Gendered Mobilities and Food Access in Blantyre,Malawi

Access to food, rather than a shortage of food availability, is the central problem for urban household food security. Blantyre presents a useful case study for demonstrating the importance of linking gender and urban food security. Rates of urban food insecurity are less severe than in other cities surveyed by AFSUN. Yet, female-centred households were twice as likely to be severely food insecure as nuclear households. This paper offers some explanations for the survey findings by drawing on qualitative research to understand the gendered geographies of food access in Blantyre. The first point is that gender shapes mobility, which in turn shapes a household’s ability to increase its food security by procuring food from the most affordable sources, particularly peri-urban markets. The second point is that gender shapes a household’s ability to produce its own food, a popular livelihood strategy in Blantyre that often mitigates the effects of low incomes on household food security. The third point is that gender influences a person’s potential income, which shapes the household’s economic access to food. These three points demonstrate the multi-dimensional relationship between gender and urban food security.     

Probabilistic framework for evaluating food security of households in the aftermath of a disaster

For households of all income levels, and especially for those that are food insecure, food access can be threatened by natural hazards. Extreme natural hazards can disrupt critical infrastructure systems, such as the transportation or electrical power networks, damaging the roads and bridges critical for food supply chains or electrical transmission lines providing electricity for food preservation. Interdependencies among infrastructure systems within the food supply chain make it vulnerable to unanticipated and cascading consequences. Maintaining food security in the aftermath of a natural hazard challenges a community’s resilience, recovery, and social well-being. This study introduces a methodology to consider how the interconnectedness among civil infrastructure systems impacts food-security of urban inhabitants. To this end, different infrastructure systems along with their spatial distribution are modeled to evaluate the restoration of food security within a community. Food security metrics, including food availability, accessibility, and affordability, are defined and quantified to provide risk-informed decision support to policymakers in the aftermath of an extreme natural hazard. The methodology proposed herein that considers system interconnectedness and uncertainties in demand and supply can be applied to identify practical policy interventions to hasten recovery of food systems and reduce the adverse impacts of food-insecurity on a community.     

空间数据库的共享安全产品LOCKGIS的设计与实现

目前空间数据库的共享安全仅依赖于关系型数据库的安全性,空间数据在传输共享上的安全无法保障。基于当前空间数据库的使用情况,从其共享存在的安全隐患入手,分析空间数据库共享原理,提出空间数据库共享安全的思路,重点研究空间数据库索引安全性,通过数据库安全访问网关、动态密码生成器、动静态水印追踪等技术来实现空间数据库共享安全。     

Food and healing: an urban community food security assessment for the North End of Winnipeg

The North End of Winnipeg is an urban Canadian community, which is affected by poverty and food insecurity. A community food security assessment is used here as a model to understand the complexities of food security issues, which are generally embedded in cultural and socio-demographic attributes of a society. Interviews with key informants and focus group discussions were conducted with the North End Women's Healing Group to address the objective of finding the link between urban issues and food security. Through these activities, a diversity of themes relating to food security were covered, and the findings revealed an important nexus connecting nutritional state, emotional well-being, food security issues and community programming. We recommend policy and programming that can address the unique challenges found in urban settings and suggest a participatory approach to reveal such challenges.     

Food for the Urban Poor: Safety Nets and Food-Based Social Protection in Manzini,Swaziland

This paper aims to contribute to the urban food security debate by exploring the role of informal safety nets and formal food-based social protection in addressing food insecurity challenges facing low-income urban households in Manzini. The empirical data used in this paper came from two surveys: the first involved 500 households and was undertaken in three low-income areas of Manzini. The second involved a series of in-depth interviews with senior staff at supermarkets and spaza shops. The results reveal that food security challenges are considerable in the low-income areas of Manzini and that, at the same time, various forms of community and intra-household food sharing are an important food source for a minority of poor households in the city. In this regard, the national government needs to consider strengthening food-based social safety net programmes that assist poor and vulnerable groups.     

