An Agentic Approach to Food Access and Acquisition: The Case of Mixed Neighborhoods in the Paris Metropolis

Abstract

How do urban residents access and acquire food? Building on the food desert scholarship, I propose an agentic framework and fieldwork in two mixed neighborhoods (one gentrifying, one working-class suburban) in the Paris metropolis. First- and second-generation immigrants perceive the metropolis as a rich and diverse food environment, whereas natives perceive their neighborhood of residence as a food-deficient environment. First- and second-generation immigrants endow mobility with self-efficacy, whereas natives construct proximity as a moral value. First- and second-generation immigrants’ acquisition practices consider price and types of foods and span the metropolis. Those of natives consider types of foods and center on their neighborhood of residence. These findings complicate neighborhood-centric, spatially deterministic approaches to food access and acquisition, by highlighting structural (access to transportation and disposable time and income) and cultural dimensions (judgments and practices). Theoretically, they suggest two distinct ways in which urban residents find meaning in performing mundane activities: believing in self-efficacy and constructing moral values. Additional implications regard social life in gentrifying neighborhoods, space and place in European urban societies, and everyday life and public transportation in the Paris metropolis.