Sustainable and convivial cities

How can food shape the future of our cities? Harriet Ash savors a new book by foodie urbanist Susan Parham.

Here’s a conundrum. When is an innovative approach not new? The answer lies with urbanist Dr Susan Parham who believes that the future of feeding the planet is rooted in what we already know.

In her new book, Food and Urbanism, Parham explores the relationships between different urban spaces and the production and consumption of food – both in a logistical sense, and the sense in which more social aspects of food can impact the development of cities. It’s an area Parham has devoted herself to as part of her work as the University of Hertfordshire’s Head of Urbanism at the Centre for Sustainable Communities in the U.K.

Parham argues that food has a vital role in shaping our cities’ future, and that the design of new urban spaces should have considerations about food at its center. The book progresses through a range of different physical locations (starting with the table and working outward in scale through to the peri-urban area and region as a whole), and considers their relationships with food. For example, from the agoras of ancient Greece, to the permanent market structures of the middle ages, and finally decline in the 20th century, markets have been highly significant as trading places and as civic hubs. Parham observes the market’s 21st century revival – from those fueled by the modern appetite for local, fresh produce (such as the famous Borough Market in London), to a particular working class wet market in Hong Kong, which she calls an ‘unacknowledged success story in a neoliberal urban context’ as an engine of job creation also providing new access to good quality food for poorer residents. This ability to think holistically about all urban space and food – where considerations about social and cultural issues are also relevant – is, argues Parham, essential for a sustainable and convivial future. Our recent experience globally suggests this is not just a technical challenge where simply inventing new ways to grow or process more food is the solution.

Now that cities are home to over half of the world’s population, and set to grow dramatically in the next couple of decades, we need to adapt to this change and one of the major considerations is – how do we develop our cities so that we can feed everyone? Parham suggests that perhaps the answer simply lies in thinking carefully and logically about the urban places we occupy, how those physical environments have intermingled historically with food culture and processes, and how we can make those relationships as effective as they can be.