How “Smart Food City” look like

Food security issues usually take the front seat in the discussion of urban food systems. Innovation in Smart Cities could take form in both technology and social. Maye (2019) bridges the discussion of ‘Smart City’ and ‘Urban Food Practice’ and shows how they relate to many more issues and stakeholders and has the potential for more holistic transformation within the urban society through four elements. 

To reimagine what “Smart Food City” looks like, the first element Maye suggests, is the acknowledgement of the city region as an appropriate arena to implement an integrated approach to plan the urban food system. The second element is the focus on the government role in coordination, design, and implementation of urban food strategies and plans, that can take the form of having special departments on food policy. Food policy could also be integrated with other goals and initiatives such as rooftop farming, that tackles both the urban food production aspect but also combats urban heat island, as well providing a space for community interaction. 

This holistic view of urban food system also relates to the third element, circular metabolism, where urban food production has to consider the whole life cycle of the food, for example having a composting program as part of the urban waste management thus creating less impact for the environment from food waste. The last element of “Smart Food City” is valuing the social practice of the community, as food policy should not only work from the top-down approach, but also promoting and encouraging community and grassroot food movement in the city’s neighbourhood. 

Reference:

Maye, D. (2019). ‘Smart food city’: conceptual relations between smart city planning, urban food systems and innovation theory. City, Culture and Society, 16, 18-24.

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