Cities have a great influence on encouraging healthier lifestyles, due to 75% of the European population living in cities (WHO Regional Office for Europe 2022). Food tends to be disregarded or forgotten when discussing healthy cities. Even though it is a valid question regarding the predicted influx of city dwellers in the future (WHO Regional Office for Europe 2022). Meanwhile, food is starting to move up the political agenda, as illustrated by the Copenhagen Food Strategy. Nevertheless, the strategy lacks consideration of the influence of the built environment in creating a “green, vital and healthy food city” (Københavns Kommune, 2019). This gap sparked the researcher's interest in food planning and health, resulting in the research question: To what extent can a food market encourage a healthy foodscape in Tingbjerg? The following sub-questions were formulated to answer this question: 1) What can we learn from the benefits and challenges of food markets in the international research literature, particularly focusing on providing a healthy food environment? 2) What is the current foodscape in Tingbjerg? 3) What is the local interest in a food market in Tingbjerg? At the start of the research, a detailed thematic literature review was conducted to explore the potential benefits and challenges of food markets. Further on, a mixed methods approach was used, including preliminary observations, semi-structured interviews, and a survey to explore Tingbjergs foodscape and local interest in a food market. The main findings of the thematic literature review show that a food market can help improve people’s physical health, social well-being and encourage community building. Moreover, the findings in Tingbjerg show that the current foodscape of Tingbjerg can be improved in all three dimensions (spatial, social, food). To summarize, a food market in Tingbjerg can help address the prevalence of diabetes, 2) activate the public outdoor space, 3) contribute to the local economy and strengthen the community, and 4) improve social well-being. Therefore a food market would be beneficial to contribute to a healthy foodscape in Tingbjerg. These findings can be helpful to Copenhagen municipality, Steno Diabetes Center, urban planners, and urban developers in Tingbjerg. Hence, the findings show the potential of a food market in Tingbjerg, particularly for improving locals’ physical health, social well-being, the local economy, and public life.

The transition towards more sustainable food systems is essential for achieving climate targets and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Achieving goal 12, responsible consumption and production, in particular, will require changes in consumer behavior, the adoption of sustainable practices by suppliers, and, most importantly, the implementation of policies that foster such sustainable behaviors. Whether it is the availability of supply or the increasing demand that drives sustainability transient consumption is often discussed in economic circles. From the complex systems perspective, it is their interaction that matters. This article explores how consumer preferences and restaurant menus co-evolve to contribute to a more sustainable food system and how this co-evolution is affected by different policy instruments. We use a spatially explicit agent-based model of the catering industry in Amsterdam as a case study. The model is built using spatial microsimulation to expand on survey data from a discrete choice experiment about restaurants in Amsterdam. We observe that in the absence of policy interventions, it takes quite a lot of time for changes in diet patterns to occur. Multiple cities are working on their sustainability. Based on the generated insights, we expect our research to contribute to the current debate on the policy interventions to achieve sustainable urban food systems and the SDGs, and to be of consequence across multiple cities worldwide.

Public support for banning outdoor (commercial) food cues: a mobile app study Tamika M. Wopereis (1), Sanne Djojosoeparto (1), Emely de Vet (2), Frédérique Rongen (1), Maartje P. Poelman (1) (1) Wageningen University, the Netherlands (2) Tilburg University, the Netherlands Background and aims: Unhealthy (commercial) food cues in outdoor public spaces stimulate unhealthy diets. This quantitative study aimed to assess food cues noticed by citizens in outdoor public spaces, citizens’ perception of food cues’ effects on food choices, and their acceptability. Description and recommendations: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a smartphone application (‘MyFoodEnvironment’), which participants (n=103) used to photograph food cues in their neighbourhood. They took 590 photographs in total. Preliminary findings indicate that the majority of food cues included unhealthy food. The food cues were mainly issued by quick-service restaurants, specialty stores, and supermarkets. They were mostly located near a shop, a restaurant, or along the road. Participants most often reported that food cues influenced the food choices of others (41.3%) compared to their own (17.7%). The majority of photographed food cues (78.1%) were considered acceptable, and participants expressed their opposition to governmental restrictions aimed at banning these cues, despite the vast majority being evaluated as unhealthy (68.2%). For 35.5% of the food cues, participants thought banning cues would not affect food choices, and for 30%, participants thought it would favour healthy food choices. Health professionals and scientists argue for banning unhealthy food marketing to support healthy diets, but this study shows that this is inconsistent with citizens’ preferences. Citizen engagement is recommended to understand how effective and acceptable policies can be developed that create environments supportive of healthy nutrition. Significance: These findings may enable policymakers to develop policies that create healthy food environments, while maintaining public support.

This project seeks to investigate dynamics of normal food consumption on a societal level to inform the governance of transformations and a theory of normalization. To do so, it considers how practices of eating out have evolved over time, how they are being performed and how they are embedded within larger systems of provision- and lifestyle-practices. In an increasingly urban and affluent society, transformation of food consumption practices is necessary to ensure sustainability of food systems (in urban areas). Current normal food consumption practices are not in accordance with sustainability goals, however, what we find normal is dynamic and can change over time. The process of normalization, namely how practices become normal or regular, should therefore be studied as a leverage point for transformation. What do we find sufficient, normal, and abundant in an affluent society? When imagining what ‘the normal’ of the future will look like, it is imperative to include perspectives on consumption. Consumers are actively shaping what normal practices are by engaging with them in the present: normalization of practices happens in their performance. Additionally, they are underrepresented in future oriented studies. Many future methods stem from the organizational sciences, resulting in an expert- and management-focused approach. Research on sustainable consumer behavior often focusses on individual choices and agency omitting external influences, or, vice versa, analyses the food environment while largely neglecting consumers’ agency. To negate this dichotomy and to be able to analyze food consumption from a societal perspective, the proposed research will put social (consumption) practices at the center. This will ensure that both consumers’ agency and systemic influences are considered and offer a societal view. Theorizing normalization of more sustainable practices in affluent societies offers a positive view on the future of food consumption, focusing on possibilities rather than interdiction. Enabling consumers to engage with the(ir) future allows for a more diverse and rounded vision on said future. The proposed social practice lens enables zooming in on specific food consumption practices as well as zooming out on a societal level.