Our population is increasing every day. But as we grow and develop, we move further away from the basics. Over five million people live in the high-density city of Singapore. Here, land is scarce and food insecurity is prominent. To combat these issues, innovator Bjorn Low is bringing farming back to the bustling metropolis.
Low founded Edible Garden City, an organisation that utilises urban farming to help communities produce their own food and become self-sufficient. “We really need to shift from a centralised agricultural system to a decentralised one,” he says. His model of edible gardens is accessible to everyone. From schools and restaurants to businesses, Low and his team have constructed edible gardens on rooftops and in congested areas.
These farms have become community hubs. Not only do they yield feasts, but they also open up a new wave of job opportunities for differently-abled people to maintain the gardens. They serve as places for education and research, and enable city dwellers to reconnect with nature. “Urban farms have the ability to provide care for the community through horticulture therapy,” Low says.
With 250 gardens spread across Singapore, he’s now working to bring his model to Jakarta, Hong Kong, and Bangkok. Low is making the cityscape more sustainable and inclusive by curating a modern ecosystem of ‘agripreneurs’. With creative design, we can resculpt limited land into one of promise.
