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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
No. 26: Supermarkets And Informal Food Vendors In Windhoek, Namibia, Ndeyapo Nickanor, Lawrence Kazembe, Jonathan Crush
No. 26: Supermarkets And Informal Food Vendors In Windhoek, Namibia, Ndeyapo Nickanor, Lawrence Kazembe, Jonathan Crush
Hungry Cities Partnership
Much of the literature on urban food systems has focused on the expansion of supermarkets and their ability to reach urban consumers. However, the current pace of urbanization and rising urban poverty have been accompanied by a major upsurge in informality and a growing role for the informal food sector. One of the persistent arguments in the literature on supermarkets is that the expansion of modern retail undermines the informal food sector. Critics of this argument suggest that there are two conditions under which this may not occur: first, when there is spatial differentiation with supermarkets servicing higher income areas …
No. 25: The Climate Change-Food Security Nexus: Intergovernmental Frameworks And Hyper-Experimentation In Cities, Carrie L. Mitchell, Joanne Fitzgibbons, Kristen Regier, Siya Agrawal
No. 25: The Climate Change-Food Security Nexus: Intergovernmental Frameworks And Hyper-Experimentation In Cities, Carrie L. Mitchell, Joanne Fitzgibbons, Kristen Regier, Siya Agrawal
Hungry Cities Partnership
In this discussion paper we detail the challenges of tackling the food security-climate change nexus in an era of hyper-experimentation in cities. We detail how the challenge of addressing food security and climate change at the international scale has opened the metaphorical door for urban experimentation, or interventions in the processes of city building at the local level taken by state and non-state actors. Yet, today’s urban experiments differ significantly from their historical counterparts. We detail examples from planning history to contextualize the differences between historical and contemporary urban experimentation. Through a review of three global and national urban experiments, …
No. 27: Social Protection And Urban Food Systems, Gareth Haysom, Issahaka Fuseini
No. 27: Social Protection And Urban Food Systems, Gareth Haysom, Issahaka Fuseini
Hungry Cities Partnership
This discussion paper examines development implications for food and nutrition when cash transfer interventions intersect with food system changes, particularly in urban areas where food is predominantly accessed through the market. South Africa is used as a case study because of its advanced social protection system as well as the rapid food system changes it is experiencing that are similar to those in other cities in the Global South. The authors consider the possible nutritional transition-related consequences for society, as well as the livelihood-related consequences for the poor when cash transfer systems, such as that of the South African social …
No. 28: Urban Food Deserts In Nairobi And Mexico City, Jeremy Wagner, Lucy Hinton, Cameron Mccordic, Samuel Owuor, Guénola Capron, Salomón Gonzalez Arellano
No. 28: Urban Food Deserts In Nairobi And Mexico City, Jeremy Wagner, Lucy Hinton, Cameron Mccordic, Samuel Owuor, Guénola Capron, Salomón Gonzalez Arellano
Hungry Cities Partnership
Recent conceptualizations of “food deserts” have expanded from a sole focus on access to supermarkets, to food retail outlets, to all household food sources. Each iteration of the urban food desert concept has associated food sourcing behaviour in relation to household poverty, food insecurity, and dietary diversity characteristics. While the term continues to evolve, there has been little empirical evidence to test whether these associations hold in cities of the Global South. This discussion paper empirically tests the premises of three iterations of the urban food desert concept using household survey data collected in Nairobi, Kenya, and Mexico City, Mexico. …
No. 23: Food Vending And The Urban Informal Sector In Cape Town, South Africa, Godfrey Tawodzera
No. 23: Food Vending And The Urban Informal Sector In Cape Town, South Africa, Godfrey Tawodzera
Hungry Cities Partnership
In South Africa, the informal food sector is either criminalized or ignored, despite the important role it plays in the economy in terms of employment, income generation, food distribution, and general livelihoods. This paper assesses the nature, operations, strategies, and challenges of the informal food sector in Cape Town. Data was collected through a survey of over 1,000 informal food vendors in the city. Survey results indicate that most of the enterprises were single-owner businesses, financed from personal savings, and started by owners seeking employment, independence, and improved financial security for their families. Most businesses had little or no access …
No. 21: Urban Informal Food Deserts In Windhoek, Namibia, Ndeyapo Nickanor, Lawrence Kazembe, Jonathan Crush
No. 21: Urban Informal Food Deserts In Windhoek, Namibia, Ndeyapo Nickanor, Lawrence Kazembe, Jonathan Crush
Hungry Cities Partnership
Informal settlements in rapidly-growing African cities are urban and peri-urban spaces with high rates of formal unemployment, poverty, poor health outcomes, limited service provision and chronic food insecurity. Traditional concepts of food deserts developed to describe North American and European cities do not accurately capture the realities of food inaccessibility in Africa’s urban informal food deserts. This paper focuses on a case study of informal settlements in the Namibian capital, Windhoek, to shed further light on the relationship between informality and food deserts in African cities. The data for the paper was collected in 2016 and involved a survey of …
No. 17: Revisiting Africa's Supermarket Revolution, Jonathan Crush, Ndeyapo Nickanor, Lawrence N. Kazembe, Jeremy Wagner
