Urban planners are building food system resilience

Key points

• Urban planning can strengthen the resilience of food systems to shocks and stresses
• Resources have been developed in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States to help planners promote healthy and resilient food environments
• Urban planners are leveraging opportunities to use land use planning policy to promote food security

The global challenge of rising food insecurity and the impacts of climate change on food systems calls for new approaches to address these problems. Urban planning can promote healthier and more resilient food systems in many ways, including through better access to healthy food retail and reducing urban encroachment on farmland [1] [2]. Planners can leverage planning policies and legislation to undertake actions that build more resilient food systems and safeguard food security for current and future generations.

United States

In 2004, the peak body for planners in the United States, the American Planning Association (APA), established a coalition of urban planners to advance food systems planning. The APA Food Systems Division recognised the need to integrate food into land use planning alongside other planning priorities such as transport and housing [3]. Their Policy Guide on Community and Regional Food Planning outlines the role of planners in promoting food systems that are healthy, equitable, sustainable and economically prosperous [4].

Canada

A toolkit to support Canadian planners in food systems planning was released in 2024, Food Systems Planning in Canada: A toolkit of priority practices for planners. The toolkit was developed by researchers at Kwantlen Polytechnic University with support from the Canadian Institute of Planners. It recognises the importance of planning for food in the face of multiple challenges confronting food systems, including the impacts of climate change. It identifies priority practices to guide urban planners in local and regional governments to advance food systems that are equitable, resilient and sustainable [5].

United Kingdom

Resources have also been developed in the United Kingdom to guide planners in using planning powers and controls to promote healthy and resilient food systems. The Local Government Association has released guides on how spatial planning and design of new developments can promote healthier food environments by limiting hot food takeaway outlets and restricting unhealthy outdoor food advertising in council-owned and public spaces [6] [7].

Public Health England provides guidance for local councils on using national planning policies to promote urban food growing, reduce access to unhealthy food retail and increase access to healthy food retail [8]. The civil society organisation, Sustain, has also developed resources to support local planning authorities in using their planning powers to encourage community food growing, farm retail and market stalls [9].