Vertical urban gardening: The low-tech solution for growing food in cities

Vertical urban gardening: The low-tech solution for growing food in cities

Kraak, K.D.

Brezet, J.C. (mentor)
Dehli, S.R. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Industrial Design

Master of Science Integrated Product Design

2015-02-27

The growing number of cities and people living in relative small areas results in a decrease of nature. Therefore it is time to start thinking about new ways to bring nature back to people. This happened at Natuur op je Muur, a start-up company working on a vertical gardening system for school yards to enable children to learn about the origin of vegetables and herbs and enable them to grow it themselves. Due to the missing balance between cities and nature, they saw there also is high potential to expand their business to the consumer market. Therefore an attractive, easy to use and sustainable low-tech vertical gardening system for outdoor usage is designed. This design focusses on usage in small city areas, like balconies, since that is where a product like this is most needed. The final design of a vertical vegetable garden for usage in small city areas is the TOM, Tuin Op Muur. The TOM consists of a panel that enables people to vertically grow 4 to 6 edible plants. A removable water reservoir and wicks ensuring a stable water flow in the form of a low-tech solution. In every season the water supply can be adapted easily to create the optimal living circumstances for the plants. The users will have access to a platform of advice. This way they are taken along through the process of buying, installing and using the TOM. To enable everyone to comfortably and successfully have their own vegetable garden, the reflection of nature in an urban environment.

Vertical gardening
Food
Wicks
Plants

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:26992c94-4aa1-4070-8eaf-57dcad9e375a

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2015 Kraak, K.D.