Nutritious Landscapes: The Food Environments in the Metropolitan Peripheries of Mexico

Abstract

Analyzing factors that determine accessibility, availability, and acceptability of food, this chapter investigates weaknesses of food environments in Mexico’s metropolitan peripheries. The study benefits from a literature review about the components of food systems and socio-spatial conditions necessary for an urban landscape to be considered a nutritious landscape. We argue that there are influences on nutrition unique to the peri-urban zone that deserve policy attention beyond the provision of transportation infrastructure and prevalence of fast food and convenience stores in such zones. To assess our argument, we performed an exploratory analysis with a preliminary survey of 453 participants from more than 70 neighborhoods in 17 Mexican States. The study adds to the existing literature on urban food environments and resilience by highlighting the need for an integrated context-specific approach for adaptive urban planning that can support community health and sustainable development.