Rooftop farming in Buenos Aires: nature-based solutions for urban resilience

In recent years, cities such as New York, Toronto, Paris and Milan have drafted frameworks implementing innovative strategies aimed to a radical change of paradigm in the concepts of food production and consumption. These strategies promise to diversify and promote efficient and sustainable food supply and distribution systems in terms of resources, management, reduction and prevention of food waste. Food policies adopted from these and other cities, place urban food systems as the beating heart of the sustainable development highlighting the link between climate, energy, natural resources, equity and social inclusion. In this paradigm, food policies therefore assume a fundamental role in issues closely related to the resilience of urban territorial systems. Among the experiences that move in this direction are those of urban agriculture and, in particular the Rooftop Farming. Starting from this background, the focus of the study moves on the urban space of the City of Buenos Aires and on the possibility of defining a new urban governance model for the city through the large-scale implementation of Rooftop Farming technology; a model that considers food as an urban infrastructure and a constitutive element of the City itself.