Robert Dyball

Feeding Cities: Food Security and Ecosystem Support in an Urbanizing World

Bangalore is the principal administrative, cultural, commercial, industrial, and knowledge capital of the state of Karnataka, with a population approaching nine million. Economic growth has had a major impact on ecosystems and biodiversity, leading to the encroachment and pollution of water bodies, the felling of thousands of trees, and urbanization of green spaces. The city periphery experiences accelerated growth, with changes in ecosystems, land use and governance leading to impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity. Vegetation in the city core is species rich but less dense compared to other cities, with a high proportion of exotic plant species, and high faunal and insect diversity, although shaped by social preferences that vary across location and time. Bangalore’s green spaces and lakes are embedded within multiple land use categories, and governed by a multiplicity of institutions with overlapping, often uncoordinated jurisdictional responsibilities. Civil society also signifi cantly shapes the environmental agenda in Bangalore, taking an active and vibrant role in respect of environmental issues. In the coming decades, climate change and scarcity of access to clean water are likely to pose signifi cant challenges for the city, exacerbated by the loss of lakes, wetlands and green spaces. Socioeconomically vulnerable populations will be especially susceptible to these changes. In this context, Bangalore’s cultural character, as a location of signifi cant civic and collective action, will play a very important role in shaping urban environmental protection and conservation efforts, with collaborations between citizens of different economic strata and government agencies playing an increasingly critical role.

Local food: understanding consumer motivations in innovative retail formats

Purpose – This paper sets out to profile the activities and consumers of a unique and successful local food retail outlet in the UK that is based on weekly community markets.Design/methodology/approach – The seminal literature on local food in the UK is reviewed prior to providing a case study on a local food outlet, the True Food Co‐op. This is followed by the results from a detailed survey of its customers.Findings – The increase in availability of and interest in local food over the last decade has been matched by new research findings. Although there is a consensus on the reasons why people buy local food, there are significant gaps in other areas of ones understanding, such as the lack of a clear definition of what local food is. This is frustrating further developments in the sector.Research limitations/implications – Business development strategies that rely on niche markets, such as local food, in fast‐moving consumer goods categories are enjoying rapid growth. However, there are many difficultie...

Human behavior and sustainability

7 Sustainability demands changes in human behavior. To this end, priority areas include reforming formal insti- tutions, strengthening the institutions of civil society, improving citizen engagement, curbing consumption and population growth, addressing social justice issues, and reflecting on value and belief systems. We review existing knowledge across these areas and conclude that the global sustainability deficit is not primarily the result of a lack of academic knowledge. Rather, unsustainable behaviors result from a vicious cycle, where tra- ditional market and state institutions reinforce disincentives for more sustainable behaviors while, at the same time, the institutions of civil society lack momentum to effectively promote fundamental reforms of those insti- tutions. Achieving more sustainable behaviors requires this cycle to be broken. We call on readers to contribute to social change through involvement in initiatives like the Ecological Society of Americas Earth Stewardship Initiative or the nascent Millennium Alliance for Humanity & the Biosphere.

From industrial production to biosensitivity: the need for a food system paradigm shift

Urban consumers in affluent cities are typically divorced from the landscapes and farmers that produce their food. Most food is made available to these consumers via global retail systems, operating within an overarching paradigm of industrial commodity production. This paradigm induces one-way flows of resources from rural hinterlands to cities, with farmers undercompensated for their services—a process which is inherently unsustainable and unjust. By unwittingly eroding processes upon which they are utterly dependent, urban consumers are making themselves vulnerable. Potentially, this vulnerability could be reduced if urban food consumption was linked to regional production, but for many cities, the volumes of food required do not match regional output. Framed using a human ecological systems-based template, this paper presents case studies of three cities that have contrasting relationships with their regional food-producing landscapes. Canberra, Australia, could not consume all its regional production and so is in food surplus. Tokyo, Japan, could not meet its consumption needs from its region and so is in food deficit. Copenhagen, Denmark, could probably meet its needs from its region but chooses to reduce its food-producing land area and focus production on high-value meat products from pigs fed on imported low-value grains. Despite their differing food procurement strategies, producers and consumers in all three cases remain co-dependent upon each other and vulnerable to the processes being driven by the industrial paradigm. Consequently, a shift to a new ‘biosensitive’ paradigm is required, within which the social and environmental aspects of food production and consumption would be respected. This paradigm shift would reduce food choice and convenience and likely increase cost, so what would motivate consumers to support it? The answer suggested is that consumers could embrace the new food system if it had features that they valued sufficiently to compensate for the forgone values of the old system. Features that consumers could positively value include personal skills in the creation of meals, knowledge of the provenance and production standards of ingredients, and convivial relationships with producers. Pragmatically, these values are most likely to arise from consumers interacting with local food systems. Hence, it is argued, the primary value of local food systems lies not in the absolute volumes of food that they produce but in their educative capacity to foster a shift to a biosensitive paradigm. This new paradigm could extend concern to all food-producing landscapes and farmers, wherever on the planet they were located.

