Contemporary Social Sciences 4

FEEDING A WOLRD OF CITIES

 
In an increasingly urbanized world, feeding cities depends on complex and far-reaching global food systems that connect distant regions of production to urban centers of consumption. This course examines how these global networks—spanning agriculture, processing, logistics, retail, and finance—organize the flow of food into cities and shape who has access to it. Students will analyze how food travels across borders, how value is distributed along supply chains, and how global dynamics—such as trade liberalization, financialization, and climate change—affect the provisioning of cities. Drawing on case studies from both the Global North and South, the course addresses key challenges including food insecurity, price volatility, supply chain disruptions, environmental pressures, and inequalities in access to nutritious food. It also considers the governance of global food systems, examining the roles of states, international institutions, and private actors in regulating and contesting how cities are fed.