Soil-less systems are investigated as a potential innovative solution to current agricultural processes, to be applied especially in the urban context, for facing challenges related to food supply such as increasing population, climate change and extreme events such as droughts or floods, reduced availability of soil for agriculture, etc.
This new strategy for urban food production has to be efficient with regards to the food yield and it needs to be performed in a sustainable way, with a reduced environmental and energy footprint, low costs, and social benefits.
In this context, the project proposal aims at investigating Hydroponic Green Roof Systems to evaluate their potentiality as an alternative way of food production in the Mediterranean context, taking into account environmental, energy, economic, and social aspects according to the principles of sustainable development, targeting specific aims highlighted in the "Recovery and Resilience Plan", in the "Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development" as well as in the "From farm to fork strategy".
Site-specific tests will be developed in small pilot plants, for examining the cultivation process of selected crops as a starting point of the research. The suitability of the system for food production in the various seasons, characterised by different climatic stress, will be tested for gaining insight of the diffusion of these systems at large-scale level to serve as a new strategy for food supply. Life Cycle Assessment methodology will be applied to assess the life-cycle environmental performance of hydroponic systems, also focusing on biodiversity, and to identify alternative scenarios indicating the best way for increasing the environmental sustainability and the circularity of the aforementioned process and of the food produced. From the energy side, the effects of improving the thermal and energy performance of existing buildings with flat roofs thanks to the additional insulation and shading brought about by these systems will be investigated through direct monitoring and simulation processes. Current costs and ways for reducing them will be the object of an economic analysis, while social aspects, and in particular biodiversity, will be taken into account focusing on
the increased food availability at home, the reduced stress to use transport to go shopping, the satisfaction and awareness of eating self-made food, etc.
The project will contribute to the development of new knowledge by: understanding new schemes for the growing of plants, achieving more environmental-economic-social sustainable food supply chains in a circular economy framework, gaining further insights on the contribution of these systems to the buildings thermal insulation with the aim of energy savings for space heating and cooling.