The Role of Information and Communication Technologies in Architecture and Planning with Vertical Farming

The progressing field of smart cities plays a key role in creating sustainable societies. In this regard various applications aim towards improvement in urban planning, food system and transport planning. Reducing carbon footprint due to food waste and long transport distances for food is a key issue for smart and sustainable cities. The positive impact of this is both on the urban and peri-urban scale. Typically the provision of food in any city is designed around departmental stores which cater to larger population sizes and residential communities. This manuscript gives an overview of how smart systems can be used to reduce food waste and circulate food within residential apartment buildings without being stored for unnecessarily longer time periods. This idea works in tandem with the recently advancing proposals of vertical farming in which each apartment resident can grow, monitor and circulate the food produced in his apartment. A proposed ICT model on how this system can be adapted towards any typical residential building is studied.