Crops in the clouds: The rise of rooftop farming in space-starved Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of the most densely packed cities on Earth, now one organisation is spearheading a movement to turn idle rooftops and urban spaces into farms By Marianne Bray HONG KONG, Nov 5 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – At the top of a three-storey building in Hong Kong, with car horns blasting on the streets below, Jim Fung teaches a dozen students how to thin out choi sum vegetables. "Always use the resources you have," the instructor said as he placed shredded office paper into soil-filled plastic crates and wound string around bamboo sticks to make support frames. Fung was coaching the first cohort of students in an academy run by social enterprise Rooftop Republic to teach a new generation of urban farmers as demand for their skills soars. The organisation is spearheading a movement to turn Hong Kong’s idle rooftops and urban spaces into farms to help residents reconnect with nature and make the finance hub more liveable. Once a cluster of fishing and farming villages, Hong Kong is now one of the most densely packed cities on Earth, with 7.4 million people living on a quarter of its 1,100 square km (425 square miles) of land. […]

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