Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
in the U.S.A. since 1980 (ver Ploeg et al
2009
). So the concept of food deserts has
provided a stimulus for several changes: the need for a drastic rethinking of diets
among an already vulnerable population; the encouragement of community gar-
dens; and education in schools about the need for healthy diets. In some American
cities such as Chicago over 100
'learning gardens'
, essentially special school gar-
dens, have been created by 2013 to provide students with the experience of growing
plants and learning basic botany. There has also been the encouragement of better
food provision in poor neighbourhoods, such as on-line deliveries from large su-
permarkets, and what are now called '
pop-up grocery outlets
', those selling fresh
and healthy food. Of course, these are modern equivalents—with better technology
by air conditioned trucks—to the old mobile shops or carts of the horse-drawn age,
perhaps illustrating again the utility of older systems and ideas that has fallen out of
use. Yet even the provision of such outlets does not guarantee that they will be used,
given varying price, quality etc. What is really needed is better education and accep-
tance of the benefits of healthy food. In this respect more urban places need to adopt
the approach used for decades in French schools or in the Slow Cities organization
(Chap. 15), where students are taught from an early age of the benefits of different
food types, which is then reflected in the types of school meals provided, which are
carefully reviewed by parent groups.
Another growing movement that is related to the cultivation of more food in,
but more usually around, cities has been the explosive increase in
farmers' markets,
which is also linked to the desire to consume healthy food, especially that which is
locally sourced, fresher, or organically produced from farms in the urban hinterland.
For example, the 2010 annual report of the U.S. Department of Agriculture esti-
mated that the number of farmers' markets in the country had increased from 1,555
in 1994 to 5,274 in 2009. Similar growth has occurred in other countries. Some have
been revivals of older markets that declined during industrialization and especially
with the growth of supermarkets—revivals which have been stimulated by the Tran-
sition Town and Slow City developments described in Chaps. 7 and 15. Others are
new developments, such as the recent opening in 2010 of a farmers' market in a
new location at Pier 20 on Halifax's waterfront in Canada. This is a relocation from
previous sites and maintains a 262 year tradition of a market in the city, which is
claimed to be the oldest functioning in North America. This new market houses 200
vendors in a 55,000 sq. feet building which has been given a high building sustain-
ability status (the L.E.E.D. platinum level as described in Chap. 6) because of its
use of wind turbines, solar panels, geothermal heating and use of non-toxic building
materials. It also includes a Green Roof and Wall. This is one of 40 such markets
across Nova Scotia which are heavily promoted through an active website and pro-
vide many special events, or focus on particular crops at various times of the year
(FMNS
2012
). Most of the stalls in these markets provide products from the local
area or from organically certified farms. Certainly the food is often more expensive
in these markets, but it is fresher and the origin of the products is not only more lo-
cal, but more easily discovered. In addition, these markets seem to provide a more
exciting experience for consumers, adding to the liveability of places, not simply
because of the products, but because there is usually greater socialization between