The Geography of Supermarkets in Cape Town: Supermarket Expansion and Food Access

Although the rapid expansion in the number of supermarkets in South and Southern Africa in recent years is well-documented, the potential impact of this process is not well understood. The existing literature does not engage adequately with the spatial distribution of supermarkets within cities and is therefore unable to address the impact of these stores on household food security. The paper presents a mapping of the location of supermarkets in Cape Town with reference to income characteristics of neighbourhoods and transport routes. The distribution of supermarkets is shown to be highly unequal and the distance of low-income from high-income areas hinders access to supermarkets for the urban poor. The paper further argues that the supermarkets in low-income areas typically stock less healthy foods than those in wealthier areas and, as a result, the supermarkets do not increase access to healthy foods and may, in fact, accelerate the nutrition transition.     

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND THE INFLUENCE OF NEW FOOD RETAIL SOURCES ON THE PRICE AND AVAILABILITY OF NUTRITIOUS FOOD

Studies have demonstrated links between the accessibility of food and multiple health outcomes. Policymakers engaged in local community development may use public health concerns as a strategy to procure funding for food retail initiatives. Few studies to date have demonstrated the impact that a new food retailer can have on geographic and economic access to nutritious food in a community, evidence which could support the case for new food retail. This paper examines the price and availability of food before and after the opening of two new grocery stores in a former food desert in Flint, Michigan. The results indicate a substantial improvement in both geographic and economic food accessibility, and show no statistical difference between prices at average grocery stores and the new stores. Discussion suggests that investment in poorer neighborhoods can be beneficial to the local population and the community at large by creating a local multiplier effect through increased spending in the community.     

CONSTRICTION IN THE VARIETY OF URBAN FOOD PANTRY DONATIONS BY PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS

ABSTRACT: The urban poor face a number of health challenges, many linked to lack of sufficient and consistent access to nutritious foods. Social ecology models demonstrate the negative impacts of high food cost and limited availability in urban areas. These studies note that “food deserts” have a profound impact on physiological pathologies of urban poor populations. Food pantries are an understudied feature of these urban landscapes. To address this gap, this study surveys the contents of food pantry donations during the month of September 2008. Data demonstrate the socioeconomic impact of reductions of charitable food donations on the diets of the urban poor.     

Expanding the social performance of food production landscapes: measuring health and well-being benefits

Advocates of integrating food production landscapes within urban, suburban, campus and other design arenas cite multiple and integrated benefits, including enhanced food security and quality; land access for small farmers; psychological and social benefits; educational opportunities; and green infrastructure contributions, among others. If performance can be understood as ‘the fulfilment of a claim’ then landscape performance measures for food production would ideally encompass the overall range of cited benefits. Yet in current practice the performance of food production landscapes tends to be measured in limited ways, most often by weight and value of harvest. The aim of this paper is to identify expanded methods and metrics for measuring the performance of food production landscapes, in particular for health and well-being benefits. Through a transdisciplinary literature review, evidence for mental well-being, physical activity and human nutrition benefits of food production landscapes is presented, and performance metrics and evaluation methods are catalogued.     

A Warm Meal and a Bed: Intersections of Housing and Food Security in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the relationships between housing, food security, and health. We begin by reviewing the current literature on the intersections of housing and food security, emphasizing the current gaps in knowledge in the areas of building infrastructure, in-house food programs, and building context for social housing. Derived from the literature review, we present a model designed to highlight the relationships between food, housing, and health. Following this, we provide a case study of housing and food security for residents of the Downtown Eastside. By examining the experiences of residents struggling to find both food and shelter within a very low-income context, we underscore the ways in which food, health, and housing intersect. We conclude by outlining future research directions that will enhance understanding of these intersections.     

