S09 - Session P2 - Agrotopia, a living lab for high tech urban horticulture within Europe

Authors: Ine Pertry *

In this highly urbanized world, there is a growing demand to supply fresh food into the cities. Urban farming can deliver an answer, but experience is still limited. At the same time greenhouse horticulturalists face important challenges, such as the availability of space and high energy costs. To address these challenges, INAGRO has built Agrotopia, a state-of-the-art 9000 m2 rooftop greenhouse for research into the latest greenhouse cultivation techniques and professional urban farming. Six thousand m2 of cultivation area to grow vegetables hydroponically, allows to develop and demonstrate best practices for hydroponic systems while addressing optimal use of space and resources. The flexible and ultramodern facility includes, 13 compartments that allow experimentation with various types of growing gutters, artificial lighting, circular economy and energy efficiciency and a 12 m high greenhouse compartment, that allows to explore vertical farming in a greenhouse. Located on top of a warehouse of the agricultural auction market, Agrotopia is a striking example of integrating food production in an urban or urbanized environment with multifunctional use of space shared between different parties. Agrotopia aims to synergise with its surroundings by investigating how the functions of agriculture, industry and the city are intertwined. Some examples of this include innovative water recycling and the reuse of urban residual heat. The design and construction are therefore a real learning experience. Here, we address lessons learned from the conceptualization of the project and the design process up to the construction. Agrotopia constitutes a suitable case study for urban greenhouse horticulture and highlights what to take into account when realizing such projects. This unique platform will serve as a living lab to exchange knowledge and, develop and demonstrate innovations through co-creation, involving all relevant stakeholders in the process, making Agrotopia an incubator for future greenhouse and urban horticulture projects.