Archaeology, history, and urban food security

Urban Farm DB summary

A book chapter draws on insights from pre-Columbian Maya cities, medieval Constantinople, and wartime London, applying them to the contemporary mega-region of the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta. It demonstrates the potential for integrating archaeological and historical research with investigations of contemporary conditions to inform urban planning. Despite fundamental differences across eras, it argues urban and peri-urban food production continues to play a key role for food security and city resilience, and that the long-term record shows maintaining a diversity of food systems — including localized ones — and institutional flexibility at multiple scales is essential to addressing food security challenges.