Landscape & Urban Design Issue 17 2016 | Page 18

Homefarm SPARK unveils Homefarm – a concept for the next generation of retirement housing – at today’s Retirement Living World China 2014 conference in Shanghai. The bold conceptual project proposes the combination of apartments and facilities for seniors with vertical urba farming. SPARK’s aim is to generate discussion about the many potentials that can emerg from the mixing of two typically separate realms. The question of how to support and accommodate a rapidly ageing population confronts man nations in Asia. In Singapore, for example, a substantial demographic shift is underway. By 2030, one in five Singapore residents will be aged 65 years and over (up from 6 per cent in 1990). The swelling proportion of seniors will place significant demands on social, economic and infrastructural systems. Achieving a secure food supply for growing city populations is an equally pressing challenge for rapidly urbanising Asian nations. This challenge is keenly felt in Singapore, a