ABSTRACT
In the twenty-first century the food we eat, where it is grown and produced, is a commentary on the conflicts that exist between urban and rural values and social perceptions towards the land. To most urban people, the countryside is a recreational resource – a place of escape from the city. The food that appears in the supermarket has little direct connection with the actual process of growing food and how it gets to the table. It is instead dependent on worldwide marketing and distribution networks operating on fossil fuels and based on international trade agreements, but there are signs that patterns of consumption and environmental priorities are shifting. One of the indicators of change may be found in the pursuit of a more healthy diet. This is reflected in the growth of health food stores, farmers’ markets, organic food growing and allotment gardening, suggesting there are signs of a return to home-grown versus ‘factory-made’ food. In this chapter we explore how the links between people, food growing, ‘waste’ and city space can be creatively re-established as a central aspect of environmental and social values, and how the fundamental links between food and sustainability can, and must, reshape our thinking about cities.
