1s6a: Rooftops farming on urban waste provide many ecosystem services

Abstract

Urban farming, especially on rooftops, is a popular and growing topic in both the media and scientific literature. It is a great opportunity to meet some of the challenges linked to urban development worldwide. However, little attention has been paid to date to the growing medium of green roofs, i.e., Technosols. A better understanding of the influence of Technosol choice and its links with ecosystem services is required in order to maximize the environmental benefits of urban rooftop farming. Between March 2013 and March 2015, a pilot project called T4P (Parisian Productive rooftoP, Pilot Experiment) was conducted on the rooftop of AgroParisTech University. Two different units using urban organic wastes were compared to a commercial potting soil based on yield and vegetables trace metal concentration measurements, substrates characterization and leaching quantification.