Landfill turned into urban farm to feed the poor

AN urban farm developed on a former landfill site in northern Thailand boosted food security and livelihoods of poor families during the coronavirus pandemic, and can be a model for unused spaces in other cities, urban experts said.

The farm in Chiang Mai took shape during a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus last year, when many of the city’s residents lost their tourism-dependent jobs.

Supawut Boonmahathanakorn, a community architect who works on housing solutions for Chiang Mai’s homeless and informal settlers, approached authorities with a plan to convert the unused landfill into an urban farm to support the poor.