One potential solution: more innovative designs. For ecologist Dickson Despommier that means vertical farming, cultivating fruits and vegetables under controlled settings within tall buildings—now particularly popular in Japan. Architect Mitchell Joachim’s solution takes a different shape: The spherical pod he developed has a food-growing system on the outside and habitable space inside. The pod can be sized up to fit a larger site, Joachim says, or down to fit a high-rise balcony."
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/06/explore-urban-rooftop-farms/