The "Cité Maraichère" (Market Garden City) ; a living laboratory to cultivate the city of tomorrow
The "Cité Maraîchère" is a new municipal facility dedicated to urban agriculture in a truly groundbreaking form. It is the first vertical farm of its kind to provide sustainable urban farming in France, to offer fresh, low carbon footprint produces and to promote short supply chains. This urban farm is also a great tool aimed at guaranteeing quality food, developing a social community economy and raising awareness among residents for the management of energy resources.
Cross-border/international
France
France
{Empty}
France, Romainville
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
Yes
FoodE project,
ESF,
DIRECCTE,
Metropolitan Investment Fund,
French State,
Region
No
Yes
2021-03-20
As a representative of an organization, in partnership with other organisations
Name of the organisation(s): ilimelgo architects Type of organisation: For-profit company First name of representative: Valerian Last name of representative: Amalric Gender: Male Nationality: France Function: CEO Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: 57 rue de Lancry Town: Paris Postal code: 75010 Country: France Direct Tel:+33 6 63 20 34 83 E-mail:agence@ilimelgo.com Website:https://ilimelgo.com/fr
The "Cité Maraîchère" ("Market-gardening City") is a new municipal facility for urban agriculture and sustainable food as well as the location of agricultural, social, architectural, and technical innovation. Within a neighborhood undergoing regeneration, exemplary in its rationality and constructive logic, the building is a link between traditional and modern market-gardening practices. Confronted with climate change, future major ecological and food challenges along projected population growth by 2050, urban agriculture is considered a solution with great potential for tomorrow.
vertical urban farming
social community economy
solidarity and sustainable food production
climate change and food transition educational tool
architectural and engineering innovation
Recognizing the developing world’s diminishing agricultural space, the project aims at meeting the growing demands for crop cultivation in urban environments. Conscious of this need, the City of Romainville has been supporting sustainable and forward-thinking alternatives to small plot-based agriculture. Though they have implemented many rooftop and allotment gardens in the past decade, the "Cité Maraichère" represents a comprehensive dedication to sustainability, education, and local economic participation.
Beyond its primary urban agriculture function, the "Cité Maraîchère" reviews urgent sustainable themes: land management and land use, air quality and reduction of heat islands, the development of community networks, etc.
The Vertical Farm reinvents urban agriculture with a farming complex in the Parisian suburb at Romainville. The farm integrates production of fresh produce into the city through a 1 000 square meter greenhouse that maximizes sunlight and natural ventilation.
Designed as a "controlled bioclimatic environment", the vertical farm combines both ventilation systems and daylight within high-performance thermal skin ; bio-sourced materials (cork and wood fiber) for insulation, wood boiler for the spaces opene to the public, recovery of rainwater for irrigation, solar and thermal protection, atural heat, light and ventilation...
Main elements that shall be targeted within the projects are the following:
Territorial integration: creation of a sustainable and solidarity-based food ecosystem; integration into a larger ecosystem on the scale of Greater Paris and the surrounding rural territory.
Economic sustainability: implementation of an economic model that integrates a multiplicity of activities (farming, training, entertainment, catering, sales, etc.); inclusion in a circular economy and re-employment logic; participation in urban development and the economic development of working-class neighborhoods;
Within a neighbourhood undergoing regeneration, exemplary in its rationality and constructive aesthetic, the "Cité Maraichère" is a link between traditional and modern market-gardening practices.
Located in Romainville in the outskirts of Paris, the Vertical Farm represents the culmination of the urban renewal initiated a decade ago.
The farm relates to its context by adopting an archetypal form, combining the imagery of agriculture and industry which are at the roots of the city’s identity, and by establishing a direct relation with the adjacent buildings both in terms of materiality and textures.
The main challenge was to provide suitable conditions for the cultivation of 1.000 square meters of above-ground planters on respectively three to six stories, all for a total footprint of barely 350 constructible square meters.
Following a layout inspired by traditional market gardening we intended to maximize both available cultivated area and natural light exposure. Sun studies have allowed us to define the optimal orientation of the farm as to provide the best amount of light to grow crops.
