Sprawling spaces filled with sprouting vegetation and farm animals, plus vertical farm start-ups — urban farming is often romanticized, yet, in its truest form, is indeed beneficial for urbanites.
Zooming into local real estate, emerging players such as test lab Sunway XFarms, Sime Darby Property’s recent collaboration with BoomGrow, Penang-based HAVVA Agrotech, and independent efforts such as Babylon Vertical Farms show that the demand for urban farming has grown among the local communities.
Movements in Malaysia
These efforts have been observed by the Institute of Landscape Architects Malaysia (ILAM) president Dr. Nor Atiah Ismail. “The pandemic has [accelerated] areas of security, technological competition, and digital transformation, and the fight against the pandemic is still ongoing. Food scarcity and inconsistent food chain supply during the pandemic also brought the idea of edible cities and productive landscapes into Malaysia,” she says in an email interview.
Atiah, who is also a professor at the Faculty of Design and Architecture at Universiti Putra Malaysia, highlights, “Farming used to be the lifestyle of community living in the rural areas. However, it is now [widely] practiced by urbanites and is considered part of the contemporary urban infrastructure; for example, from home kitchens and edible gardens to bigger community gardens where people can grow their own food.”
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