Reshaping our cities, one bite at a time

Food, which greatly influences a city’s social, cultural, and economic dynamics, is often overlooked in urban policies. Some cities are now trying to change that

- Manoj Sharma

Almost every city in India celebrates its cuisine through a famous dish, centuries-old stories of how it was invented or popularised, and an iconic food street. In fact, food shapes a city, and contributes to its social, cultural, and economic dynamism.

Most Indian cities although proud of their culinary lineage tend to neglect the importance of food when it comes to urban policy and planning. This has to do with rapid pace of urbanisation in Indian cities, with more focus on immediate infrastructural needs such as housing and transportation.

This, however, is now changing with cities working towards creating sustainable, efficient, and inclusive food systems.

Rourkel: disha - which has a population of 619,000 people illustrates this point.

It has designated shaded vending zones for vegetable and fruit vendors along sidewalks; set up open food courts in areas with high concentration of street food vendors; and launched e-cool mandis, which are mini, solar-powered coldstorage-cum sales facilities in different parts of the city for farmers and vendors, particularly women.

"We want to ensure that they don't have to resort to distress selling and their income increases. The e-cool mandis also help decentralise the market and boost the local economy, contributing to our sustainable development goals (SDG)," said Subhankar Mohapatra, municipal commissioner, Rourkela.

In 2022, Rourkela Smart City won the Milan Pact Award in the social and economic category, for its e-cool mandi initiative. It was the only Indian city among the six winning cities worldwide. In 2021, Rourkela smart city also won the Bloomberg Philanthropies Global. Mayors Challenge for empowering female food vendors, reducing food waste, and increasing access to fresh foods.

Savouring Change