The design not only meets the needs of users but aims at fostering a responsible market gardening within an educational space conducive to exchanges between residents.
It is the first building of its kind to provide vertical urban farming in France. The ground-floor of the facility, dedicated to the public, allows access to a restaurant along with workshops and pedagogical gardens while the upper floors are used for crops production and harvesting.
The key purpose of the vertical farm is educational; the will to bring people together in questioning agricultural practices but also nutritional and environmental issues of our modern society.
In terms of inclusion, the "Cité Maraichère" intends to foster a comprenhensive social project favoring a strong sense of community, such as :
Activities generating local employment and professional opportunities :
- Creation of jobs, some of them in integration for the residents of the territory (the number of which will vary according to the activity).
- Offers of varied courses, better adapted to the different profiles of unemployed people: market gardening, eco-activities
and reception-sales-service.
- Training and professional qualification in sectors that are recruiting.
- Hosting project leaders in the field of sustainable food processing.
- Development of new local skills based on sustainable practices, thus helping to raise awareness among residents of the challenges
of ecological transition.
It also aims at promoting a lively place to meet people regardless of gender, age or race :
- Café-canteen.
- Square (table, benches and edible landscaping).
- Neighborhood composter.
And providing healhty and sustainable quality fersh produces to all
- Direct sale to residents at suitable prices.
- Distribution of products to the future social grocery store.
- Adapted offers for the most modest households. *
* In order to promote access to quality food for all Romainville residents, the local authority is applying a household income-based tariff system.
Romainville's Cité Maraîchère is a facility set up by a new community-based team working towards an ambitious local policy to rise to the challenge of ecological and community transition; a municipal facility for urban agriculture and sustainable and community-based food. It aims at supporting an environmental education programme alongside sustainable food, promoting access to fresh, healthy and seasonal produce for all.
It will also act as a means to create jobs in the area and provide support to those having difficulties finding employment. Workplace integration and training courses are on offer, supported by the Agence Communale de la Transition Écologique et Solidaire (Community Agency for Ecological and Solidarity Transition - ACTES), founded in October 2020.
Following the building's completion in March 2021, the first months of the project were devoted to setting up the market gardening and eco-facilitation units: filling the753 planters, sowing and planting, donations of the first harvests to the Secours Populaire charity, direct sales to residents from July onwards, workshops for leisure centres, extracurricular activities and some schools, and the development of outdoor spaces for local residents.
As an eductaional tool, the Cité Maraîchère is offering school workshops (kindergarten, elementary, junior high and high school) in the form of isolated "turnkey" workshops or five-session courses on the following themes: nature in the city, zero waste (neighborhood composter accesible every Saturday) by the zero waste tea, sustainable food, from field to fork.
Designed as a lively new meeting place, the "Cité Maraichère" brings together everyone involved in the local economy around fresh new ideas, right at the heart of the Marcel Cachin district in Romainville. Since its launch, it has proved to be a popular success, even a source of pride, and a place where people, young and old, meet and contribute in their own way throughout the year!
Located in the heart of the Marcel Cachin priority neighbourhood, the "Cité Maraîchère" is the result of a vast urban renewal programme carried out between 2007 and 2017, in partnership with the State, the National Agency for Urban Renewal, the Île-de-France Region and the Seine-Saint-Denis Departmental Council.
This redevelopment was designed to meet specific objectives set by the municipality in order to improve the living environment of the inhabitants, to open up the district to make it the heart of the city, and to re-establish a social mix and reintroduce nature into the city, all in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. One of the targeted aspects was the social project to educate citizens about ecology and sustainable food, and to provide fresh and local products at affordable prices for the inhabitants.
Finally the agronomic project, led by a nationwide consortium of experts, consists of testing market gardening in boxes, without synthetic chemical inputs and with a circular substrate (composed of crushed aerated concrete from construction waste, compost and mushroom growing waste). 750 boxes have been installed in the two vertical greenhouses of the Cité Maraîchère. These operate without heating or artificial light, with natural ventilation and drip irrigation controlled by a programmable system operated by the CMF group (international greenhouse manufacturer).