City Food Security

A future that is more sustainable and where everyone is happier is a noble goal but, for one reason or another, it is diffi cult to achieve. It is not the case that there is no common agreement about what this beautiful future might include. When we limit ourselves to the more technical sustainability indicators, it means a higher biodiversity, zero emissions of GHGs, clean air and water, and sustainably produced food, evenly spread over the globe. No one opposes these goals.Part I: Understanding resilient, sustainable cities Chapter 1: Introduction to the magic and practice of resilient sustainable cities Leonie J Pearson, Peter Newton & Peter Roberts Chapter 2: The challenges to urban sustainability and resilience Peter W. Newton & Peter Doherty Chapter 3: Exploring urban sustainability and resilience Thomas Elmqvist, Guy Barnett & Cathy Wilkinson Part II: Pathways to deliver resilient, sustainable cities Chapter 4: Pathways to a sustainable and resilient urban future: Economic paradigm shifts and policy priorities John Wiseman, Tegean Edwards & Kate Luckins Chapter 5: Delivering Sustainable Cities is ALL about people and place Gilbert Rochecouste & Leonie J. Pearson Chapter 6: Building Urban Resilience through Green Infrastructure Pathways Allen Kearns, Rhiannon Saward, Alex Houlston, John Rayner & Harry Viraswamy Chapter 7: Systems Design and Social Change for Resilient, Sustainable Cities Janis Birkeland Chapter 8: The priorities for future sustainable cities Tom Kvan Part III: Innovation for resilient, sustainable cities Chapter 9: Green economy, urban technology innovation and eco-city transitions Peter W. Newton Chapter 10: Planning for Biophilic Urbanism: The Creative Strategies Cities Can Take To Better Integrate Nature Into Urban Life Tim Beatley Chapter 11: City Food Security Craig Pearson & Rob Dyball Chapter 12: Resilient and Sustainable Urban Transport Peter Newman Chapter 13: Integrated urban water planning Tony Wong & Rebekah Brown Chapter 14: Urban Waste: closing the loop Maria Jose Zapata Campos and Patrik Zapata Chapter 15: Resilient and sustainable buildings Janis Birkeland Chapter 16: Money matters -financing the transition to a resilient and sustainable urban energy system Nigel Jollands Chapter 17: Networked city and Society Federico Casalegno & Pelin Arslan Chapter 18: (Re) Designing Resilient Sustainable Precincts: urban armatures Shane Murray & Lee-Anne Khor Chapter 19: Social Inclusion and cohesion through housing tenure Kathy Arthurson Chapter 20: Urban Design: The future looks familiar Lewis Knight Part IV: Governance and leadership for resilient, sustainable cities Chapter 21: Governance for Resilient Sustainable Cities and Communities: Concepts and Some Cases Peter Roberts Chapter 22: Economics and governance for City Bounce Neil McInroy Chapter 23: Leadership for sustainability and sustainable leadership Edward J. Blakely Chapter 24: The plan and the policy: who is changing who? Rob Roggerma Chapter 25: How to move from Talking to Doing: Creating Sustainable Cities Gil Penaolosa & Leonie J Pearson Chapter 26: City Adaption and Transformation for a resilient and sustainable future Leonie J. Pearson and Craig Pearson

A Brief History of Human Ecology within the Ecological Society of America and Speculation on Future Direction

The relationship of knowledge, including scientific knowledge, to improved policy and decision-making is a vexed one (Fischer et al., 2012, p. 8). Like any other organization of significance in its field, the Ecological Society of America (ESA) has, throughout its history, hoped both to contribute to the accumulation of knowledge and to influence policy and public opinion. In a recent editorial in the society’s premier journal, Frontiers in Ecology, Jane Lubchenco (2017) argued for the need to make “scientific information understandable, credible, relevant, and accessible to help inform (not dictate) decisions” (p. 3). Yet, there is an unavoidable tension between the ambition to be a “proper science” whose object of study is all things ecological and the goal of influencing change to make the world a better place. Human ecology has long existed as a subfield within ESA. Its ability to contribute, or not, to ESA’s ambitions to influence policy in relation to the pressing problems of the day has been constrained by two related issues: how these problems have been framed, and the role and best mode of science for informing policy directed at resolving these problems. For as long as these problems have been interpreted as the consequence of humans’ “interference in nature,” and for as long as the mode of science deemed most appropriate for informing policy change has been quantitative data-based “objective” descriptions of change in ecological processes, the ability of human ecology to contribute to resolving these problems has been constrained. A brief history of this tension is laid out here, with some speculation on how recent moves to reinterpret both the nature of today’s problems and the most appropriate mode of science for informing policy to help manage those problems may allow human ecology to contribute in new ways.

Ellen Swallow Richards: Mother of Human Ecology?

The first person to use the term “human ecology,” in 1892, was the remarkable Ellen Swallow (later Richards). She was born into the small, isolated rural community of Dunstable, Massachusetts, in 1842 and raised on the family farm. Both Ellen’s parents were well educated for the times, and both had been teachers. They resolved that Ellen would be better educated at home by them than at the local school, and so as a child she received no formal education. Ellen was bright and learned readily, but she was also considered frail and sickly. On her doctor’s orders, she was instructed to spend as much time as possible outside, in the belief that fresh air and exercise would be good for her. As was considered natural at the time, she also helped around the house, with duties such as cooking, cleaning, and needlework. Prizes won at the local country fair suggest that she was skilled at these arts too. These formative experiences of the curative power of a healthy environment and the importance of household arts are pointed to as the basis of her lifelong interest in the influence of the environment on the health and well-being of humans (Hunt, 1912, p. 77).

Regional Assessment of Oceania

Oceania is defined by the United Nations as the islands within Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia, Australia and New Zealand. The islands in the Pacific Ocean were urbanized relatively recently (typically following independence in the latter half of the 1900s,) but has increased rapidly since the 1970s due to both high population growth rates and inward migration to the amenities of urban centers. In addition, changing economic realities associated with agriculture such as fewer rural jobs due to larger, more productive farms, makes it difficult for people to make a living in the rural areas. At the same time the greater provision of services in urban areas help attracting people to the cities.