With the idea of a utopian economically independent city, NYCSS would infuse urban farming throughout all five boroughs. The plan was created by focusing on the food, waste, energy, production, water, air and climate that are specific to New York City.
The city would be divided up into various centers, focusing on food production, open spaces, food growing cells, vertical farms, meat production towers, and neighborhood hubs. The plan would employ the plentiful unused rooftops on the buildings across our metropolis, as well as the building of new 30 storey farms, edible living walls, and street level farms. The framework would not disrupt the current urban flow, but only infuse edible greenery into the concrete landscape.
The plan also envisions Times Square as a production hub, keeping the bright lights and theaters, combined with a large pedestrian area. Solar panels would provide shade, while collecting energy. Urban crops would line the pedestrian thoroughfares, and fruit bearing trees would provide shade. Keeping in line with Times Square’s penchant for oversized advertisements, a growing tower would feature an large LCD screen for ads. Streetwise, the plans foresee patches of farming everywhere, food growing cells for winter, and even a meat production tower to source the city’s meat as locally as possible.
Although the overall plan seems drastic, if the city started employing even fragments of NYCSS, it could provide better for itself, as well as drastically reduce both its ecological and economic footprint.