Food systems are multi-faceted; have territorial, management, planning, social and political dimensions and nuances. The territorial dimension makes it a land-use planning issue which urban planners must consciously deal with; the food supply chain is spatial and hence is linked with spatial planning (Ladner, 2011; Morgan and Sonnino, 2010). Food production processing and retailing all occur in space and thus need land which is managed through urban planning and its various tools such as laws, master plans and layout plans (Mkwambisi et al, 2011). The spatially bound food supply chains comprise of farms (plots), transportation corridors, farm produce processing plants or industries and markets (Koc et al, 1999). Although urban food strategies differ from city to city, the common denominator is the intention to connect and create synergies between the public domains that include the environment, spatial planning, public health, economic planning and social planning which in one way or the other affect food supply and access (Wiskerke, 2009). Whilst this sounds the logical thing to do, literature does not have useful examples of this happening in many cities.
Although it is well-documented that man and urban food are bound together in cities, planning practice and its regulatory framework does not seem to embrace the same. ‘The bond between man and grain dominated life in the ancient city’ (Steel, 2009:15). They need each other because it is a fact that there is need for grain produce from sources that are stable enough to support the permanent settlements that cities are. The ancient settlements were surrounded by productive farm land and dominated
by large complexes that were effectively used as central food provisioning centres (ibid). Historically, the development of cities was intimately intertwined with the development of food and agriculture in the city region (Allen, 2003). Even the City of Harare’s location was influenced by the capacity of the surroundings to provide food to the city (Zinyama et al, 1993). Much later on, the City of Harare’s land use policy document, the Harare Master Plan (1993) set aside land for urban agriculture on the out skirts of city in areas such as Borrowdale (Chirisa et al, 2016).
Over the years however, this connection had been increasingly lost due to industrialization and rapid urbanization which has increased the demand for urban land for housing and other urban uses. Urban agriculture is considered a ‘rural’ use and hence is a weak competitor for urban land (Rakodi, 1988; Mbiba, 1994; Battersby, 2013). The need for housing and other urban developments consumed all the agricultural land. In Zimbabwe, this displacement of agriculture for housing was rife during the fast track land reform programme when the urban landless with the support of political leaders invaded the peri-urban farms (Muchadenyika, 2015). According to Marongwe (2003), there was a steady movement into and occupation of various forms of urban and peri-urban areas as the “landless” urban people took the opportunity and exploited the chaotic situation created by farm occupations countrywide. This affected urban food production as agriculture land was taken up by housing development (Toriro, 2007).
Urban policy development and planning increasingly got separated from policy development regarding food and agriculture and the planning and management of the ecosystem and natural resources in the hinterland of the cities (Marsden and Marley, 2014). Both land use planning officials and municipal authorities usually do not prioritize food and consider they do not have mandate for attending to food (Pothukuchi and Kaufmann, 2000; Freidman, 2011; Crush and Frayne, 2011).
Although it is estimated that by 2050, twice the number of people on earth are going to be living in cities and that the world will find it difficult to meet its food requirements if it continues to plan urban human settlements giving a blind eye to food provisioning as is the case today, authorities and planners remain detached from food security debates. To them food security is a rural issue. Even in the new context characterized
by rapid urbanisation, food price hikes, dwindling natural resources and looming climate change (Steel, 2009; Tawodzera, 2010), authorities remain unmoved.
Perhaps they need to pay more attention to their role in facilitating the provisioning and access to food in their cities. There is more that urban agriculture could do to compliment rural food production (Redwood, 2012) even whilst acknowledging its limitations (Crush et al, 2011). The management of urban settlements must acknowledge that it plays an important role in meeting at least some of the basic food needs of urban residents. Planning must also address the whole food system value chain by addressing transport corridors, distribution and processing nodes, as well as different types of retail outlets (Crush and Frayne, 2010; Skinner and Watson, 2018). Planning must use all its tools to address the whole food system value chain. The laws, plans, policies, and practice must direct its energies on developing instruments and strategies that enhance rather than hinder the operation of the different food system components.
Evidence in cities demonstrates insufficient or token effort by urban planning to address urban food provisioning through land-use planning (Aamre, 2010). The current urban food deserts where people especially low-income people have little access to fresh, nutritious and healthy food are problematic and must be addressed (Rose et al, 2009; Tawodzera 2010; Battersby and Crush, 2014). Planning that is driven by a conscious vision to create affordable, convenient, and people-centred food systems can solve the identified problems of planners and a planning framework that is blind to food systems. It has been proved that this blindness of planners to food creates unsustainable settlements (Pothukuchi and Kaufmann, 2000). Rather there is need for an urgent integrated urban food policy that creates new linkages and new relationships between different stages and actors of the food chain to improve urban food provisioning and to create connections between environment, health, the economy and culture (Battersby, 2012).
Urban planning is mandated by global conventions, and local legislation and policies of various countries to consider sustainability in discharging its mandate (Marcia, 2004). Food security is a vital component of sustainability that warrants a conscious consideration of urban food systems in settlement planning and
development. Food is embedded in human lives socially, physically and symbolically (Steel, 2008). For urban designers such as architects and planners, the question of how to design and build must now be weighed against conditions in which finite global resources will play an ever-greater role (Kaufman, 2005).