The Life and Death of the Supermarket: How Food Trade Infrastructure Affects the Design of Architectural and Urban Settings

<p>Historically food has played an important role in how cities are shaped. The modern city is no exception to this, yet it holds an abstracted relationship to the hinterlands that feed it (Steel: 2008), thus giving the perception (particularly in Western cities) that constant food supply to the city is a given right. The problem of feeding cities still remains a challenge (Diamond: 2005), one that, in combination with an ever increasing scarcity of fossil fuels, has led to a emerging tide of urbanism looking to bring localised food back to prominence in the city. More so, investigating building infrastructure to mass produce food in cities themselves: the return to a city state model. A consequence of this is also a move towards a more resource sustainable city framework. However, there is little discussion around how this new food urbanism will be structured within the city, and conversely, how it will structure the city. The most prominent architectural/urban typology which represents food in the city currently is that of the supermarket building, a type which has evolved from the urban market but has shed its civic role (Steel: 2008). This is further characterised by the common use of the private motor vehicle to access the supermarkets site. What if we were to amputate the car from the supermarket? Would we return to the urban market as the defining food space typology in the city? Or would food space be embodied in a new formal language? Primary Research Question(s): How can we track the implications of food (supply, demand, requirements) for the contemporary Western city through a supermarket typology? Secondary Research Questions: How does food culture and its resulting space enhance the urban public sphere (i.e. the vitality of the city)? Methodology Using the analysis model of design (institutionalised/autonomous design process) versus nondesign (overlapping of cultural systems in which design is one of these) laid out by Diana Agrest in 1974 as an analysis departure point; the research will investigate the historical and contemporary role of food markets in cities. The supermarket typology will form the basis for how food exchange related design affects urban fabric build-up in Western cities. Through links in the literature review, as well as empirically based evidence, I draw through extrapolations of how a food market driven city might conduct urban change. This may nurture a more direct relationship to its surrounding geography (e.g. the hinterland) and the food sources needed to feed it. Empirical analysis has been conducted on what might typify a vibrant and civically significant urban market to counteract the research into supermarket typologies. The Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne, Australia, has been selected as this case study. There is an assumption that there are qualities instilled in urban markets which have more positive effects for urban environments than that of supermarkets. Thus, through looking at these environments it may be possible to tease out new directions for solidifying the prominence of food in the city once more.</p>

The Life and Death of the Supermarket: How Food Trade Infrastructure Affects the Design of Architectural and Urban Settings

<p>Historically food has played an important role in how cities are shaped. The modern city is no exception to this, yet it holds an abstracted relationship to the hinterlands that feed it (Steel: 2008), thus giving the perception (particularly in Western cities) that constant food supply to the city is a given right. The problem of feeding cities still remains a challenge (Diamond: 2005), one that, in combination with an ever increasing scarcity of fossil fuels, has led to a emerging tide of urbanism looking to bring localised food back to prominence in the city. More so, investigating building infrastructure to mass produce food in cities themselves: the return to a city state model. A consequence of this is also a move towards a more resource sustainable city framework. However, there is little discussion around how this new food urbanism will be structured within the city, and conversely, how it will structure the city. The most prominent architectural/urban typology which represents food in the city currently is that of the supermarket building, a type which has evolved from the urban market but has shed its civic role (Steel: 2008). This is further characterised by the common use of the private motor vehicle to access the supermarkets site. What if we were to amputate the car from the supermarket? Would we return to the urban market as the defining food space typology in the city? Or would food space be embodied in a new formal language? Primary Research Question(s): How can we track the implications of food (supply, demand, requirements) for the contemporary Western city through a supermarket typology? Secondary Research Questions: How does food culture and its resulting space enhance the urban public sphere (i.e. the vitality of the city)? Methodology Using the analysis model of design (institutionalised/autonomous design process) versus nondesign (overlapping of cultural systems in which design is one of these) laid out by Diana Agrest in 1974 as an analysis departure point; the research will investigate the historical and contemporary role of food markets in cities. The supermarket typology will form the basis for how food exchange related design affects urban fabric build-up in Western cities. Through links in the literature review, as well as empirically based evidence, I draw through extrapolations of how a food market driven city might conduct urban change. This may nurture a more direct relationship to its surrounding geography (e.g. the hinterland) and the food sources needed to feed it. Empirical analysis has been conducted on what might typify a vibrant and civically significant urban market to counteract the research into supermarket typologies. The Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne, Australia, has been selected as this case study. There is an assumption that there are qualities instilled in urban markets which have more positive effects for urban environments than that of supermarkets. Thus, through looking at these environments it may be possible to tease out new directions for solidifying the prominence of food in the city once more.</p>

