Abstract
Many natural and non-natural hazards threaten food security, especially in urban areas where growing populations place extra demands on the food supply. Ensuring stable food security before, during, and after disasters requires resilient food systems that can withstand and recover from disruptions. However, few U.S. cities have considered food systems in disaster preparedness or resilience planning. This reflective case study from the participant-observer perspective examines the process and outcomes of a city-university collaboration to assess and begin to improve the resilience of Baltimore City’s food system. An academic center and municipal department of planning partnered to assess and plan for short- and long-term food system resilience. An Emergency Food Working Group convened for three meetings over three months, resulting in the creation of an emergency food access protocol for acute event response. A broader Baltimore Food System Resilience Advisory Report was then developed based on 36 key-informant interviews with food system stakeholders, literature reviews, and geographic information system (GIS) mapping. That report included an assessment of the Baltimore City food system’s vulnerability to hazards, the extent of stakeholder preparedness for food supply disruptions, and identified opportunities for enhancing long-term food system resilience. It presented policy recommendations for Baltimore and a framework for conceptualizing food system vulnerabilities. Policy recommendations and lessons learned from this planning process can serve as an example for other cities interested in enhancing the resilience of their food system or broadening the scope of their resilience planning. See the press release for this article.
Highlights
BackgroundClimate change is causing unprecedented shifts in natural systems and threatens global food security (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2014)
County, and regional food system planning documents from 2001 to 2017 and found a small but increasing reference over time to resilience as a planning goal (Biehl, Buzogany, Huang, & Chodur, 2017). (See, for example, Barron et al, 2010; New York City Economic Development Corporation & New York City Mayor’s Office of Recovery & Resiliency, 2016; Zeuli & Nijhuis, 2017; Zeuli, Nijhuis, & Murphy, 2015.) To our knowledge, no urban food system resilience planning processes are documented in the academic literature
By working with engineering colleagues focused on disaster resilience, we contributed a novel framework for understanding and addressing resilience and framed chronic food security challenges from a fresh viewpoint
Summary
Climate change is causing unprecedented shifts in natural systems and threatens global food security (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2014). Non-natural hazards such as civil unrest or cyberterrorism can disrupt food systems. Food system disruptions could substantially affect large populations already struggling to access food. Feeding cities despite such challenges requires planning for stable systems that support food security before, during, and after crises. Urban food systems need to become more resilient. This reflective essay presents a participant-observer case study of the authors’ collaborative efforts to assess and plan for improved resilience in the food system of one United States city
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