Box 1.6: Transforming city food systems through local markets

Cities and regions can become more resilient to shocks and stresses that affect the economy and livelihoods by investing in infrastructure and settlement types that support localization, economic diversification and enhance self-sufficiency. Governments should encourage the development of more balanced urban networks and regions. Sustainable subnational development could provide improved resilience to people and the economy, both urban and rural. Subnational development strategies are also likely to respond better to the key trends of the 21st century, in relation to more circular production, more localized production of essential supplies, nutritionally and medically, and realtime local production taking advantage of the (4) Industrial Revolution technologies.

At the city level, these efforts should be balanced with compact developments with adequate densities, freeing up more land for agricultural use and reducing dependence on regions further away. Encouraging urban agriculture through community allotments and rooftop gardens, as well as organizing farmers markets to bring local produce directly to urban consumers, can serve as stopgap solutions during crises. Beyond that, they also help offset demand and encourage shorter supply chains through more localized means of food production – areas that are explored further at the city and neighbourhood scales.

For equitable urban-rural linkages to be built or strengthened, it will also be important to ensure that urban-rural relationships are not exploitative, contributing to the empowerment of local authorities and civil society groups in rural areas to deal with adverse events rather than disenfranchising or marginalizing them.44 Because urban demands often take precedence over rural ones, interdependent rural and urban resource systems can place nearby rural areas at risk. During conditions of climate stress, rural areas more often suffer resource shortages or other disruptions to sustain resources to cities. For example, under conditions of resource stress associated with climate risk such as drought, urban areas are often at an advantage because of the political, social and economic requirements to maintain service supply to cities, to the detriment of relatively marginal rural sites and settlements.

Governments should encourage the development of more balanced urban networks and regions. Sustainable subnational development could provide improved resilience to people and the economy, both urban and rural. Subnational development strategies are also likely to respond better to the key trends of the 21st century, in relation to more circular production, more localized production of essential supplies, nutritionally and medically, and real-time local production taking advantage of the (4) Industrial Revolution technologies

Box 1.6: Transforming city food systems through local markets

Market Cities, a new initiative by Project for Public Spaces in partnership with HealthBridge and Slow Food, aims to address the threats posed to local food systems by rapid urbanization, centralization and the exclusion of marginalized groups “by creating new infrastructure, policies and investments in public market systems at the citywide, regional or national level.” This strategy integrates markets into a wider strategy, establishing networks with an emphasis on inclusive, safe regional food production while also supporting a wide variety of venders and entrepreneurs to flourish.45

While the majority of the Market Cities initiatives piloted to date are in cities in the Global North, other programmes are adopting similar principles to address the particular challenges faced by developing world cities. In Quito, Ecuador, the development organization Rikolto is working with a range of stakeholders across the region, from farmer associations to local officials, to promote the development of a more sustainable food strategy that effectively links the municipality and the surrounding region. This is especially urgent given the high levels of malnutrition among city residents and the high dependence on outlying regions for its food supply, with only a fraction of its total consumption grown in the capital or its province, Pichincha.46