No. 17: Revisiting Africa's Supermarket Revolution, Jonathan Crush, Ndeyapo Nickanor, Lawrence N. Kazembe, Jeremy Wagner
Hungry Cities Partnership
Africa is urbanizing at an unprecedented rate and food systems are undergoing rapid transformation. This transformation is being driven in part by a global supermarket revolution. However, the idea of an inexorable supermarket revolution on the continent has recently been contested. This paper examines the role of supermarkets in Namibia’s capital city Windhoek to test the applicability of the model. The paper is based on (a) a review of the literature on South African supermarket expansion; (b) a survey of the food purchasing behaviour of a representative sample of 875 households in Windhoek; and (c) a comprehensive product inventory of …
No. 16: Cheap Industrial Food And The Urban Margins, Tony Weis, Marylynn Steckley, Bruce Frayne
No. 16: Cheap Industrial Food And The Urban Margins, Tony Weis, Marylynn Steckley, Bruce Frayne
Hungry Cities Partnership
From the middle of the 20th century onwards, the productivity gains associated with high-input, high-yield monocultures and livestock operations have become increasingly central to global food security and to dynamics of urbanization across the global south. On one hand, competition has deflated prices and helped undermine the viability of small farm livelihoods in many places. On the other hand, rising flows of cheap food have effectively subsidized urban migration in impoverished urban and peri-urban settings. But this cheapness is highly deceptive, as it hinges on the failure to account for an array of biological and physical costs – which can …
No. 14: The Impact Of Proximity To Wet Markets And Supermarkets On Household Dietary Diversity In Nanjing City, China, Taiyang Zhong, Zhenzhong Si, Jonathan Crush, Zhiying Zu, Xianjin Huang, Steffanie Scott, Shuangshuang Tang, Xiang Zhang
No. 14: The Impact Of Proximity To Wet Markets And Supermarkets On Household Dietary Diversity In Nanjing City, China, Taiyang Zhong, Zhenzhong Si, Jonathan Crush, Zhiying Zu, Xianjin Huang, Steffanie Scott, Shuangshuang Tang, Xiang Zhang
Hungry Cities Partnership
Existing studies suggest that despite the proliferation of supermarkets, traditional wet markets have persisted in many countries and have been playing an important role in people’s daily food access. Yet, studies investigating the issue of food access and its influences on food security have mainly focused on food deserts and the proximity to supermarkets, with limited focus on wet markets and other food outlets. This study investigates the influence of the proximity to wet markets and supermarkets on urban household dietary diversity in Nanjing. Based on the data collected through a citywide survey in 2015 and the map data of …
No. 13: The Growth Of Food Banking In Cities Of The Global South, Daniel N. Warshawsky
No. 13: The Growth Of Food Banking In Cities Of The Global South, Daniel N. Warshawsky
Hungry Cities Partnership
As the number and size of food banks increase globally, it is critical to research how food banks fit into existing food systems and their role in reducing food insecurity and food waste. After examining the political ecology of urban food waste in food systems, this discussion paper examines the globalization of food banking and its growth in the Global South. Through a case study of FoodForward SA, it critically analyzes the roles that urban food banks play in cities of the Global South. Since many countries in the South have both the highest levels of food insecurity and the …
No. 22: Predictors Of Household Food Insecurity In Maputo And Matola, Mozambique, Cameron Mccordic, Ezequiel Abrahamo
No. 22: Predictors Of Household Food Insecurity In Maputo And Matola, Mozambique, Cameron Mccordic, Ezequiel Abrahamo
Hungry Cities Partnership
The rapid growth of Maputo and Matola (neighbouring cities in Southern Mozambique) has dramatically changed each city’s demographic and food insecurity profile. Previous research in Maputo indicates that household access to infrastructure plays an important role in determining vulnerability to food insecurity. This paper investigates (a) whether this relationship is also true of Matola and (b) whether the demographic composition of households plays a role in defining vulnerability to food insecurity in either city. Using household survey data collected by HCP in 2014 in Maputo and Matola, the paper demonstrates that inconsistent access to water, electricity, medical care, cooking fuel …
No. 15: The Food Security Implications Of Gendered Access To Education And Employment In Maputo, Cameron Mccordic, Liam Riley, Inês Raimundo
No. 15: The Food Security Implications Of Gendered Access To Education And Employment In Maputo, Cameron Mccordic, Liam Riley, Inês Raimundo
Hungry Cities Partnership
The multiple linkages between gender and household food security in cities have been observed in diverse settings, at multiple scales, and through a variety of disciplinary lenses. The Hungry Cities Partnership is rooted in the importance of inclusive growth of cities, which includes a fundamental concern with genderbased injustices that reduce inclusivity, sustainability and food security by underpinning structural poverty. This discussion paper is motivated by the gap in policy-ready quantitative data needed to identify the ways in which gender inequality, food insecurity, and public policy are interconnected. Analysis of the 2014 survey of household food security in Maputo identified …
No. 12: Compounding Vulnerability: A Model Of Urban Household Food Security, Cameron Mccordic
No. 12: Compounding Vulnerability: A Model Of Urban Household Food Security, Cameron Mccordic
Hungry Cities Partnership
