College - Author 1

College of Architecture and Environmental Design

Department - Author 1

City and Regional Planning Department

Degree Name - Author 1

BS in City and Regional Planning

Date

3-2025

Primary Advisor

Michael Boswell, College of Architecture and Environmental Design, City and Regional Planning Department

Abstract/Summary

47 million people, including 14 million children, face food insecurity in the United States of America annually. Defined by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as: when people don’t have enough to eat and don’t know where their next meal will come from. Food insecurity is a systemic issue caused by systems greater than any individual failure. Poverty and unemployment, lack of affordable housing, chronic public health issues, racism and discrimination all play a role in the state of American food security (Feeding America, n.d.). A tenet of this research and project development is the right of all people, regardless of identity, to grow, produce, and/ or consume nutritious, affordable, and culturally preferred food.

This project explores how urban planners and adjacent professionals can utilize methods of plan making, policy, and design, to create regional food equity. The first section of this project is a research paper which delves into the six dimensions of regional food equity, as defined by Yeeli Mui in the Journal of the American Planning Association: nutritional adequacy, affordability, cultural relevance, social and spatial equity, and popular agency in the food system. The paper explores historic context, current trends, and case studies which reflect successes and failures to meet the needs of people through the food system.

The following section of this project provides guidance for creating policy and plans to support regional food equity, based on the six aforementioned dimensions. The guidance is structured to outline the plan’s vision and goals, factual basis, implementation actions, monitoring and planning processes.

Furthermore, this project analyzes three food systems plans for regional equity: City of San Diego Environmental Justice Element (2024), Chicago Metropolitan Agency for

Planning Go To 2040 Chicago Regional Comprehensive Plan (2010), and City of Austin- Travis County Food Plan (2024). To varying degrees, the plans address and create the context, needs, and policy to support their local food systems. Each plan was evaluated and annotated based on the criteria outlined in the guidance.

The final two sections of this project delve into urban agriculture and community gardens as a method of improving regional food equity. The section opens with a continued research paper which explores historic context, current trends, and case studies which reflect the opportunities and challenges of urban agricultural solutions for achieving food equity.

Inspired by strategic goals outlined in the Austin/Travis County Food Plan (2024), the final section of the project creates a conceptual design for community agriculture in Del Valle, Texas; a Travis County community just outside the City of Austin boundary. The concept explores the opportunity for a public community garden project to be incorporated on Travis County land adjacent to an existing social services hub. While theory and research supports the positive impact of urban agriculture for increased food security, this project was completed without local guidance or feedback. Outside of this academic context, engagement with food-insecure individuals throughout the planning process is necessary to ensure that solutions meet their needs and foster a sense of ownership.

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