I FOOD TRUCKS
Are food trucks part of our landscape Architecture? By: Islam El Ghonaimy, PhD and Dalia Eldardiry, PhD
Different shapes and style in creating Food trucks (Truck, 2017)
Food trucks are a phenomenon of the past few years, scattered across cities serving the community with various types of cuisine. These metal trucks are now firmly part of our urban landscapes, mostly located in open spaces within urban areas. As bricks and mortar restaurants closed last year due to COVID 19 lockdown measures, food trucks seized the opportunity to increase their business and thus, we witnessed more and more trucks pop up throughout our cities. However, this can be a cause for concern for municipalities due to the unplanned location, haphazard positions and an increase in numbers of these food trucks in cities. Therefore, this phenomenon should have guidelines to improve residents’ daily lives. Moreover, it
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will enhance the open space conditions and add value to different levels, not only services and economic sectors. These food trucks produce various types of food, and many visitors come to them, especially in the pleasant weather because of their location. Even before the Corona pandemic happened, the outside tables were full of customers. The location of the food trucks is a major factor for customers when choosing to dine, parking for example is a huge bonus for customers. Peak timing for food trucks is during the afternoon and at sunset as customers want to sit outdoors without being in the direct sunlight, however this may become less of a factor during winter when the sun is much cooler during the day. During the
