Healthy and Accessible Food

HEALTHY AND ACCESSIBLE FOOD

Condition for an Ecocity

Sufficient amounts of healthy and nutritious food are accessible to all and are grown, manufactured, distributed and recycled by processes which maintain the healthy function of ecosystems and do not exacerbate climate change.

Suggested Headline Indicator

Percentage of diet that is plant based

Description:
Uneven access to healthy and nutritious food is a global phenomenon – witness: many North Americans’ struggle with obesity while many Africans’ starve. Food often comprises the largest component of a city’s ecological footprint, and agriculture contributes 10-12% of global greenhouse gas emissions (FAO 2009). Recent studies indicate that the type of food (e.g., meat) and the way it is processed have a greater environmental impact than the overall distance food travels (i.e., food miles) and the total amount consumed (Webber and Mathews 2008).

The IES calls for nutritious food that is accessible and affordable to all residents and is grown, manufactured and distributed by processes which maintain the healthy function of ecosystems and do not exacerbate climate change. Food consumed is primarily grown within the local bioregion.

Ecocities enable access to healthy and nutritious food through zoning of land dedicated to agricultural production both within the city and at its periphery. This could include greenbelts and areas adjacent to natural parks, formation of contiguous open space and green corridors, community gardens, home-based agriculture, street-side gardens, etc. Community-based programs such as fruit- tree harvest and crop-sharing initiatives further enable people to access the bounty of urban agriculture. Food hubs and farmers’ markets can provide the means for food producers to access local markets directly. More broadly based agriculture activity, including farms and orchards that surround the city, can enable access to bioregionally based food supplies as well. Rooftops and terraces can also be used for local food production, including raising small animals such as chickens and rabbits. Ground-oriented buildings and sheds, including court-yards, and even below-grade structures such as cisterns can be used for local farming including aquaculture (Todd and Todd 1994).

Although density can produce a more efficient pattern of living through, for example, access by proximity to services, it also concentrates demand. In the case of food, access to retail venues is increased, but careful design is required to ensure that access to the means of food production is not eliminated. Where demand for food by an urban population exceeds the capacity of the local bioregion, the importance of policies that shape demand for organic and fairly traded foods become increasingly important. The success of organic food retailers demonstrates that many people in Western society are willing to pay a premium for ethically and organically produced food. Still many others find these types of products too expensive to purchase on a daily basis.

Some cities are beginning to map food access and finding that parts of the city are virtual nutrition deserts. Understanding the population’s nutritional needs and planning for access to healthy and nutritious food is an important strategy that can help communities move toward achieving this important IES principle.


References:
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization). 2009. Low Greenhouse Gas Agriculture: Mitigation and Adaptation Potential of Sustainable Farming Systems (ftp://ftp.fao.org/ docrep/fao/010/ai781e/ai781e00.pdf).
Todd, Nancy Jack and John Todd. 1994. From Eco-Cities to Living Machines: Principles of Ecological Design. Berkeley Cal: North Atlantic Books.
Webber, Christopher and H. Scott Mathews. 2008. Food-miles and the Relative Climate Impacts of Food Choices in the United States, Environment, Science, and Technology, Vol. 42, Issue 10, pp. 3508-3513.

Suggested Ecocity Level 1 Benchmark

Ecocity Level 1 = 90%

Rationale:
Based on Moore’s research (Moore 2015, p 8) no more than 21 kg of a 548kg one-planet diet would be meat, or roughly 4%. Consequently, a one planet diet would be 96% or higher plant based, (keeping in mind that this does not guarantee proper caloric or nutrient intake for human health.)