Gauging energy poverty in developing countries with a composite metric of electricity access

Energy poverty is a significant development issue that is not univocally interpreted. In many parts of the world, people do not have access to modern and reliable energy, which can be a big problem, particularly for vulnerable and developing countries. When vulnerable people do not have access to energy, they will often not be able to get the power they need to improve their lives. In addition, they may not be able to get proper food, education, health, sanitation, or basic needs for daily living. We use interval-based composite indicators and triplex representations of intervals to measure and assess access to electricity in 54 developing countries as a concept approximating relevant aspects of energy poverty. The proposed composite metric is innovative because it accurately quantifies how much electricity is available to people and how resilient and vulnerable people in developing countries are when they lose access to energy. After comparing the different representations, we found that one group of developing countries is more vulnerable to national and international events than the other. However, other countries are more resilient to electricity access problems. Conflicts and wars can impact the index used to measure energy poverty. However, as measured by the index, these factors contribute to poor performance.     

Growing Out of Poverty: Does Urban Agriculture Contribute to Household Food Security in Southern African Cities?

The literature on urban agriculture (UA) as a food security and poverty alleviation strategy is bifurcating into two distinct positions. The first is that UA is a viable and effective pro-poor development strategy, and the second is that UA has demonstrated limited positive outcomes on either food security or poverty. These two positions are tested against data generated by the African Urban Food Security Network’s (AFSUN) baseline food security survey undertaken in 11 Southern African cities. At the aggregate level, the analysis shows that (1) urban context is an important predictor of rates of household engagement in UA—the economic, political, and historical circumstances and conditions of a city are key factors that either promote or hinder UA activity and scale; (2) UA is not an effective household food security strategy for poor urban households—the analysis found few significant relationships between UA participation and food security; and (3) household levels of earnings and land holdings may mediate UA impacts on food security—wealthier households derive greater net food security benefits from UA than poor households do. These findings call into question the potential benefits of UA as a broad urban development strategy and lend support to the position that UA has limited poverty alleviation benefits under current modes of practice and regulation.     

Municipal Food Strategies and Integrated Approaches to Urban Agriculture: Exploring Three Cases from the Global North

At a time when the majority of world's population live in urban areas, the role of cities in addressing food system vulnerabilities is vital. One response has been a renewed focus by local governments in the global north on a host of individual food system issues. Still lacking are comprehensive municipal food strategies that take a coordinated approach to the food system as a whole. A municipal food strategy is an official plan or road map that helps city governments integrate a full spectrum of urban food system issues within a single policy framework including food production (typically referred to as urban agriculture (UA)), food processing, food distribution, food access and food waste management. This exploratory article examines factors that may affect the capacity of local governments in three global north cities to develop and implement their respective food strategies. It goes on to ask whether food strategies may enable UA, as the part of the food system that to date has garnered the most attention in both research and practice.     

Planning to sustain depopulating communities: Japan and the USA

Japan today seeks to maintain sufficiency in food production even when food products may be bought more cheaply on the world market. Emphasis on agriculture maintains rural populations to a greater extent than in other advanced economies. Also supporting rural communities is a strong cultural identity with the village‐centred lifestyles of previous generations. While national industrial development policy is largely responsible for the Japanese economic ‘miracle’, this policy has emphasized concentration of research, production and people in urban areas. Those communities which cannot develop further in primary or secondary sectors may turn to tertiary services like tourism for sustaining traditional ways of life. This paper discusses these efforts, contrasts international and local traditions of planning service provision, and makes comparisons with experiences in the USA.     

Broadband's relationship to rural housing values

Using data for remote rural US counties (n = 887) we estimate the impact of broadband Internet access on median housing value. We account for spatial dependencies in the joint determination of investments in broadband access and housing values using a modified spatial three stage least squares (3SLS) estimator. The data support the central hypothesis that remote rural housing values are positively impacted by higher access. Our estimates suggest that there are declining returns to speed availability, with access to at least some type of Internet being more valuable than having only a very high-speed connection accessible.     

