The Battle for Our Rooftops: Housing vs. Food

What happens to city food supply when rooftops get converted into housing? It's such a rich

topic, literally and figuratively. Rooftop farms are small but growing contributors to

urban food security. So, how do you start unraveling this? We start by mapping

the trade-offs. Housing is urgent in many cities, but so is resilient local food.

The rooftop is finite real estate. Finite real estate? Wow, that puts it bluntly.

Rooftops used for community gardens in my neighborhood were the first communal spaces I remember

as a kid. Those communal spaces often serve multiple roles, food production,

stormwater management, green cooling, and social cohesion. Reclaiming them for housing removes