Role of Urban Ecological Infrastructure in sustainable urban food security systems of African cities: what is the missing link?

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The objective of this study is to determine how the current urban food systems in African cities can be transformed into sustainable urban food systems. The study contributes to the ongoing discourse on the role of urban agriculture in sustainable cities, which hitherto remains unresolved. This is despite the UN’s SDG2 which calls for attainment of “zero hunger” through the elimination of hunger, food security, nutrition improvement and promotion of sustainable agriculture, a rallying call for stakeholders hoping to improve food security in urban environments. Guided by critical realism and experiential knowledge acquired from participant observation and drawing from a literature review of case studies of African cities, the study investigates the gaps that exist in the sustainability of African urban food systems. The study interrogates the merits of the Green City Index, Global City Indicators Facility and the Global Compact Cities Circles of Sustainability as frameworks for assessing food insecurity in African cities. The results reveal the exclusion of food security in sustainability assessments, lack of detail on conditions characterizing the biophysical environment, as well as aspects of the environment, energy management and civic engagement as the main gaps in the frameworks used for assessing urban food systems. I argue that in order to ameliorate these gaps, Urban Ecological Infrastructure should be included in decisions on urban food systems and conclude that the traditional approach of exclusively focusing on food security and its elements fails to address the reality that urban residents have multiple competing needs apart from food. These competing needs include space for shelter, clean water and sanitation, health, and safety and security. I advocate the adoption of an integrated needs centred framework that meets both food security goals and protect the integrity of the Urban Ecological Infrastructure to provide a gateway to sustainable urban food systems.

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