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With 422 million global cases of diabetes, a scaled response must go beyond a diagnostic, clinical approach. Gehl’s foodscape studies create proactive & preventative strategies that target the shared link between the urban environment and food security to improve food access, quality of life, and community health outcomes across different cultures and geographies.
A uniquely proactive approach Access to food and healthful food choices are complex issues intrinsically linked to the design of the surrounding urban environment. In collaboration with CCD (Cities Changing Diabetes), Gehl partnered with local organizations to examine the foodscapes of three cities: Philadelphia, Houston, and Bogotá, Columbia. All three cities experience high rates of health related diseases, and yet, maintan unique geographic, cultural challenges when it comes to addressing food security.
In each setting Gehl measured, developed and piloted place-based intervention strategies that aim to approach local challenges to the food system by improving food security and offering greater quality of life in each setting.
What is a foodscape?
The environment around us supports certain habits and prevents others. Foodscapes are environments born out of the triangulation and analysis of food places (grocery stores, restaurants, farmers markets, bodegas, etc.), public life, and public space.
Gehl used a people-first approach to gather background reseach and collect data to generate insights for each community using a combination of Public Life Studies, Foodscape Studies, and Intercept Surveys as well as hosting stakeholder sessions, in-person engagement opportunities, and interviews. This comprehenisve, context specific methodology ensured that the recomended interventions were both targeted and successful for each foodscape.
Intuition, supported by collected data, demonstrated that different urban systems provide different levels of food choice and food access for different members of the population. To accomodate the range of experiences and environments observed, the team translated these findings into four main catagories, each with their own intervention strategies for nudging people in areas of different scales and food offerings towards healthier food behaviors.
Using the Density Matrix as a lauch pad, the team employed project data to define specific long term intervention stategies for each community.
In a community that is over surveyed and under delivered to, people have many perceived and real barriers to accessing healthy food. We were asked to help Philabundance’s Community Kitchen more closely understand the community surrounding their new location. We studied the relationship between people’s food habits and the built environment to create a holistic strategy to bring healthy nutritious food to people where they spend the most time and feel comfortable.
The urban form and quality of the pedestrian experience affects people’s ability to access healthy food in Houston
32% of Houston’s adult population is living with diabetes. Parking dominance and an unsafe pedestrian experience makes it nearly impossible to meet daily needs on foot, by bike, or with transit. This creates an obesogenic foodscape that makes it challenging for people to access healthy food or take part in an active lifestyle. In response, we developed key strategies and pilot interventions for Hope Clinic to influence a positive dietary shift and improve their community’s access to healthy food.
A challenging public realm makes it hard for Bogotanos to get the food they need in the limited time they have People have daily rhythms that dictate their food behaviors. Across the four neighborhoods we studied in Bogota, most residents that were surveyed cook and eat at home but recognize that the public realm plays an important role in their food experiences. The interplay between transportation connections, food offerings, and store opening times
make it difficult for Bogotanos to access the produce they need to cook healthy meals at home. We worked to develop a strategy and pilots that the Health Secretariat can deploy to make it a little easier for people to access healthy food in a convenient and comfortable way.
This project changed the way that we work. The assessment allowed us to better serve our neighbours in need. We found the experience so rewarding that we plan to use Community Foodscape Assessments as a component of all our future placed-based work”
— Jamiliyah Foster, Director, Ending Hunger for Good / PhilabundanceThe Density Matrix acts as a pathway to defining what interventions are best suited to each neighborhood.
