AoU Journal - Here & Now - Spring 2026
Welcome to the Spring 2026 edition of the Academy of Urbanism's e-journal, exploring the topic of Food & the City
‘Food, culture, people, and landscape are all absolutely inseparable’ writes Anthony Bourdain, a man best known for exploring the world through the lens of cuisine. How we grow, trade, and share food together has shaped the places we live. Diets have changed from regional specialisms to a ‘global diet’ reliant on an enormous system of monoculture farms and transnational supply chains. Urbanists and policy makers are increasingly looking towards food as the driver behind health, wellbeing, sustainability, self-sufficiency, and cultural placemaking.
There are few topics so encompassing to the human experience as food and food-growing and few better topics for our Spring Issue of Here & Now. We’ve pulled together some fascinating insights from the Academy that investigates food from production to distribution to consumption and waste.
Our Managing Director Christine Smallwood introduces us to the myriad of ways people are growing good food in the city.
Kath Rosen from The Orchard Project shares how community orchards can bring the commons back into the city and build community resilience from the soil up.
Tristan Searight leads us into the sticky-floored nostalgia of the British pub as a place for sharing, commoning, and community, asking us to focus not only on what, but how, we eat.
Mark Bessoudo shares his conversation with Emilia Chegini about the humble street kiosk and its essential role in our urban fabric.
Nick Miller frames food as more than just a meal but a definition of cultural identity and place economics with the power to support regeneration and improve long-term economic resilience.
Shane Quinn takes us across the sea to Ireland, unpacking how the island’s resurgent narrative has been flavoured by its culinary heritage.
Eike Sindlinger echoes the theme of our issue - that farming is about more than just food. He highlights the strength of urban agriculture in its ability to connect across different systems and deliver more than just food on our plates.
Finally, Aisha Taj spins food into verse in her delightful poem connecting small plates to cosmic magnitudes, and Alistair Barr shares his reflections on Gordon Cullen's Townscapes in USA.
The topic of food, like cities, cuts across the whole nexus of modern life affecting and affected by economics, culture, ecology, politics, energy, and history. Food really is at the centre of the urban experience - we hope you enjoy our contributors taking you on a journey through food in all its facets.
The editorial team
The AoU Journal is sponsored by Space Syntax