In order for the "Cité Maraîchère" to become an emblematic place that contributes to the influence of the city of Romainville within Greater Paris, it was necessary to involve a wide number of actors- city services, scientific partners, designers, agronomists, architects, landscapers, service providers - as well as residents, associations, companies and local cultural structures.
During the development of the project, the city surrounded itself with experts in various working groups - agronomic techniques, employment and integration, education - who worked to set up the project and with whom collaborations will be able to continue, each in their own field of expertise: agronomy, urban agriculture, employment, education, food waste, ecology. They work in research institutes (AgroParisTech, INRAE, IRSTEA, Astredhor), public institutions (EPT Est Ensemble, Département de Seine-Saint-Denis, Métropole du Grand Paris, Région Île-de-France, DRIEE)
In addition, as part of the European FoodE project, the "Cité Maraîchère" is at the same time a demonstrator, a place of awareness raising and an event organiser. Market gardening production will be seasonal, varied and with common species (fruits vegetables, leaf vegetables, berries, aromatics). In the basement will be cultivated oyster mushrooms, shiitake and French endives.
In collaboration with FoodE partners:
Commune de Romainville (FR), Institut des Sciences et Industries du Vivant et de l’Environnement – Agro Paris Tech (FR), University of Bologna (IT), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ES), Nabolagshager AS (NO)
The "Cité Maraîchère" is a public service for urban agriculture and solidarity food provided by the City of Romainville in the form of a work integration project.
It brings together in one place: market gardening (a 6-storey greenhouse of 1000 m2, a mushroom farm of 100 m2 and a first roof of 350 m2), catering, sales, training, research, gardening, and composting, culinary, cultural and scientific events.
The challenge: to promote access to fresh and healthy produce for modest households and to offer environmental education to all. A new place to live and meet in the heart of the popular Marcel Cachin district, it also creates local jobs and trains and supports people far from work. This economic sector will be complementary (and not competing) with traditional peri-urban and rural agriculture, thus strengthening an existing territorial ecosystem.
The "Cité Maraichère" is a place of unique agronomic, architectural and technical innovation, through the use of crop substrates from local bio-waste tested in the context of agronomic research and various experiments in soilless agricultural techniques, a key point of an extended agricultural operation throughout the territory.
Environmental aspects are targeted through the production of fruits, vegetables and mushrooms locally, following ecological principles. The project also raises awareness on the main environmental issues (climate change, scarcity of resources, accelerated loss of biodiversity, food wastage, waste) to move towards new ways of consuming and producing food, working and living together. The project plays an active role in the transformation of urban spaces and the integration of nature in the city and constitute a resource and experimentation centre for urban agriculture.
Finally, from an economic perspective, the project shall encourage the emergence of projects related to sustainable food (incubation of chefs, reception of newcomers in the process of being created).
In order to support its many innovations - agronomic, architectural and social - the design team surrounded itself with experts who assisted it in the design of the operating project and its implementation, each in their own field of expertise: agronomy, urban agriculture, employment, education, food waste, ecology. Thus, the Cité Maraîchère is a unique place for agronomic, architectural, social and technical innovation, through the use of growing substrates derived from local bio-waste tested in the context of agronomic research and various experiments in soil-less agricultural techniques.
Agronomic innovation:
The ecological management of the farm, in a circular economy dynamic, combines technicality - management of watering and cultivation zones via a programmer, integrated mini-meteorological station - and simple and environmentally friendly devices - lighting, ventilation and natural heating (apart from a frost-free period of 5° by aerothermics), recovery of rainwater (40% of the irrigation), bio-sourced materials for the insulation (cork), wood boiler It is unique in the world today, and challenges the principles of the usual management of crops under shelter. It is this combination of "high tech" and "low tech" that makes the project so interesting from an ecological, technical and economic point of view.
