Urban farming on rooftops has become a famous trend in urban agriculture. But the damages it causes has resulted in unintended structural damage to older buildings. These passages below will discuss the main reasons for this problem and possible solutions that can be implemented to ensure safe and sustainable urban agriculture.
Even though urban farming on rooftops has become excellent alternative to expand agriculture in big cities with limited space, some unintentional damages has also been found alongside the expansion, especially in older buildings. The main reason for this could be the conducted procedure of the farming which might not be suitable or tested in older buildings. The current urban farming procedure that has been circulating is made to adapt in new and modern buildings, using plastics and much water such as in hydroponics. The ongoing physiology behind this certainly will produce by-products, like moisture which eventually will become the first step into destruction of the older buildings, which were not designed to face these processes in the first place.
Not only providing people with more accessible plants and vegetables, urban agriculture should also sustain and maintain environment as its purpose, including the older buildings. To make sure this can happen, some solutions to prevent unwanted destructions to the buildings should be proposed. Organization or ministry of agriculture can publish a guideline educating the society about this matter, providing trusted materials, procedures, and tutorials based on research evidence on how to do rooftop farmings safely. Conditional requirements and conditions should also be addressed in order to prevent the farmings being held in a vulnurable buildings.
In conclusion, I believe that alongside its benefits to the society in providing a greener environment in city centers, an inconsiderate rooftop farming can unintentionally cause damages to older buildings which were not built to facillitate the process. Education and trusted guidelines from experts in the government hopefully can play a big part in preventing this to happen.