The resurgence of urban foraging under COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed cracks in American food security, as global supply chains seised, movement within cities and regions halted, and restaurant access diminished. During this time, new interest in local food provisioning surfaced in the US, highlighting the value of productive agriculture within urban landscapes. In many areas, this urban food provisioning expanded to include foraging, the practice of acquiring food products from edible landscapes for free. This paper charts the resurgence of urban foraging during the pandemic, frames this activity within theory on do-it-yourself (DIY) urbanism and the right to the city, and makes planning and design recommendations for bolstering this trend in the future. While urban foraging has historically been characterised by bottom-up participation, the addition of top-down organisational frameworks and legal structures could reinforce this practice in North America, helping to promote local food security, particularly during periods of crisis.