07 Sep 2007


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Urban agriculture could be the future of retail, claims report


Green-retail

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To read more or download the full report, click here

“A bright glass building shimmers in the setting sun, crowned with wind turbines and coated in solar panels.

Wind turbines could play a role

“No-one lives there, it used to be a car park. Now it's a vertical farm, a shining example of the new urban agriculture - climate controlled, filled with fruit and vegetables, and even a few pigs.

“It generates all its own energy, harvests water from the rooftop and markets produce on the ground floor to local businesses and residents.”

That's just one of the scenarios in a report out today generated by think tank Forum for the Future with the support of Tesco and Unilever, looking at what the retail experience of 2022 might be like.

Further scenarios include:

• Communities increasingly turning to bartering to cope with economic slowdown and becoming retailers in their own right, selling goods and services to each other online.

• People stop shopping altogether – at least for staples, with items ordered automatically over the internet by intelligent fridges and kitchen cupboards

Forum for the Future claims the scenarios “provide valuable tools to help the retail sector develop robust, future-proof strategies that will deliver more sustainable retail in a time of radical change”

David North, community and government director of Tesco, claimed: “The report is a valuable stepping stone towards a green revolution.”

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