Hyun Seo

Sprout Abundance for All

Toronto has seen a growing number of abandoned buildings—driven by skyrocketing property values and tangled redevelopment regulations—that leave “gaps” threatening the city’s appearance and safety. At the same time, food bank usage among low-income residents has surged, underscoring the severity of urban food insecurity—but food banks alone remain a stopgap measure, unable to tackle the root causes. This project, branded “Sprout Abundance For All,” selects 30 abandoned downtown buildings—each located near an existing food bank—and reimagines their historic and spatial potential as “Seeds of Opportunity” to form an urban agriculture hub.First, each building’s typology is analyzed and its use is divided into production and consumption functions. Production sites will be outfitted with vertical farming, greenhouse systems, and other agricultural technologies, while consumption sites will be transformed into markets (including food bank services), farm cafés, educational and exhibition spaces, agricultural cultural archives, and event venues—enhancing accessibility and activation in the urban core. To demonstrate practical application, two production buildings and one consumption building were chosen as flagship case studies, each receiving its own detailed concept design to breathe new life into these derelict structures. This vision goes beyond simple adaptive reuse to realize a regenerative cycle of food independence and community revitalization that spreads throughout the city.By forming a tightly woven network, these urban agriculture hubs turn neglected “gaps” into platforms for growth and ensure that abundance continuously circulates throughout Toronto.

“This study explores methods for creating urban agriculture hubs through the adaptive reuse of abandoned buildings. Additionally, it classifies the buildings by typology, aims to activate a network of urban agriculture, and proposes tailored protocols for urban agriculture specific to each building type.”