The efficiency of the infrastructure systems in cities will define the extent to which dystopic visions of urban futures become a reality. At the level of the individual household, vulnerability to hazards in cities is defined, in part, by the ability to access essential resources and services. This discussion paper proposes a model to help explain the relationship between access to urban infrastructure systems and household vulnerability to food insecurity. Food access in cities is primarily achieved through food purchases, where households convert assets into food at retail locations. When a household falls into food insecurity through trading household assets …
No. 09: Comparing Household Food Security In Cities Of The Global South Through A Gender Lens, Liam Riley, Mary Caesar
No. 09: Comparing Household Food Security In Cities Of The Global South Through A Gender Lens, Liam Riley, Mary Caesar
Hungry Cities Partnership
Understanding the determinants of urban food insecurity requires sensitivity to local cultural contexts and taking into account a globally relevant framework for analysis. A gender lens is amenable to this kind of analysis because it is rooted in local configurations of households, livelihoods and consumption patterns, while also being animated by a longstanding global effort to create a world in which men and women are equal. This discussion paper is aimed at academic researchers and development practitioners concerned with urban food insecurity. It demonstrates the usefulness of a gender lens of analysis for generating new insights and questions about household …
No. 07: Household Food Security And Access To Medical Care In Maputo, Mozambique, Cameron Mccordic
No. 07: Household Food Security And Access To Medical Care In Maputo, Mozambique, Cameron Mccordic
Hungry Cities Partnership
The relationship between household access to medical care and food security is a potentially circuitous and challenging relationship to model. This discussion paper uses multiple modelling techniques to determine the quality of the relationships between these variables using household survey data collected by the Hungry Cities Partnership in 2014 in Maputo, Mozambique. The results of the investigation are framed according to the Sustainable Livelihood Framework and indicate a predictive relationship between household food security status and consistent household medical care access among the sampled households. The results also identify potential conditional independence in the relationship between other demographic variables and …
No. 08: International Migration And Urban Food Security In South African Cities, Jonathan Crush, Godfrey Tawodzera
No. 08: International Migration And Urban Food Security In South African Cities, Jonathan Crush, Godfrey Tawodzera
Hungry Cities Partnership
The drivers of food insecurity in rapidly growing urban areas of the Global South are receiving more research and policy attention, but the precise connections between urbanization, urban food security and migration are still largely unexplored. In particular, the levels and causes of food insecurity amongst new migrants to the city have received little consideration. This is in marked contrast to the literature on the food security experience of new immigrants from the South in European and North American cities. This paper aims to contribute to the literature on urban food security in the South by focusing on the case …
No. 05: Mapping The Informal Food Economy In Cape Town, South Africa, Jane Battersby, Maya Marshak, Ncedo Mngqibisa
No. 05: Mapping The Informal Food Economy In Cape Town, South Africa, Jane Battersby, Maya Marshak, Ncedo Mngqibisa
Hungry Cities Partnership
The informal food retail sector is an important component of urban food systems and plays a vital role in ensuring access to food by the urban poor. Yet, policy frameworks both to address food security and to govern the informal sector neglect informal retail in the food system and, as a result, the sector is poorly understood. This discussion paper argues that it is essential to understand the dynamics of the informal food retail sector, which is diverse in terms of products traded as well as the business models utilized. The paper attempts to identify the characteristics of the sector …
No. 02: Approaching Sustainable Urban Development In China Through A Food System Planning Lens, Zhenzhong Si, Steffanie Scott
No. 02: Approaching Sustainable Urban Development In China Through A Food System Planning Lens, Zhenzhong Si, Steffanie Scott
Hungry Cities Partnership
After more than two decades of rapid urbanization, Chinese cities now face severe sustainability chal- lenges in terms of balancing economic viability, social justice, and environmental protection goals. While various types of planning have long been adopted to cope with these challenges, food as a centrepiece of daily life and of social and economic activity in cities has rarely been considered as a focus of urban planning in China, despite a lot of recent attention to food waste and food safety concerns. China’s food policy is largely fragmented in terms of its multiple regulatory agencies and diverse policy goals. Amid …
No. 01: Hungry Cities Of The Global South, Jonathan Crush
No. 01: Hungry Cities Of The Global South, Jonathan Crush
Hungry Cities Partnership
The recent inclusion of an urban Sustainable Development Goal in the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda represents an important acknowledgement of the reality of global urbanization and the many social, economic, infrastructural and political challenges posed by the human transition to a predominantly urban world. However, while the SDG provides goals for housing, transportation, land use, cultural heritage and disaster risk prevention, food is not mentioned at all. This discussion paper aims to correct this unfortunate omission by reviewing the current evidence on the challenges of feeding rapidly-growing cities in the Global South. The paper first documents the magnitude of the …