignores the "green wall" and green roof movement which is rapidly gaining popularity and could be used for future vertical farms. He also totally ignores the potential of perennials in future agriculture (and in vertical farming). There is no discussion on integrating food, water and renewable energy into new architecture which will be the main challenge to overcome. Therefore,overall this book is very disappointing.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I got this book because I am studying the vertical farm for my thesis. The book is written in very understandable language and is easy to get through. The chapters offer a logical flow to the book, though if you are going to read the book cover to cover some concepts tend to get repetitive, although reiteration can be a useful tool to get important ideas across to the reader.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in what farming might (or should) look like in the not too distant future. It is not just for college/university students, it's written for a much wider audience.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in what farming might (or should) look like in the not too distant future. It is not just for college/university students, it's written for a much wider audience.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Despommier is a well known US academic who has been writing about Vertical Farms for a while - this is his latest book. It is well written and illustrated and provides a great read for the informed layperson, student or teacher of geography, development, planning, environment, etc. The basic idea is that the world is running out of room to grow sufficent food, so his thesis is that we build multistorey farms in cities, and using a small urban footprint can grow food intensively and distribute it immediately to the urban markets. If this doesn't sound very eco-friendly, read the book and you can see how it can be... the best book I have read for ages....
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