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RooftopActiveSince 2009

Soradofarm Ebisu (rooftop rental garden)

Tokyo, Japan · Operator: Toho Leo Co. (Machinaka Saien / Soradofarm)

Overview

A membership rental garden opened in 2009 on the rooftop of the Atre Ebisu station building directly connected to JR Ebisu Station. A rooftop-greening company converted an underused downtown rooftop into a come-empty-handed kitchen garden for citizens, pioneering rooftop-garden rollouts across Japan.

Citizen participation

Members rent a plot on the station-building rooftop and grow vegetables in their own plot using provided tools, seedlings and water, coming empty-handed and gardening with advice from on-site advisers in the heart of the city.

Operating model

A membership rental-garden model with monthly fees; an underused station-building rooftop is greened and turned into garden plots leased to urban residents and commuters.

Impact

Turned an idle station-building rooftop into a citizen garden, giving downtown residents hands-on experience with soil and food, and became a model expanded to rooftop gardens elsewhere (Ogikubo, Hachioji, Abeno Harukas and more).

Crops

  • tomatoes
  • eggplant
  • leafy greens
  • herbs
  • sweet potato
  • seasonal vegetables

Scale

Rooftop of Atre Ebisu station building (Ebisu Green Garden), divided into ~36 rental plots

Sources(2)

Related cases

Soradofarm Ebisu (rooftop rental garden) — Urban Farm DB