Urban governance and urban food systems in Africa: Examining the linkages

Urban food systems have increasingly been recognised as a topic that needs to be better understood, in order to address issues of urban food security and urban poverty. This is particularly so in Africa, which has high rates of urban population growth and high levels of urban food insecurity. There has, however, been surprisingly little work on examining the existing processes through which urban food systems are governed. In this article, based on a review of the relevant literature, I examine what we know about urban governance and urban food systems in Africa. The governance of urban food systems in Africa is complex, with a range of governance actors with competing agendas. These governance actors impact on urban food systems, and thus on urban food security, in a variety of ways, including: the impact on food production (e.g. urban and peri-urban agriculture); the impact on the distribution of food; the impact on the retail of food by formal and informal traders; and the impact on food safety. There are many gaps in our knowledge about urban governance and urban food systems in Africa, including: processes in secondary cities; the role of, and impact of, local governments on urban food systems; the impact of inadequate transport systems on food distribution; and the impact of supermarkets (and their expanding supply chains) on urban food systems. We need to better understand existing urban governance processes, and their impacts on urban food systems, in order to be able to collaboratively design interventions to improve urban food security in Africa.     

基于GPS和GIS技术的基本农田动态监测研究

基本农田保护对国家的粮食安全和社会稳定具有特殊意义,及时准确地获取基本农田的动态变化信息是基本农田保护的重要一环。本文提出利用动态差分GPS技术和GIS技术对基本农田土地变化进行定量监测。首先通过动态差分GPS技术精确获取基本农田保护区内土地利用现状数据,然后利用GIS空间分析方法对土地利用变化的数量和方向进行分析。实践结果表明利用GPS和GIS集成技术可以高精度、高效率和低成本地对基本农田动态变化信息进行及时监测。     

公共租赁住房综合定价模型研究

公共租赁住房是我国住房保障体系的重要组成部分,其定价机制是否合理将直接影响保障功能的实现。本文从公共租赁住房属性出发,构建综合定价模型,提出应当以住房负担能力指数测算基准租金,以成本、区位因素修正,通过保障性指标、持续性指标检验,实现科学的定价机制。     

Convergence in Diversity: New York City School Food and the Future of the Food Movement

In the context of a global food system that has given rise to widespread concerns for food security and sustainability, reformative efforts have emerged, expanded and multiplied worldwide. To enhance understanding of the multi-faceted nature of this food movement and its scope for convergence and consolidation, in this article we propose frame alignment and alliance-building as a theoretical and analytical framework. Using New York City as a case study, we explore how school food reform may act as a particularly powerful platform for coalescing the interests and goals of diverse food system actors. We conclude with a call to interrogate school food and other reform activities with specific attention to the opportunities they pose for finding ‘convergence in diversity’ — in other words, for aligning the diverse and often fragmented efforts of the ‘food movement’ around an integrated and shared agenda with heightened potential for impact.     

Effects of food availability on the acute and chronic toxicity of the insecticide methomyl to Daphnia spp

The widespread increase of pesticides application in crops threats vicinal freshwater lentic ecosystems, frequently leading to their contamination. Due to their position in the aquatic food web, the responses to these pesticide inputs of freshwater filter-feeding zooplankters, as daphnids, provide relevant information the general risk to the ecosystem of xenobiotics. Moreover, cladoceran grazers often face fluctuations in food availability due to the phytoplankton dynamics in lentic water bodies, and food acquisition naturally conditions their fitness. In this study, the responses of Daphnia magna, and of three genotypes within the Daphnia longispina complex, to acute and chronic exposures of methomyl, were assessed. In addition, we focused on whether the food level can model the Daphnia life-history responses to the insecticide. Results showed that methomyl was acutely and chronically toxic to both D. magna and the D. cf longispina populations at very low concentrations, and remarkable differences in sensitivity were noticed when comparing the responses to the toxic among taxa/genotypes. Furthermore, food availability conditioned the overall fitness of the species although not interacting specifically on the response to the toxicant stress.