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Cities that feed? We transform unhealthy food environments into healthy places

Any de realizació: 2024

Equip:

• Marta Garcia-Sierra
• Marta Andreu
• Elena Domene
• Tanya Zerbian
• Daniel López-García
• Ana Moragues-Faus

Institution: Institut Metròpoli, UB, IEGD-CSIC

The formation of the consolidated urban centers of the cities of Barcelona and Madrid shows a high diversity of uses of space and varied food supply – municipal markets, supermarkets and specialized neighborhood stores -, which protects us from food deserts, that is, from areas without access to a healthy food offer. However, although access to fresh and healthy food is easy in these cities, the exposure of the population to unhealthy food, which is called food swamps, is very high in both territories, especially in central areas with strong tourist pressure and in others with low incomes. Therefore, we can say that access to food is also unequal, depending on the neighborhood and the socioeconomic situation of the population.

These are some of the results extracted from the Foodtransitions project, which aims to promote the ecological transition in Spanish cities by promoting sustainable food systems that guarantee access to healthy food for all. The Metropolis Institute, with its researchers Elena Domene and Marta Andreu, together with Marta Garcia-Sierra de Fisabio, have carried out the study Cities that feed? We transform junk food environments into healthy places, a socio-spatial analysis of food environments in the city of Madrid and Barcelona, exploring unequal access to different types of food supply. The study has been prepared with data from the Census of Locals and Activities – Data 09.2023 (Madrid City Council) and the Census of premises on the ground floor for economic activity in the city of Barcelona 2022 (Barcelona City Council) and other secondary sources.

Related links:

The report of Cities that feed? We transform unhealthy food environments into healthy places