Toward City- and People-Centered Food Policy

Although writing about the importance of food systems for urban planners, JeromeJerome L. Kaufman Fellow Kaufman influenced the thinking of policy leaders and practitioners across the world including Dr. Wayne Roberts, the author of this chapter. A remarkable food policy leader in his own right, Dr. Wayne Roberts authored this chapter shortly before his passing, reflecting on Kaufman’s influence on the field and his own work. Roberts wrote that “the lack of imagination [in city government] resulting from professional over-specialization is a major barrier to more interactive conversation, learning, and partnership among city planners and Good Food advocates.” Roberts critiques the narrow ‘supply chain’ or ‘nutritionism’ approaches to understanding urban food systems. Rather, he argues that a broader view where “food’s many contributions to personal, psychological, cultural, spiritual, social, environmental and economic development of people, and the mooring of people in their time and place” ought to drive how cities view food. Roberts’ policy leadership in TorontoToronto (ON) and Kaufman’s scholarship represent the best of what is possible in municipal policy through open-minded thinking and strategic action. This chapter, Dr. Roberts’ last piece of formal writing, leaves readers with rich ideas for developing people-centered municipal food policy. To learn more about food policy in Toronto, please contact the corresponding author.