Food and the City

Course manual 2020/2021

Course content

Fashioning a sustainable food system is one of the most compelling challenges of the 21st Century.  Because of its multi-functional character, food is an ideal medium through which to design sustainable places, be they urban, rural or peri-urban places. 

Food may be construed as a socio-technical system that includes the way food is produced, processed, acquired, distributed, consumed as well as the way scraps are disposed of. Contemporary planners are challenged to develop design concepts and planning devices which can be applied in the process of moulding places for food related actions, and which can help pave a path towards more sustainable and healthy lifestyles. This course focuses in on advanced theories and concepts in the domain of sustainable food planning, planning for healthier lifestyles and management of healthier and more sustainable social practices.

The food system is shaped by everyday practices that are performed in specific places. As the world is rapidly urbanising, and more than half of the global population now lives in urban areas, the city is a particularly interesting place to study the food system. Cities are tightly bundled agglomerations of everyday practices, and are the stages on which more or less healthy and sustainable practices are repeatedly performed until they become normal everyday activities. Municipal policies, programs, and infrastructure influence practices, while activists, political leaders media and teachers shape our understanding of practices. By strategically influencing food practices, cities can potentially advance public health, improve the environment and economy, and ultimately transform the food system.

This course aims to understand the linkages between food and the city, and how we could enhance an alternative, more sustainable food system (in social, environmental and economic terms). To this end, we will explore what type of institutional design is required based on international examples of urban food practices.

Study materials

Literature

• Please find below the assigned reading for each lecture. The articles can be found online.

   

  In addition, we will use several chapters from the following FAO book:

   

  Cabannes, Y. & Marocchino, C. (Eds.) (2018). Integrating Food into Urban Planning. Rome: FAO.

   

  The book can be downloaded for free (http://www.fao.org/3/CA2260EN/ca2260en.pdf) or bought via UCL Press for £27.99 (https://www.uclpress.co.uk/products/111613).

   

  Lecture 1

  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.

  Sonnino, R. (2009). Feeding the city: Towards a new research and planning agenda. International Planning Studies, 14(4), 425-435.

   

  Lecture 2

  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.

  Cabannes, Y., & Marocchino, C. (2018). Food and Urban Planning: The Missing Link. Chapter 1 in Cabannes, Y. & Marocchino, C. (eds.) (2018). Integrating Food into Urban Planning). Rome: FAO

   

  Lecture 3

  Cohen, N., & Ilieva, R. T. (2015). Transitioning the food system: A strategic practice management approach for cities. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 17, 199-217.

   

  Lecture 4 - Guest lecture by em. prof. dr. Arnold van der Valk
  

  Baker, L. (2018) Food asset mapping in Toronto and Greater Golden
  Horseshoe region. Chapter 13 in: Cabannes, Y. & Marocchino, C. (Eds.) (2018). Integrating Food into Urban Planning. Rome: FAO.

   

  Lecture 5

  Lang, T., & Barling, D. (2012). Food security and food sustainability: reformulating the debate. The Geographical Journal, 178(4), 313-326.

  Morgan, K. (2015). Nourishing the city: The rise of the urban food question in the Global North. Urban Studies, 52(8), 1379-1394.

   

  Lecture 6

  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.

  Specht, K., Siebert, R., Hartmann, I., Freisinger, U. B., Sawicka, M., Werner, A., ... & Dierich, A. (2014). Urban agriculture of the future: an overview of sustainability aspects of food production in and on buildings. Agriculture and Human Values, 31(1), 33-51.

   

  Working groups

  Chapter 5, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 in Cabannes, Y. & Marocchino, C. (eds.) (2018). Integrating Food into Urban Planning. Rome: FAO

Objectives

• The overall aim of the course is to explore alternative spatial arrangements as tools to support the transition towards a more sustainable food system and food practices. After successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
• Understand and analyse the manifold ways in which the city affects food networks, particularly at local and regional level, but also on a global level.
• Identify various spatial arrangements related to the food system.
• Explain the rationales for these arrangements and the underlying lifestyles and food practices.
• Analyse how contemporary planning approaches apply to the food domain and assess their impact on food provisioning, food choice and food behaviour.
• Develop a critical reflexive understanding of advanced governance and planning theories.

Teaching methods

• Lecture
• Seminar

The lectures will introduce the key concepts of the course, and provide a theoretical framework to understand the relationships between food and the city. Students will deepen this understanding through studying the assigned reading materials. The working groups will relate the theoretical concepts to international best practices from cities in Latin America, Asia, Africa and North America. Moreover, the working groups will translate the theoretical concepts and empirical lessons from the international examples to the City of Amsterdam.

Learning activities

Attendance

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

• 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 90% of the tutorials/seminars and to prepare himself adequately, unless indicated otherwise in the course manual. In case the student attends less than 90%, the course cannot be finished

Additional requirements for this course:

The student may be absent in 1 out of 3 seminars. Absence needs to be communicated with your workgroup tutors (Joris van der Klei or Jaap Rothuizen).

Assessment

Assessment diagram

Students that were enrolled in the course in previous years

Not applicable.

Inspection of assessed work

Up to 20 working days after the announcement of the results students have the right of inspection of their work (all forms of assessment). You can request a copy of your work by e-mailing your work group teacher or the course coordinator.

The teachers of this course will provide a scoring form to all students. On an individual base, you can make an appointment with your work group teacher.

Assignments

Working group: presentations

In two working groups, students will prepare in small groups a presentation of the key insights from an international case study as discussed in the book by Cabannes and Marocchino. The presentation discusses the benefits and flaws of the lessons learned from the case studies. The precise demands of the presentations will be specified during the first working group.

Close reading the book, preparing a presentation about one of the book chapters, reflecting on the presentations and active participation in the discussion will make an adequate preparation for the exam. The presentations will not be graded.

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

Timetable

The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.

Additional information

In order to participate in the course, you have to enroll in time. Registration for courses is possible per semester. The registration period for courses in Block 1, 2 & 3 (first semester) will be from June 13th until June 25th. 

This course is open to elective students, though not to first year students. However, it should be realized that this course has a strong focus on social science. An elective student should have social scientific experience and/or interest (at least 30 EC in prior academic education, including the course Introduction Spatial Planning). Therefore, interested candidates can only enroll after an assessment by the course coordinator. To apply as an elective or minor student, send a request of admission to fps-iis-science@uva.nl.

When you have registered for the course you are automatically registered for the examination of this course, too. You can only participate in a re-sit (or re-examination of assignments) when you have been registered and have met all requirements for the course (i.e. attendance requirements, active participation in work groups, handing in assignments before the indicated deadlines etc.).

Important information such as literature, sheets of the lectures, assignments and unforeseen changes in the schedule will be communicated via Canvas.

Most of the lectures and working groups will take place online due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Online lectures will consist of live sessions and video clips that can be watched individually. The video clips can be watched via Canvas and will appear online for one week.

Last year's course evaluation

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

Contact information

Coordinator

• dr. Jannes Willems

Guest lecturer: em. prof. dr. Arnold van der Valk

Working group teachers: Jaap Rothuizen Msc and Joris van der Klei