Food’s urban graphic heritage in Walthamstow

Abstract

Food’s material and symbolic values are central to cultural heritage. Urban foodscapes are dense in graphic communication, with memories and meanings that connect us with place often triggered by food’s ‘graphic heritage’, for example, through fascia signs, packaging, branding, patterns, and lettering. This paper’s focus is on everyday grass roots manifestations of food’s graphic heritage within urban settings. It introduces and argues that food’s urban graphic heritage ‘speaks’ differently to diverse individuals and communities, inviting different interpretations that play a part in the development of place attachment and social interaction. The paper also proposes methods for the recording and analysis of these relatively understudied urban features. Questions about what ‘design literacy’ might mean in a multicultural context are discussed as well as notions of power and politics inherent within design choices made in urban environments.