In the 21st century, humanity is facing unprecedented climate and food crises caused by population growth, urbanization, environmental pollution, and carbon emissions. As a response to the climate and food crisis, the following concept has emerged: smart urban agriculture that can reduce carbon emissions from buildings and achieve self-sufficiency in food. Various architectural designs that include smart farms are being explored worldwide. Nevertheless, the concept does not seem to have gained sufficient popular traction. This study attempted to materialize the concept by presenting types and characteristics from an architectural planning and design perspective by examining cases of smart farm constructions worldwide. After collecting 171 smart farm cases from around the world and building a database in terms of city, architecture, environment, and crops, the types were classified through SOM analysis, an artificial neural network-based cluster analysis methodology. As a result of the analysis, smart farm types were classified into seven types, and the characteristics of architectural planning and design were extracted for each type. It is meaningful that a specific form was presented so that planning and design can be easily accessed according to the situation placed through the type of smart farm.

With the recent increase in food demand, urban agriculture has gained attention as a way of increasing food self-sufficiency and providing recreational spaces in cities. In this study, the suitability of rooftop greenhouses (RGs), a type of urban agriculture, was analyzed by combining the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and geographic information systems (GIS) in Seoul, the capital city of Korea. To achieve this, we derived location suitability factors through expert consultations and calculated the weights of each factor through AHP. After building the spatial data according to these factors, they were weighted and summed then scaled to a score of 0–100. The highest weight of the RG location factors was for benefit (0.1782), followed by officially assessed land prices (0.0913) and supermarket density (0.0802). The weights of supermarket density and accessibility were high because they are considered the main distribution channels. When analyzing the location of RGs by linking these results with the spatial data according to factor, we revealed that Gangseo-gu (a district of Seoul) had relatively high location suitability scores. This trend was determined to be caused by the rather low officially assessed land price, high supermarket density, and productive population. This result could prove useful when selecting the approximate locations of RGs in Seoul and for promoting food self-sufficiency in cities.

Background and objective Vertical smart farm (VSF) is an alternative that contributes to solving various problems such as climate change and food shortage. This study focused on the types and awareness of VSF to introduce and diffuse VSF. We aimed to investigate the types of VSF and citizens’ awareness on VSF. We analyzed 1) where the smart farm technology could be implemented on a building; 2) what citizens think about VSF; and 3) suggested what is most necessary for the introduction and diffusion of VSF in the future based on citizens’ perception. Methods VSF types were investigated through case studies on VSF in Korea and overseas. Citizens’ perception on VSF was investigated through a questionnaire survey. A statistical analysis was conducted with the survey results for implications of the introduction and diffusion of VSF. Results Four types of VSF were derived: rooftop farms, facade farms, indoor farms, and farms using the whole building. The survey showed that 29.2%, 27.8%, and 22.2% of respondents knew well about urban agriculture, smart farms, and vertical smart farms, respectively. Respondents answered that improving awareness is the most important factor to introduce VSF. According to the statistical analysis, it was determined that education and promotion of the necessity of VSF would be important to diffuse the VSF. Conclusion VSF can be a solution to a variety of problems we face. The results of this study suggest a direction for the introduction and diffusion of VSF. In order to introduce VSF in the future, additional studies must be conducted on the legal system.

Unusual meteorological phenomena in urban areas are causes of life loss and economic damage. Flooding is the major cause of large economic damage among natural disasters that occurs in cities. Especially, localized torrential rains in urban areas cause substantial economic damage in only a short time. Although similar torrential rain falls occur in both the city and nature, the occurrence patterns for flooding are very different. Urbanization is one reason for flooding to exhibit different characteristics, which we refer to as urban characteristics. However, the vulnerabilities of flooding in urban areas to do urbanization are unclear. Thus, it is necessary to analyze and perform a vulnerability diagnosis of the characteristics of different areas and buildings that are repeatedly damaged by flooding. This study identified vulnerabilities using a modified spatial regression model (OLS) using big data for buildings in 2012 in Seoul, which was repeatedly flooded by heavy rains of more than 50 mm/hour since 2000. In addition, the vulnerability diagnosis model was applied to individual parcels containing buildings in Seoul in order to spatially derive and verify the probability distribution of buildings vulnerable to urban flooding.