Food and the City

6 EC

Semester 1, period 2, 3

5132FOTC6Y

Owner Bachelor Future Planet Studies
Coordinator dr. Jannes Willems
Part of Minor Sustainable Food System, year 1Exchange Programme Faculty of Science, specialisation BSc Future Planet Studies / Sustainability, year 1Bachelor Future Planet Studies, major Future Society, year 2

Course manual 2023/2024

Objectives

  • Explain the interrelationships between cities and food systems, and the shift towards a re-localized food system
  • Using theoretical insights pertaining to the urban food system and food practices to qualitatively investigate and analyse actual issues in a local context
  • Explain the spatial arrangements, institutional designs and value systems of different food systems, and their impact on cities
  • Explain the role of urban planning in the transition towards a re-localized food system
  • Students can independently set-up and conduct an interview with professionals, residents or other relevant research participants, and apply qualitative analysis tools to interpret the data
  • Critically reflect on the shift towards a re-localized food system, and the contribution of urban planning

Teaching methods

  • Lecture
  • Seminar
  • Fieldwork/excursion
  • Presentation/symposium
  • Working independently on e.g. a project or thesis

Learning activities

Activity

Hours

  

Excursion

4

  

Lectures

16

  

Symposium

2

  

Exam

3

  

Working groups

12

  

Group work

72

  

Self study

59

  

Total

168

(6 EC x 28 uur)

Attendance

Programme's requirements concerning attendance (OER-B):

  • Participation in fieldwork is compulsory and cannot be replaced by assignments or other courses.
  • In case of practical sessions, the student is obliged to attend at least of 90% of the sessions and to prepare himself adequately, unless indicated otherwise in the course manual. In case the student attends less than 90%, the practical sessions should be redone entirely.
  • In case of tutorials/seminars with assignments, the student is obliged to attend at least 7 out of 8 seminars and to prepare thoroughly for these meetings, unless indicated otherwise in the course manual. If the course has more than 8 seminars, the student can miss up to 1 extra meeting for every (part of) 8 tutorials/seminars. If the students attends less than the mandatory tutorials/seminars, the course cannot be completed.

Additional requirements for this course:

Attending all scheduled education activities is strongly advised. By doing so, you actively contribute to a lively learning community and significantly improve your chances of successfully completing the course. The designated mandatory activities play a crucial role in achieving the course objectives and are essential for your overall progress. By registering for this course, you are complying with the rules regarding attendance and agreeing to actively prepare for and participate in the mandatory activities.

  • The first lecture is a mandatory lecture, because it provides the outline of the course and discusses the group assignment (including the division of groups);
  • Students are allowed to miss only 1 out of 5 seminars. The seminars prepare you for the group assignment. The quality of the seminars largely depends on the attendance, preparation, and active participation of every student;
  • Absence of a seminar needs to be communicated to the seminar lecturer (Rosa van Schaick);
  • Participation in the excursion is mandatory, because it helps students to relate the theories used in this course to a real-life case outside Amsterdam.

Assessment

Item and weight Details

Final grade

35%

Exam

Must be ≥ 5.5, NAP if missing

15%

Individual essay

Must be ≥ 5.5, NAP if missing

40%

Group assignment

Mandatory

10%

Presentation

Mandatory

Final grade after retake

35%

Hertentamen digitaal

Must be ≥ 5.5, NAP if missing

15%

Individual essay

Must be ≥ 5.5, NAP if missing

40%

Group assignment

Mandatory

10%

Presentation

Mandatory
  • The exam will cover the course material discussed in block 2;
  • The individual essay will cover the course material discussed in block 2 and 3;
  • The group assignment (due at the end of block 3) consists of several moments of formative assessments;
  • Students can formatively assess their understandings of the course readings through participating in discussions on Canvas

Assessment diagram

Learning objective: Exam Group assignment (including presentation) Individual essay

#1. Explain the interrelationships between cities and food systems, and the shift towards a re-localized food system

 X    

#2. Using theoretical insights pertaining to the urban food system and food practices to qualitatively investigate and analyse actual issues in a local context

 X X  

#3. Explain the spatial arrangements, institutional designs and value systems of different food systems, and their impact on cities

 X X X

#4. Explain the role of urban planning in the transition towards a re-localized food system

 X X X

#5. Students can independently set-up and conduct an interview with experts or relevant stakeholders, and apply qualitative analysis tools to interpret the data

   X  

#6. Critically reflect on the shift towards a re-localized food system, and the contribution of urban planning

     X

Students that were enrolled in the course in previous years

Students who were enrolled previously have to re-do the exam and individual essay,  but not necessarily the group assignment. Please consult the course coordinator in the first week of the course.

Inspection of assessed work

Inspection of assessed work will take place during the seminars.

Assignments

Students will work in groups to research how the urban food system in the Amsterdam region functions by focusing on one initiative and/or theme. To this end, they first draft a research proposal. Progress and feedback will be discussed in the seminars. Findings from the group assignment will be shared during a symposium, in which each group will present.

Fraud and plagiarism

The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl

Course structure

Date
 Activity Lecturer(s)
 Content Reading material
30-10 Lecture 1 JW Introduction to food and the city

Pothukuchi, K., & Kaufman, J. L. (1999). Placing the food system on the urban agenda: The role of municipal institutions in food systems planning. Agriculture and Human Values, 16(2), 213-224.

