What have you eaten today? Seems like a mundane question, one that is probably quite far removed from your thinking about planning, about city governance. But, what have you eaten today? It seems an inconsequential question, but it is probably one of the most important decisions that you make each day, everyday. What you eat everyday shapes your health, it shapes your well being, it shapes your mental well being, it connects you or disconnects you from your culture, it connects or disconnects you from your family, it shapes the health and development of your children. So what have you eaten today? This seemingly mundane question also then fundamentally shapes our cities. As Wayne Roberts says, More than with any other of our biological needs, the choices we make around food affect the shape, style, pulse, smell, look, feel, health, economy, street life and infrastructure of the city. 

As part of the work of the Consuming Urban Poverty project, Dr Jane Battersby has produced a series of six short podcasts designed to help planning and urban geography scholars think through the connections between food and cities and where opportunities might lie to make Africa’s cities more food secure, equitable and sustainable.  The podcasts, discussion questions and resources can be found here: https://consumingurbanpoverty.wordpress.com/podcast-series/