Besides population growth and climate change, urban growth is one of the largest challenges in the 21st century. Spatial and infrastructural borders between urban centers and rural areas disappear. Agricultural production needs to feed an ever-growing population. At the same time, current innovations in animal breeding and plant cultivation, as well as measures for increasing productivity are not able to compensate for the ever increasing scarcity of cultivation areas.
Our vision of agricultural systems of the future is based on the idea that food will be produced in connected, mutually communicating and standardized production units, the so-called CUBES. Those CUBES are the basis for a closed food production system, which overcomes the weaknesses of earlier agricultural production systems by using ISO-standards, stackable units and a bio-cybernetic regulation approach. At the same time, the system integrates easily into the urban future. Due to its mobile nature, adaptability to a changing environment and an inherent scalability, the CUBES can be implemented in urban, rural and even desertified sites. Principles of closed cultivation methods will be integrated into a new process chain and the individual elements of the chain are intelligently connected and regulated. Thereby, synergies like the „Triple Zero®" concept can be used, enabling a production without additives and avoiding emissions and waste.
The Institute of Machine Tools and Production Technology at TU Braunschweig is actively shaping the future of urban food production. The focus is on the comprehensive evaluation of sustainability and location factors in the CUBES Circle urban agricultural system. The aim is to holistically analyze and further develop sustainable, cycle-oriented food production. For holistic planning, material and immaterial flows (media, energy and data) between individual CUBES and their environment are considered (e.g. by means of simulation).
In the area of life cycle engineering, the focus is on the further development of sustainability assessment. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) that has already been developed will be supplemented by a modular assessment of the environmental impact of different products (e.g. tomatoes vs. peppers). This allows ecological hotspots within production in the CUBES Circle to be identified and optimized at an early stage. In addition, a live LCA is being developed that draws on real-time data from the pilot plant in Berlin-Dahlem. This dynamic sustainability assessment creates the basis for transparent and adaptable urban food production and allows in-depth analyses of the interactions between environmental impacts, production parameters and environmental influences.
In addition, the system is evaluated in terms of absolute sustainability: The focus here is on the question of whether and how the system can operate within planetary boundaries. The aim is to use CUBES Circle to develop ecologically viable and permanently sustainable food production in harmony with planetary boundaries and social responsibility.
In consideration of ecological factors, the analysis encompasses economic, spatial and structural dimensions.The evaluation of prospective locations for CUBES Circle involves a comprehensive assessment of scaling effects, investment costs and urban as well as peri-urban resource flows. Furthermore, material and energy synergies with neighbouring industrial and infrastructure systems are identified in order to promote resource-efficient and circular solutions in urban development, agriculture and food systems.