Farming is traditionally a countryside affair, due to the need for green space, sunlight and an abundance of land.

But now, urban farming is growing in popularity by using innovative methods to yield crops. City farm projects are making use of abandoned warehouses, skips, and rooftops, because of the lack of green space in the urban environment.

"As part of a recent research project investigating how urban farming is evolving across Europe, I found that in countries where growing food was embedded in the national culture, many people have started new food production projects," Silvio Caputo wrote for The Independent.

"Today's urban farmers don't just grow food to eat; they also see urban agriculture as a way of increasing the diversity of plants and animals in the city, bringing people from different backgrounds and age groups together, improving mental and physical health and regenerating derelict neighbourhoods."

Due to the lack of traditional farming space in cities, growers are turning to inventive methods and technologies such as hydroponics, aquaculture and aquaponics, to maximise efficiency in areas of limited space.

Eric Larrayadieu Getty Images

Hydroponics, for example, enables people to grow food without soil and natural light, using sophisticated technology and specialist skills. Blocks of porous material and artificial lighting can be used to grow food in this way.

Aquaponics, on the other hand, is a combination of aquaculture, which is growing fish, and hydroponics. Plants are fed the aquatic animals' discharge or waste.

One inventive venture that is using such methods is Growing Underground, which produces crops in tunnels that were originally built as air raid shelters during World War II in London.

But is this urban farming too unnatural?

Using these methods certainly has advantages in an urban environment but they also mean there is less time spent outdoors and sometimes chemical nutrients need to be used to ensure growth.

"While we don't think hydroponic systems can replace the enjoyment that growing food in soil can offer, they can save water and produce safe food, either indoors or outdoors, in a world with increasingly scarce resources," Caputo added.

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