Remember the pandemic? Not so long ago…..
Where I lived at the time, there was no official lockdown and also not really much panic buying at all.
There was a week or so when toilet paper and pasta were very low in stock but otherwise, our local neighborhood grocery store remained well stocked.
I began thinking at the time though, what if that were to change?
What if a crisis led to mass panic buying or looting and major supply chain disruption, rendering our local urban grocery store (that households for several surrounding blocks all depend on for 100% of their food needs) empty for days or longer?
In times of war, several societies saw the founding and support of gardens as a means of local food production in times of crisis, a.k.a victory gardens, war gardens, food gardens for defense & some allotment garden culture.
We are beginning to expand our content and coverage here at Pedestrian Space to be inclusive of issues of cities and food resilience – a truly multifaceted topic with different implications based on climate, terrain, culture, crises and more.
There is room and clear need here as well to connect issues of walkability and food access as many marginalized communities in diverse societies are ‚food deserts’ with little to no walkable access to places to buy food or access only to poor (and sometimes overpriced) food options.
At its heart, Pedestrian Space is really about healthy, thriving and resilient communities. We look forward to beginning to bring in more coverage and our developing work in relation to these themes.
-Annika
Photo I snapped in the mirror at our neighborhood grocery store early on in the COVID19 pandemic.