From Rooftop to Rootstock: How Urban Raitharu is Greening the Mallscape.

Bengaluru, June 29, 2025 

From Rooftop to Rootstock: How Urban Raitharu is Greening the Mallscape.

In the age of concrete jungles and digital convenience, it might seem unlikely that a mall—typically associated with fast fashion, food courts, and multiplexes—could become the epicenter of urban agriculture. But at Nexus Shantiniketan in Bengaluru, something extraordinary is growing above the buzz of commerce and crowds. It’s not a new brand launch or yet another lifestyle store. It’s a farm.

Welcome to Urban Raitharu, a pioneering initiative founded by Naveen Kumar and Thankachan Chempotty, two visionaries with a mission to reconnect cities with soil. Their model is simple yet revolutionary: convert underutilized mall rooftops into flourishing urban farms that not only grow food but foster community, sustainability, and rural-urban synergy.

A New Kind of Mall Culture

Where shoppers once might have only looked up to see ad banners or skyline views, there now lies a thriving patchwork of vegetables, herbs, and indigenous millets. Atop Nexus Shantiniketan, soil beds host tomatoes, spinach, brinjal, and even traditional grains like ragi and foxtail millet. These crops are cultivated using natural, regenerative methods inspired by Indian agrarian practices.

“It’s about more than just growing food,” says Naveen Kumar. “It’s about cultivating consciousness. When people see what’s possible in a space like this, they begin to reimagine what a city can be.”

This transformation isn’t just aesthetic—it’s deeply functional. Urban Raitharu’s rooftop farms reduce heat absorption, support biodiversity, and help manage rainwater. But perhaps most significantly, they reconnect people to the food they eat and the farmers who grow it.

Bridging the Rural-Urban Divide

The name Raitharu, meaning "farmers" in Kannada, speaks to the project’s roots in traditional Indian farming. Through partnerships with rural farming communities, Urban Raitharu brings time-tested techniques to urban soil, often co-opting the expertise of smallholder farmers in training workshops and community sessions.

Meanwhile, city dwellers gain hands-on experience in agriculture through community gardening programs, many of which involve schoolchildren, elderly residents, and corporate volunteers. It’s a rare chance for urbanites to understand the value of farming beyond grocery bills.

Markets, Millets, and More

Every weekend, Urban Raitharu hosts farmers’ markets right at the mall, selling fresh produce, artisanal foods, and a variety of millet-based products—a deliberate move to promote the once-neglected ancient grains making a comeback for their health and environmental benefits.

Alongside the markets, cooking workshops teach visitors how to incorporate seasonal produce and millets into everyday meals, emphasizing nutrition and sustainability. These events often spotlight local chefs, nutritionists, and even grandmothers with heirloom recipes to share.

“Millets are resilient, climate-smart crops,” says Chempotty. “They require less water, grow well in degraded soils, and are deeply nutritious. Reintroducing them into urban diets is a step toward both food security and public health.”

A Model for the Future

Urban Raitharu is more than a green patch on a grey skyline—it’s a replicable model of urban ecological transformation. With climate change, rising food insecurity, and increasing urban isolation, initiatives like this offer a hopeful blueprint.

There are already plans to expand the model to other malls, IT parks, and public buildings across cities in India. The founders are also in talks with municipal bodies to integrate rooftop farming into smart city infrastructure plans.

“This is not a hobby farm or a CSR gimmick,” says Naveen. “It’s a scalable, sustainable solution that makes economic, ecological, and social sense.”

Reimagining Urban Spaces As shoppers descend escalators with bags in hand, few realize that just above them, compost quietly brews, seeds sprout, and a new urban ethos takes root. In a world increasingly defined by disconnection—from land, food, and one another—Urban Raitharu is not just planting vegetables. It’s planting hope.

Special Story By:

 Manasa Gowda 

Assistant Professor 

School of Media Studies 

Garden City University 

Bangalore