Wiskerke, J. S. (2009). On places lost and places regained: Reflections on the alternative food geography and sustainable regional development. International Planning Studies, 14(4), 369-387.
02-11 WG1 RvS Foodscapes of Amsterdam + Research focus

FAO (2018) City Region Food System Tools/Examples: City Region Food System Toolkit. Rome: FAO. http://www.fao.org/3/i9255en/I9255EN.pdf. (pages 133-144)
06-11 Lecture 2 JW Food security and food democracy

Sen, A. (1986). Food, economics and entitlements. Chapter 2 in: Drèze & Sen (1991) The Political Economy of Hunger: Volume 1. Entitlement and Well-being. Oxford University Press

Sonnino, R. (2016). The new geography of food security: exploring the potential of urban food strategies. The Geographical Journal, 182(2), 190-200.
10-11 Deadline research proposal
13-11 Lecture 3 JW+HvdE Qualitative research on the urban food system

Bryman, A. (2021) Interviewing in qualitative research. Chapter 18 in: Social Research Methods. Oxford University Press, Oxford (3th edition).

Pinkster, F. (2020) Interviewing in urban research. Chapter 5 in: Verloo, N. & Bertolini, L. (Eds.) Seeing the City: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Study of the Urban. Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam
16-11 WG2 RvS Data collection: interviewing  
20-11 Lecture 4 JW Everyday food practices in the Global North

Lapiņa, L., & Leer, J. (2016). Carnivorous heterotopias: Gender, nostalgia and hipsterness in the Copenhagen meat scene. Norma, 11(2), 89-109.

Alkon, A. H., & Cadji, J. (2020). Sowing seeds of displacement: Gentrification and food justice in Oakland, CA. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 44(1), 108-123.
24-11 Excursion JW + RvS Rotterdam de Boer op  
27-11 Lecture 5 JW Everyday food practices in the Global South

Roy, A. (2005). Urban informality: toward an epistemology of planning. Journal of the American Planning Association, 71(2), 147-158.

Battersby, J., & Watson, V. (2018). Improving urban food security in African cities. Critically assessing the role of informal retailers. Chapter 9 in: Cabannes & Marocchino (2018). Integrating Food into Urban Planning. FAO.
01-12 WG3 RvS Data analysis  
04-12 Lecture 6 JW Food systems and transitions

Ilieva, R. T. (2016). Why urban food planning? Chapter 1 in: Urban food planning: Seeds of transition in the Global North. Routledge.

Born, B., & Purcell, M. (2006). Avoiding the local trap: Scale and food systems in planning research. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 26(2), 195-207.
18-12 Exam
22-12 Deadline first results group assignment
Christmas break
09-01 Lecture 7 JW Urban food policymaking & planning

Cabannes & Marocchino (2018) Food and urban planning: The missing link. Chapter 1 in: Cabannes & Marocchino (Eds.) Integrating Food into Urban Planning. UCL Press, London

Sibbing, L., Candel, J., & Termeer, K. (2021). A comparative assessment of local municipal food policy integration in the Netherlands. International Planning Studies, 26(1), 56-69.
11-01 WG4 RvS Presentation first results  
15-01 Lecture 8 CU + AvdV Civic food initiatives

Renting, H., Schermer, M., & Rossi, A. (2012). Building food democracy: Exploring civic food networks and newly emerging forms of food citizenship. The International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 19(3), 289-307.

Ilieva (2018) The untapped potential of urban development projects. Chapter 6 in: Urban food planning: Seeds of transition in the Global North. Routledge.
18-01 WG5 RvS Policy recommendations: Urban planning tools

De Zeeuw, H. & Dubbeling, M. (2015) Process and tools for multi-stakeholder planning of the urban agro/food system. In: De Zeeuw, H. & Drechsel, P. (2015) Cities and Agriculture. Developing Resilient Urban Food Systems. London: Routledge, pp.56-87. https://ruaf.org/document/cities-and-agriculture-developing-resilient-urban-food-systems/

Additional material: The Community and Regional Food Planning Policy Guide (USA), see https://www.planning.org/policy/guides/adopted/food.htm
19-01 Deadline essay
25-01 Symposium JW + RvS Presentations  
30-01 Q&A JW    
02-02 Deadline group assignment
03-04 Re-take exam

Timetable

The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.

Additional information

It is important that everyone feels safe at the UvA and Future Planet Studies. We are committed to provide social safety and we offer various forms of support for people experiencing inappropriate or unsafe situations. Consult the UvA website or Future Planet Studies Canvas page for more information and contact info.

Last year's student feedback

In order to provide students some insight how we use the feedback of student feedback to enhance the quality of education, we decided to include the table below in all course guides.

Course Name (#EC) N  
Strengths
  • International case studies
  • Applicability to Amsterdam
 Notes for improvement
  • Overlapping themes
  • Limited attention to theory
Response lecturer:
  • The course has two sections: (1) understanding and explaining the food system using geographical theories and methods; and (2) a section on urban food policymaking and planning using transition thinking and planing literature. Both will use their own sets of theories.
  • The course will learn students to conduct qualitative research, particularly in-depth interviews.

Contact information

Coordinator

  • dr. Jannes Willems

Staff