Science Magazine: “Upending the Traditional Farm”

February 11, 2008 issue. Special issue on ‘Cities’.

“Cities are taking over farmland. Could they someday take over the job of farming, too?”

“…One goal of Dongtan is to grow enough food to replace lost productivity as farmland is urbanized, says Peter Head, director of Arup, a design company leading the project. “The big question is whether it is economically viable,” he says. Head predicts that the lesson learned in China will propel a fundamental shift in the world’s approach to agriculture. “It isn’t a matter of whether we think it would be nice to do urban farming or not,” he says. “It’s a matter of whether we are going to survive.”…”

This short article is available for purchase from science.org here. Unfortunately it is expensive at $10.