On the front line: Food, cities and integrated urban development

Recently I’ve been thinking the same thing about food. “When did food get so important?” Of course, food has always been important, but right now it seems to be occupying a central role in the debate about the future of cities.

Take the US as an example. There, as in many parts of Europe, the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) has seen a rise in the numbers of homeless and hungry people in cities. In response to this, a number of food sharing schemes have emerged on city streets to support those in crisis. But this laudable effort is under attack, from those who say that such practices encourage people to live on the streets.

The attack on food sharing

According to Shareable (see link below), at the time of writing (November 2014) 21 US cities have adopted legislation aimed at making it more difficult to share food with homeless people. They are doing this in a number of ways, for example by prohibiting food-sharing NGOs from operating in specific parts of the city and by requiring permits to consume food in public places.

In the words of Michael Stoops, NCH Director of community organising, “there is a ‘food fight’ going on in downtown America between the interests of economic development [and] tourism, versus people experiencing homelessness and the agencies that help them.”

How this battle unfolds is also of interest across the pond, where many European cities have also adopted innovative responses to address the rising food crisis. One which is now long-established is the network of food banks, distribution points where vulnerable people can receive nutritional support. Food banks have been particularly active in those EU Member States worst hit by the Crisis. In Ireland, the long-established Cross Care Food Bank developed a new distribution model—built around networks of community-based volunteers, in response to the economic downturn and its consequences.

The rise and rise of food banks

In Greece, the situation is even starker. Earlier this year a damning UNICEF report (ref) estimated that nearly 600,000 children lived below the poverty line in Greece, and more than half that number lacked basic daily nutritional needs. Social services in the country’s diminished local authorities cannot cope with the scale of need. Although Athens municipality distributes 7,000 meals in the city each day, this is dwarfed by the support delivered via NGOs and religious organisations.

Echoing the politicisation of the food fight in the US, in Greece there are food distributors with links to political parties. The extreme-right ‘Golden Dawn’ organisation offers ‘Greek only’ food banks while one of the major food distribution charities, the Solidarity Club, is co-housed with Syriza, the radical left opposition party. Supplying food means winning votes—this is politics at the most basic level.

Innovative solutions to the food safety challenge

The Crisis in Greece has stimulated levels of social innovation and entrepreneurship aimed at promoting social solidarity. As part of the URBACT Sustainable Food project Athens has been sharing its food-related experience across Europe. A key role of this has been revisiting the role of municipalities. In Amersfoort, in the Netherlands, the city authority has created a new ‘city-broker’ where civil servants have the task of outreaching and facilitating links with food-related initiatives in the city. Athens have shared their experience working in a city facing a food crisis.

Another city involved in Sustainable Food, is Bristol, England. European Green Capital in 2015, Bristol is currently home to a wide range of innovative approaches relating to food and inclusion. A good example is Skipchen. Established by the Real Junk Food project, Skipchen is a volunteer-staffed pilot delivered in the Stokes Croft area of the city.

There is a clue to the Skipchen concept in its name. (A skip is the large container for rubbish used by construction projects.) The project uses teams of ‘skippers’ who keep an eye on supermarket bins in order to rescue food being thrown out so that it can be recycled. The recycling takes the form of meals served in Skipchen, where customers are asked to pay what they want and can eat for free if they are short of cash.

In Sweden, cities have been involved in reducing food waste in other ways. Södertälje is one of these. A community of barely 100,000 people, it has taken in more Iraqi refugees than the US and Canada combined. Within this super diverse community, the city authority has driven through an ambitious reform programme through the power of public food procurement. The aims of this are to increase healthy eating in schools (less meat, more locally sourced organic food), to support local food production and to encourage the growth of organic farming. Through the Diet for a Green Planet project, the city is spreading its model to others across Europe.

The Diet for a Green Planet project combines economic, social and environmental objectives. It is a true example of an integrated approach. It involves a wide range of actors including chefs, school administrators, farmers and food distributors. It also involves the parents from migrant backgrounds who are being invited into school kitchens to share their menus and approaches to using different ingredients. Since time immemorial, food has been a great cultural connector.

An URBACT staple

Suddenly it’s a hot city topic. We see this within URBACT, where at the time of writing it is the subject of four projects, reflecting food’s role in the debate over how the ideal city should function. Whether it’s the debate ranging in the US over food sharing, or the controversy we see in some cities around halal food in public kitchens, it is a potent and growing symbol linked to values and city development.