A Sociogenetic Approach to Migration and Urbanization in Peruvian Amazonia

This chapter addresses what is termed “sociogenetic cosmopolitanism,” the dynamic interplay of social and genetic forces underpinning migration and urbanization. The constant movement of people and communities in Peru’s Huallaga River Valley is influenced by the variegated ecosystems of the Amazon, the vagaries of regional labor markets, and the exigencies of sociopolitical life in Peru. Four primary causes of migration in the Huallaga Valley are addressed: (1) environment and political economy, (2) infrastructure, (3) lifeways, and (4) violence and social upheaval. The consequences of modern migration and urbanization in Peruvian Amazonia include a marked transition in biodemography, an increase in genetic diversity markers, and a discernable shift in nucleotide-level population architecture. Profound sociocultural transformations, namely a move from rural and agrarian-based lifeways to urban, market-driven experiences, have accompanied such trends.

Heavy Metals and Health Risks Associated with Consumption of Herbal Plants Sold in a Major Urban Market in Southwest, Nigeria

Background. Although herbal medicines play an important role as a source of medicine, concerns have been raised about the risks posed by consumption of these plants, especially if consumed above permissible levels. Objectives. This study was undertaken to assess the level of exposure, toxicity and health risk associated with the consumption of herbal plants in Ado Ekiti urban market, Nigeria. Methods. Ten commonly consumed herbal plants sold in Ado Ekiti urban market were subjected to heavy metal analysis. Health risk assessment was carried out to determine the estimated daily intake (EDI) of heavy metals, health risk index (HRI), target hazard quotient for non-carcinogenic risk and estimation of cancer risk (ECR). Results. The EDIs for lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu) and magnesium (Mn) were above the upper tolerable daily intake reference for all studied plant species in both children and adults, an indication that herbal use poses a short-term to long-term health risk to consumers of these herbal products. The EDI for children was significantly lower compared to that of adults, indicating higher risks for adult consumers of these herbal products. The HRI in children for Pb (Alstonia congensis, Terminalia avicennioides, Aframomum melegueta, Cymbopogon citratus and Napoleona vogelii) were greater than 1; HRI in Cu and Mn also showed an unusually high concentration, an indication that long term exposure to the consumption of these herbal plants poses a serious health risk. The HRI in children and adults follows the order Mn &gt; Cu &gt; Ni &gt; Pb &gt; Cr; cadmium (Cd) was not detected in any of the herbal plants. The ECR for Pb, Ni and Cr present in the herbal plants for children ranged between 10−6 (low) to 10−3 (high), while the ECR for Pb, Ni and Cr for herbal plants for adults ranged between 10−5 (acceptable) to 10−2 (unacceptable). For both children and adults, there is a call for concern due to ECRs above the acceptable range; the consumption of these herbal plants poses a long-term cancer risk. Conclusions. In both children and adults, ECRs for some of the herbal plants in the present study above the acceptable range present a risk to human health. The consumption of such herbal plants poses a long-term cancer risk. Competing Interests. The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Urban geography 1: ‘Big tech’ and the reshaping of urban space

This report draws on the burgeoning geography literature on ‘big tech’ and how scholars have responded to its spatial impacts. First, it traces the revival in locational geographies and the role of global platform firms in shaping urban market geographies; second, it traces work on the urban governance and regulatory challenges posed by different types of capital; and technology entrepreneurship and start-up firms; third, it identifies work that has traced the impact of apps and platforms on the conduct of urban life, from delivery drivers to taxis to dating to real estate rental.