Building the Healthy City.

This week's article first appeared on the Suite in May of last year. I have revised it for this week's as it fits into the theme that I have been following, alternative food sources.

It is a gorgeous October morning. Everyone is talking about the weather and how wonderful it is to actually have an extended Spring. It is hard to believe that Samhain is only 4 weeks away. It has frequently snowed here at October's end.

Besides the weather, there has been considerable discussion around town about the city's future. My sense is that no matter where you live, people are concerend about the future, in particular the economic future. Here in Thunder Bay, on the North Shore of Lake Superior, tourism plays a major role in the thinking of most of the individuals and organizations who will have a say in the city's development. While I believe that tourism, especially ecotourism plays an important role, it is not a panacea for poor economic planning.

When we begin to develop a plan for a city, we need to develop a vision of what that city should lool like and all too often we pay too little attention to Nature and green spaces as we begin the urban planning process. We compound this oversight by not paying sufficient, if any, attention to food security issues. For example, we build roads and railways so that food can be transported to the city but we don't plant apple or other fruit trees in our parks or other community spaces. Planning is carried out, as though, it was acceptable for people to go hungry or that it is perfectly acceptable for food to travel thousands of miles to reach our tables. If the planners were intent upon creating Healthy Cities then they give some thought to incorporating community gardens, common spaces and livestock into the planning process.

The healthy city is a sustainable one. All too often the decision makers' eyes are focused so intently on the megaprojects dangled before them that they can't see the alternatives surrounding them. The urban farmer can turn a city that is dependant for its food supply on far away producers into a self-reliant entity.

If we develop a strong relationship between rural and urban areas and take responsibility for producing our own or our own food locally and supporting local growers we enhance our interdependence and our freedom.

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