URBAN DESIGN FOR FOOD-SECURITY: THINKING GLOBALLY DESIGNING LOCALLY

Food-insecurity affects not only countries in the South; the North is not immune to it. In affluent Canada’s second largest city Montreal, one citizen in six is food insecure, and it is mainly the poor, young and those in age to be parents who frequent food-banks. Furthermore, food insecurity studies often overlook disabled. To make cities more livable and inclusive it is vital to address food insecurity; local policies and urban designs, inclusive of all its citizens, can help promote this objective. In 2008, a community development organization and a university based research group collaborated to re-think and upgrade a collective garden in one of Montreal’s relatively poorer neighborhoods. Together, they interlinked environmental quality and food security through innovative urban design enhancing food production in the city. In the process, a challenging urban setting was transformed. This paper discusses the context and the outcomes of this project.