The 20th century witnessed a massive growth in urban populations. In 1990, one-third of the world's people lived in cities of one million or more. As a result, hunger and malnutrition are on the increase worldwide, as the global food system fails to satisfy the growing demand of the urban consumer. For Hunger-Proof Cities is the first book to fully examine food security from an urban perspective. It examines existing local food systems and ways to improve the availability and accessibility of food for city dwellers. It looks at methods to improve community-supported agriculture and cooperation between urban and rural populations. It explores what existing marketing and distribution structures can do to improve accessibility and what the emerging forms of food-distribution systems are, and how they can contribute to alleviating hunger in the cities. Finally, the book discusses the underlying structures that create poverty and inequality and examines the role of emergency food systems, such as food banks. A French version will be available in 1999.
Author(s): Mustafa Koc, Rod MacRae, Jennifer Welsh, Luc J. A. Mougeot
Publisher: IDRC Books
Year: 2000
Language: English
Pages: 300
Contents......Page 6
Acknowledgments......Page 8
Introduction: Food Security Is a Global Concern......Page 10
Part 1. The Concept of Urban Food Security......Page 18
For Self-reliant Cities: Urban Food Production in a Globalizing South......Page 20
Urban Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa......Page 35
Combining Social Justice and Sustainability for Food Security......Page 39
Part 2. Local Food Systems......Page 48
Promoting Sustainable Local Food Systems in the United States......Page 50
Community Agriculture Initiatives in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, United Kingdom......Page 55
Developing an Integrated, Sustainable Urban Food System: The Case of New Jersey, United States......Page 63
Public Policy and the Transition to Locally Based Food Networks......Page 69
Part 3. Urban and Community Agriculture......Page 74
Urban Agriculture in the Seasonal Tropics: The Case of Lusaka, Zambia......Page 76
The Contribution of Urban Agriculture to Gardeners, Their Households, and Surrounding Communities: The Case of Havana, Cuba......Page 86
Agriculture in the Metropolitan Park of Havana, Cuba......Page 93
People at the Centre of Urban Livestock Projects......Page 99
Measuring the Sustainability of Urban Agriculture......Page 104
Part 4. Accessibility and Urban Food Distribution......Page 110
Food Banks as Antihunger Organizations......Page 112
Bottlenecks in the Informal Food-transportation Network of Harare, Zimbabwe......Page 119
From Staple Store to Supermarket: The Case of TANSAS in Izmir, Turkey......Page 124
A Nonprofit System for Fresh-produce Distribution: The Case of Toronto, Canada......Page 131
Part 5. Ecological and Health Concerns......Page 138
Urban Food, Health, and the Environment: The Case of Upper Silesia, Poland......Page 140
Reuse of Waste for Food Production in Asian Cities: Health and Economic Perspectives......Page 145
How Meat-centred Eating Patterns Affect Food Security and the Environment......Page 154
Farming the Built Environment......Page 159
Part 6. Engendering the Food System......Page 164
Gender and Sustainable Food Systems: A Feminist Critique......Page 166
Women Workers in the NAFTA Food Chain......Page 171
Canadian Rural Women Reconstructing Agriculture......Page 176
Part 7. The Politics of Food and Food Policy......Page 184
Contemporary Food and Farm Policy in the United States......Page 186
Policy Failure in the Canadian Food System......Page 191
Urban Agriculture as Food-access Policy......Page 204
Part 8. Toward Food Democracy......Page 210
Reaffirming the Right to Food in Canada: The Role of Community-based Food Security......Page 212
Youth, Urban Governance, and Sustainable Food Systems: The Cases of Hamilton and Victoria, Canada......Page 217
Food Policy for the 21st Century: Can It Be Both Radical and Reasonable?......Page 225
Appendix 1. Abstracts......Page 234
Appendix 2. Contributing Authors......Page 244
Appendix 3. Acronyms and Abbreviations......Page 247
