The SED looks at diverse elements of urban food systems: livelihoods, consumption, value chains and markets, infrastructure planning, and governance.
This work focuses on:
Food as an urban economic system across the formal–informal spectrum.
Urban hunger and food security across the city and region.
Spatial and social geographies of urban food access and inequality.
Featured Projects
Hungry Cities partnership (2015-2019)As part of the Hungry Cities Partnership, IIHS investigated Bengaluru’s urban food system, carried out a household survey on food security, and analysed the informal food economy through a survey of informal food businesses, examining links between urbanisation, food security, informality, and inclusive growth. Funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) (Canada) and African Centre for Cities (ACC)–University of Cape Town, the project ran from 2015 to 2019.
(Re)thinking the Off-Grid City (2022-2024)The research aimed to redefine infrastructure delivery—across energy, water, sanitation, transport, and communication—to better support the food and nutrition needs of marginalised residents. It examined city-level interactions, impacts, and coping strategies. The project included training workshops and materials for practitioners, aiming to shift how planners and decision-makers understand food-infrastructure linkages and to support those not fully ‘on-grid’. The project worked across sites in Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, and India, and was conducted in partnership with Institute of Development Studies (IDS)–University of Sussex, and was funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)–Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).
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