Policy and planning tools for healthy corner stores II
This blog post is the follow-up to one written by Tufts student Leah Lazer and I in January 2013, about research we are carrying out to explore available and possible policy and planning tools and techniques that cities can use to promote the sale of fresh, healthy food at corner stores in low-income and minority communities…
Read MoreFrom Loncheras to Lobsta Love: Food trucks, cultural identity and social justice.
Fish tacos, vegan cupcakes, gourmet pizzas, and barbeque ribs, all served from the confines of cramped, idling, and often garishly painted trucks. These food trucks are becoming increasingly common sights in many cities throughout the United States such as Boston, MA, Washington D.C., and Chicago, Ill. Within the past few years, urban dwellers have flocked to…
Read MoreFixity or fluidity? Constructions of nature are in the eye of the beholder
I’m a Senior Scholar at The Center for Humans and Nature which is based in Chicago. Recently, they asked for my response to the question “How is nature critical to a 21st century urban ethic?” I replied that before I answer, I first need to ask the more fundamental question: “What is nature and how is it constructed…
Read MoreIntroducing just sustainabilities: Policy, planning and practice.
This unique and insightful text offers an exploration of the origins and subsequent development of the concept of ‘just sustainabilities’. Introducing Just Sustainabilities discusses key topics such as food justice, sovereignty and urban agriculture; community, space, place(making) and spatial justice; the democratization of our streets and public spaces; how to create culturally inclusive spaces; intercultural cities and…
Read MoreClose to the edge, down by the river? Joining up managed retreat and place attachment in a climate changed world
Introduction Climate change is disrupting and will increasingly disrupt the geographies of people, places, and spaces. Countries such as Kiribati, originally inhabited by the Micronesians between 3000 BC and 1300 AD, and towns such as Shishmaref, Alaska, a traditional Inupiaq Eskimo fishing village with 400 years of settlement are planning for relocation. Vulnerable city and other authorities…
Read MorePolicy and planning tools for healthy corner stores.
This blog posting is a quick introduction to some research Tufts student Leah Lazer and I are carrying out. The project will focus on policy and planning tools and techniques that cities can use to promote the sale of fresh, healthy food at corner stores in low-income and minority communities in order to increase food access…
Read MoreReading just sustainabilities
2013 marks ten years since the publication of Just Sustainabilities: Development in an Unequal World, edited by myself, Bob Bullard and Bob Evans. In the book we broke new ground by embarking on a sustainability and sustainable development-based discourse, but one that focused explicitly on equity and justice – on the inextricable links between environmental…
Read MoreInterculturalism and culturally inclusive space II
Part 2 Opportunities: Designing, planning and maintaining culturally inclusive spaces Despite the conceptual challenges I mentioned in my last blog Interculturalism and culturally inclusive space I, public spaces can be sites of huge intercultural opportunity. They may be the only sites where various groups interact at all and organised events, such as soccer matches, festivals or…
Read MoreInterculturalism and culturally inclusive space I
Part 1 Challenges: Contact, conflict, separation, segregation. In my blog Cities of (in)Difference I discussed Bloomfield and Bianchini’s (2002, p. 6) intercultural dream where “different cultures intersect, ‘contaminate’ each other and hybridise.” Clearly parks, public spaces and streets have a role to play in this. Unfortunately however, culturally inclusive spaces, those designed intentionally around the recognition…
Read MoreForget the seat, we’ll set the table: Youth involvement in Food Policy Councils.
“Youth are prominent in the food justice movement today. This isn’t just because they are ‘included’ as afterthoughts to existing projects and programs. They lead and have their own, independent voice.” (Steel 2010). Many food justice organizations, sustainable farming projects or garden based education initiatives are connected to youth development programs. As children and young adults…
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