FUTURE OF DWELLING: INDOOR PLANTS AND PRODUCE

Our agricultural system has a gigantic task ahead, by 2050 it will need to increase food production by about 70% in order to meet the needs of a global population of 9.7 billion people, 68% of whom are projected to live in urban areas. Presently, 38% of the planet’s unfrozen land is used for growing food, using 70% of our water consumption. The agricultural system needs to become more efficient starting by using new technologies to increases productivity. Indoor farming has the potential to present solutions that can help mitigate this problem at both the urban and single dwelling levels. The future of food production starts at home by bringing plants indoors. Interest in greenifying our interiors is not new. As humanity moved from nomadic hunter-gatherers (in the Neolithic) to becoming urban dwellers, plant domestication was one of the main factors behind their settling down. Across cultures all over the world and for generations, humans have brought plants into their homes. Before we called them houseplants, scented and flowering plants were taken indoors so that their fragrance and blooms could be enjoyed, while also masking unwanted smells inside the house. Well known as stress busters, mood enhancers and incorrectly as air purifiers, it’s easy to see why houseplants are having a revival. The present trend has been attributed to eco-friendly, health-conscious millennials who want to bring the great outdoors into their inner-city apartments and nurture something alive in an increasingly virtual world, but it could go further than that. What if indoor houseplants could also feed us? The future of dwelling relies on making home grown produce an inherent aspect of the interior environment, using smart gardening, self-watering garden systems, hydroponic kitchen appliances and other emerging technologies to do so. This paper will focus on the future of indoor plants and their sustainable potential in helping mitigate the climate crisis, as they are integrated in an interior environment to help define the future of dwelling.