Social innovation:
The "Cité Maraîchère" is also part of the broader framework set up by the city and of an ambitious policy of inventing and creating new job-creating sectors - urban farmers, zero waste mediators, composting guides, etc. - and of value for the territory, while at the same time promoting the development of the local economy. - and of value for the territory, while taking up the challenge of the ecological transition.
Vertical urban agriculture:
The Cité Maraîchère hosts a panel of researchers and action research project leaders for practical tests and experiments in vertical urban agriculture in its operating spaces.
The main challenge was to provide suitable conditions for the cultivation of 1.000 square meters of above-ground planters on respectively three to six stories, all for a total footprint of barely 350 constructible square meters. Following a layout inspired by traditional market gardening we intended to maximize both available cultivated area and natural light exposure.
Sun studies have allowed us to define the optimal orientation of the farm as to provide the best amount of light to grow crops.Particular attention has been drawn on an ergonomic industrial process-like approach to ease the daily work of the urban market gardeners.
At the crossroads of a horticulture greenhouse, industrial building and public facility, the vertical farm has been designed in a rational way :
The constructive strategy is pragmatic; concrete has been chosen, over steel and wooden construction, as it is easily prefabricated, cost-efficient, resistant to a humidity rate of up to 80%, with excellent inertia, and able of supporting loads of more than one ton per square meter.
Bio-based natural products have been used elsewhere like cork and wood for façade insulation, furniture, and finishes.
As for the heating needs for public spaces, they are met through a wood-fired boiler whose fuel is renewable at a competitive cost while significantly lowering the overall carbon footprint.
Thus, the vertical farm has been designed as a bioclimatic environment combining renewable heat production systems and natural ventilation and lighting within a thermal efficient envelope. In fact, the façade continuously adapts to climatic variations to obtain the most favourable conditions for plant growth (control and diffusion of natural light, solar protection and air circulation monitored by local weather station, etc.)
In some respects, this unique vertical farm project required a great deal of research on societal, economic and agronomic issues, which resulted in a remarkable body of work that is potentially transferable to other similar projects.
These include the production of fresh fruit and vegetables in a vertical greenhouse structure hosting a culture in planters without pesticides or chemical inputs, with a circular substrate (from the recovery of mushroom culture waste, compost and cellular concrete). The two vertical greenhouses operate without heating or artificial light, with natural ventilation and a drip irrigation system controlled by a programmer. The collection of rainwater on the roof caters for 40% of the irrigation needs.
Similarly, the climate management of this vertical greenhouse, an extremely delicate subject, is perfectly replicable thanks to the research we have carried out, which has enabled to install very low-energy technical systems capable of homogenising the temperatures and hygrometry per floor, as close as possible to the optimum needs, as well as the appropriate provision of natural light, for better growth of the plants cultivated.
Finally, the circular economic model set up with local actors, tested over the course of the seasons by the team in charge of managing the "Cité Maraichère" is proving to be very promising and potentially sustainable enough to stand the test of time.
Recognizing the developing world’s diminishing agricultural space, the project aims to meet the growing demands for crop cultivation in urban environments. Indeed, in 2014, an UN report on the prospects for urbanization predicted that in 2050, the world population would be close to 10 billion inhabitants, 66% of whom would live in cities; in the long term, without concrete alternatives, there will no longer be enough agricultural land available to feed the population.
It is from this alarming observation that Dickson Despommier, ecologist teaching at Columbia University in New York, develops with his students the concept of "Farmscrapers" in response to the scarcity of arable land caused by urban sprawl.
The "Cité Maraichère" is a local attempt to respond to this worrying global issue.
On its own scale, it paves the way for the local production of short food circuits, healthy and tasty, with a low carbon footprint, for the benefit of all the inhabitants of the district, regardless of their income conditions. These local issues, such as the animation of neighbourhood life, the improvement of the food bowl of the most fragile populations, the ecological transition and the learning of food production cycles, are obviously largely linked to more global issues such as world hunger and scarcity of arable lands.
