Home to diverse life and microbes
An urban ecosystem alive with pollinators and soil organisms
Urban farms become nodes in the city's ecological network — home to pollinators like bees and the microbes in the soil. Small patches of green stitch together habitat for living things.
244 related cases
Cases where this shows up
Otemachi Farm (Toyama Civic Plaza Rooftop)
JPToyama, Toyama, Japan
An urban farm running beekeeping and growing of sweet potatoes and edamame on the Toyama Civic Plaza rooftop since 2018. It serves as a food-education and awareness space focused on pollinators and the urban environment.
siminplaza.co.jp
Marunouchi Honey Project (Rooftop Urban Beekeeping)
JPChiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
An urban-beekeeping project by Mitsubishi Estate and the Ecozzeria Association on rooftops in the Otemachi-Marunouchi district. Area workers join beekeeping, honey harvesting and forage planting, with the honey circulating back into the district — a worker-participation model of rooftop food/biodiversity town-making.
ecozzeria.jp+2
Brooklyn Grange
USNew York, United States
A pioneering for-profit rooftop soil farm operating across several NYC buildings, balancing commercial production with education and community, and widely cited as a model for urban rooftop agriculture.
brooklyngrangefarm.com
DakAkker Rotterdam Rooftop Farm
NLRotterdam, Netherlands
Europe's largest open-air rooftop farm at 1000m² on the Schieblock in Rotterdam. Produces vegetables, edible flowers, fruits, and herbs while keeping bees. Community-operated
brightvibes.com
Azabudai Hills Central Plaza Orchard, Edible Garden & Urban Beekeeping
JPMinato, Tokyo, Japan
An orchard, edible garden and urban beekeeping programme within the large green spaces of Azabudai Hills (opened 2023). An ~200 sqm orchard grows 11 fruit species plus herbs and edible plants; children's honey harvests and greening workshops connect residents, workers and citizens to food and farming in the city centre.
azabudai-hills.com+2
MOST Cooperative Urban Farm
PLWarsaw, Poland
A 3.6-hectare cooperative urban farm in Warsaw's Siekierki district, about 25 minutes from downtown. On former allotment land cleared for a bridge project and long left idle, residents formed a cooperative and turned it into an edible landscape.
culture.pl+3
Supporting research
The role of green roofs as urban habitats for biodiversity modulated by their design: a review
A review synthesizing existing research on how far green roofs can support urban biodiversity, framed by their design and modes of use. It finds green roofs can provide habitat for soil organisms and pollinators as well as plants, but that the effect depends strongly on design such as substrate depth and vegetation diversity, and recommends integrating soil communities into construction guidelines and increasing heterogeneity at roof and landscape scales.
Coulibaly S.F.M., Aubry C., Provent F. et al. · 2023 · Environmental Research Letters, 18(7)
Straw cover increases garden soil microbial biodiversity
This project examined how straw cover affects the soil microbiome of a community garden, using EcoPlate carbon-source utilization analysis and 16S rRNA sequencing on samples from the Erie Street GrowLocal community garden in Lafayette, Indiana. Straw cover increased soil moisture content and significantly increased bacterial alpha diversity, with a shift toward carbohydrate preference, though beta diversity showed no difference between conditions. The authors conclude that straw coverage can improve soil microbial biodiversity and moisture, potentially benefiting yields and food quality for communities.
Emory Walker, Mara Welty, Emma Creviston et al. · 2025 · Urban Agriculture & Regional Food Systems
Urban Microfarms: Hot or Cold Spots for Plants and Soil Biodiversity?
Study of 12 urban microfarm plots in the Paris region found high intra- and inter-site variability in soil biological properties, with microfarm soils hosting lower bacterial diversity than forests or cultivated soils. Both ground-level and rooftop microfarms were surveyed.
Joimel S., Grard B., Chenu C. et al. · 2026 · European Journal of Soil Science
The city as a refuge for insect pollinators
A review by an international team arguing that, as pollinators decline globally under agricultural intensification and pesticide use, cities can serve as important refuges for insect pollinators including native bees. It highlights the conservation value of designing and managing urban green spaces such as gardens and community plots for pollinators, framing citizen urban agriculture as a contributor to biodiversity conservation.
Hall D.M., Camilo G.R., Tonietto R.K. et al. · 2017 · Conservation Biology, 31(1):24-29