The first online science magazine dedicated to sustainable urban food systems
Is there a link between food accessibility and people’s health? Publications about food environment have blossomed in the last 10 years. In a chapter from the second edition of Neighbourhoods and Health, researchers from Harvard Medical School review this scientific literature. Their work reflects the difficulty to capture such a phenomenon and highlight that access to healthy food is necessary but not sufficient to improve people’s diets.
Food, energy and water resources are closely interwoven. But what does it concretely mean for a city’s food system? And how does understanding these relationships help plan a more resilient food system? Researchers from New York University have developed a framework that helps cities map, and act upon, the links between food, energy, and water.
Processing facilities are a missing link between local food and new markets, however, they face a double challenge: that of matching local production, high fixed operating costs and demand for local products. When thinking about opening new processing facilities for local food, it is necessary to carry out a full value chain assessment first.
Institutions such as hospitals, schools, universities, corporate cafeterias, or even prisons, are other big players in the food system. How can a shift in their practices help a transition to a more sustainable future? And what can cities do to foster their initiatives? A recent book called Institutions as Conscious Food Consumers presents an overview of action in Northern America.
New York is one of the pioneering cities for urban food policies. However, to date, there had been no systematic effort to look at the full picture of what these policies had achieved. This is done in a research report from CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute.
In a recent article in Sustainability, a group of researchers from New Zealand, Denmark and France discusses the advantages and limits of two main categories of food sustainability assessments: indicators-based and value-based. They provide valuable insights for any city willing to track progress of its food policy.
Gentrification the urban phenomenon in which local people are priced out of their neighbourhood. In a policy brief published in 2018, Nevin Cohen, from CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute in New York, usefully reminds us that food policy can play a role in this process.
Our cities host a great number of fruit and nuts trees, with potentially interesting implications for food security. Somehow, however, they fell off the radar of both local authorities and urban food advocates. A good reason to keep investigating and to learn from the few cities that have rediscovered urban food trees.
What motivates alternative food movement practitioners and leaders? How do they manage limited capacity for action? Are groups collaborating with each other to build collective strength?
How can we anticipate the future of agriculture in our communities? And what can we do to make the future we want happen? Let’s follow 3 French cities’ foresight exercise to learn more.