Since 2003, Providence has made significant strides not only in integrating food into urban planning and policy but also in implementation. Local food initiatives provide cost-effective, tangible ways for the city to respond to the expressed needs of an engaged and diverse constituency of residents and NGOs. Throughout Providence, vacant lots and parks have been transformed into 52 community gardens and 18 market farms; residents now have access to fresh food at nine farmers’ markets, groceries, school lunchrooms and restaurants; and 5000 tonnes of food waste have been composted on a regular basis by the Compost Plant, a new enterprise established in 2014.
The speed with which the city has integrated food into urban planning and the direction that food policy has taken in Providence owe to several factors. The city’s community-inclusive planning process first provided the opportunity for well-organised NGOs and community advocates to draw attention to the positive revitalisation, environmental and social impacts that community gardens and market farms had already started to have on urban neighbourhoods. Once the initial commitment to addressing food issues was established, successive mayoral administrations and councils continued the city’s food initiative momentum. Municipal consistency of vision can be seen in planning and policy documents, most notably the current local comprehensive plan – Providence Tomorrow – and the city’s Zoning Ordinance. The comprehensive plan and the Zoning Ordinance established the foundation that the city needed to launch its work.
Finally, in order to understand fully the approach that Providence is using to address food issues, it is important to note that several city offices and departments besides the Planning Department play important roles. The Sustainability and Healthy Communities Offices were created to enable the city to better address complex systemic issues and to encourage the private sector to contribute expertise and resources to city initiatives.
Their work relating to food includes policy documents that, though not planning documents per se, are important because they expand public–private collaboration, provide policy guidance and recommend specific implementation strategies and progress indicators. The Department of Economic Development’s focus on the food sector highlights opportunities to significantly expand food-based businesses in the city. Thus, coordinated effort by the Planning Department and other offices enables the city to work comprehensively to strengthen Providence’s food system components – from production to processing to distribution to access to food waste reuse – and to address food system issues at a systemic level.
Source: Brown & Brush (2018) “Edible Providence. Integrating local food into urban planning” in Integrating Food into Urban Planning.
- Planning
- Regulating
- Kick-starting
- Local institution
- Social movement, social organisation
- Network