Toward resource-intelligent greenhouses: A prospective vision for drylands

Greenhouse agriculture offers a promising alternative to open-field cultivation in dryland regions, where extreme temperatures, drought, and poor soil quality restrict conventional food production. However, existing greenhouse systems, often designed for temperate climates, struggle to cope with the thermal and hydric stresses that characterize dryland environments, including arid, semi-arid, and Mediterranean zones. This prospective review presents a systems-level framework for climate-resilient greenhouse design, emphasizing the integration of structural optimization, passive and hybrid cooling strategies, advanced glazing materials, desalination-enabled water reuse, and aquaponics-based biological cycling. Key leverage points include orientation-driven thermal mitigation, membrane-based desalination powered by renewable energy, and decoupled aquaponics systems enabling a precise and climate-smart approach to environmental control. Emerging innovations in evaporative and desiccant hybrid cooling, spectral selective and radiative films, and nutrient-selective electrodialysis further enhance the potential of integrated solutions. The paper highlights how materials science, thermofluid dynamics, and engineering can be harmonized to improve crop productivity, resource efficiency, and climate adaptability in greenhouse production for dryland settings. Rather than viewing cooling, irrigation, and biological production as discrete challenges, the review advocates for interdependent subsystem designs that close thermal, hydric, and nutrient loops within a unified bioclimatic envelope. A circular conceptual framework illustrates these synergies and guides future greenhouse development in water and energy-stressed drylands. By reframing the greenhouse as a regenerative infrastructure, this study outlines a blueprint for an integrated food–water–energy nexus able to operate efficiently and sustainably in the world's most vulnerable agricultural zones.