When: Jun 27, 2013 (1pm)
Where: Rm 2.27, Davies Room, Engeo Building, Upper Campus, UCT, Cape Town
Traditional responses to food insecurity are unable to mitigate the growing challenge of limited and inappropriate food access. Although generally overlooked in traditional approaches to food security, this challenge is felt most severely in cities, particularly African cities. The second urban transition calls for different approaches to a number of interlinked urban challenges. Food insecurity is one such challenge. Alternative approaches to the urban food challenge and particularly to urban food governance are emerging. However, while some cities in the South are acting on this challenge, traditional aspatial and scale-neutral views of food security dominate. Innovative programmatic responses to food insecurity are emerging but are generally located in Northern cities. While the programmes may speak to Northern urban issues, the new urban food governance structures that enable such programmes offer opportunities for Southern cities. These governance structures have the potential to enable scale-centred interventions that respond to and mitigate the food insecurity challenge in place- appropriate ways. Using the concept of Alternative Food Geographies this talk will provide an analysis of food security responses focussing specifically on how these are enabling new forms of urban food governance and how food, food security and the city coalesce, enabling appropriate actions.
Gareth Haysom is a PhD candidate within the African Food Security Urban Network (AFSUN), a programme within the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town. Gareth’s work has focussed on the interface between food and sustainability, considering challenges within the broader food system. More recently work has focussed specifically on how the food/sustainability nexus intersects with urban governance in Southern Africa.