Rooftop agriculture and the social enterprise of natural capital
PATRICK MINARDI, GEORGIA POSNO, LIAT MARGOLIS
As Toronto continues to grow vertically, the city faces a pressing challenge: how to balance the quality of life and environmental resilience in dense high-rise living. One solution gaining traction is rooftop agriculture– not just as a method of food production, but as a new paradigm of green infrastructure that prioritizes human connection and social capital alongside ecological benefits.
The Missing Piece in Toronto’s Green Infrastructure
Despite the City of Toronto’s Green Roof By-law and Eco-Roof Incentive Program, the role of rooftop agriculture in Toronto’s green infrastructure network remains under-acknowledged. This is partly due to the multi-departmental approach to policymaking, where different branches address interconnected issues such as climate action, building regulations and community development. As a result, rooftop agriculture is often not formally measured, regulated or prioritized in planning documents – reflecting a broader need for coordination across city divisions.
There is also a conceptual distinction between green roofs and rooftop agriculture. While some green roofs include social amenity spaces, their primary value within the context of sustainability lies in their environmental benefits – specifically stormwater management, urban cooling and providing habitat for pollinators. Agricultural rooftops are social and operational by nature with interactive growing spaces requiring human maintenance, often tied to community functions. Growing vegetables is permitted under the City’s green roof bylaw, but these roofs are not recognized unless they are first constructed using conventional green roof construction assemblies (root barriers, drainage boards and filter cloths). Of the nearly 1,000 green roofs built since 2009, only one – at Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU) Daphne Cockwell Health Sciences Complex – was designed specifically for food production under the green roof by-law.