Thirty-story buildings used for crop-growing is a good idea on paper, but the challenges still outweigh the benefits.
"What's needed before millions of dollars are spent to construct or renovate an existing 30-story building into a vertical farm, [Columbia University professor of public health Dickson] Despommier says, are prototypes just a few stories high. They should be built at leading agricultural universities and tinkered with until the concept is proved. 'Once it does, drive it out of the showroom and take it home,' he says.
While Despommier has won admirers around the world for his innovative thinking, skeptics still wonder how he's going to handle the problem of solar energy – bringing necessary light to the interior and lower floors of his agri-towers. 'As soon as you go vertical, you compound that problem of getting that [solar] energy to the plant,' says Gene Giacomelli, director of the Controlled Environment Agriculture Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson."
"The challenges also include finding and training indoor 'farmers' who can operate what is likely to be a complex system. 'There's nobody at the moment,' Giacomelli says. The technical problems aren't insurmountable – crops are being grown indoors at the South Pole, albeit at great expense, he says. But, he adds, 'There are many more ways to fail [at indoor agriculture] than to grow a crop correctly and succeed.'"
FULL STORY: Cities may sprout vertical farms

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
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Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
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MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
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