The Urban Foodie: a food-sharing network platform for a sustainable and healthy community in Kansas City, Missouri

Abstract

Global climatic change due to human activity continues to disrupt future agricultural production and food security in the United States (Wheeler & Braun 2013). The pressures on the global food system and extreme climatic events are challenging communities in the U.S.'s most densely populated places: its cities. With over 80% of the population living in cities and metropolitan areas, these populations have become early responders to climate change, placing them in the path of vulnerability (FAO 2020). This anthropogenic relationship between current food systems will intensify within the next few decades as populations continue to increase, creating a need for integrative food-sharing programs in urban cities (Kortetmäk 2019). This study examines food-sharing programs, including community gardening and shareholder health markets, as a potential approach to address urban food insecurity. Providing land ownership allows local communities to repurpose vacant lands and sustain economic food endeavors through urban farming. A site study was conducted in nine neighborhoods that touch the Brush Creek corridor in Kansas City, Missouri. This community is a desirable study site because it consists of middle to low-income residents in a historically redlined area with racial segregation and high vacancy levels. Methods of analysis included spatial analysis using GIS to identify areas of opportunity for potential design intervention a survey distributed in two vulnerable neighborhoods. Documentation of residents’ concerns about food security, food access, and involvement enabled residents to illustrate the expected outcomes they wish to seek in their community concerning food-sharing programs. The resulting information was used to develop an integrative food-sharing program model that is shifted toward sustainable food production and decreased health implications associated with global climate change and food insecurity.