Spatial Characteristics of Urban Food Systems and Food Retailers in Smaller Urban Areas

The types of food retailers operating in cities in sub-Saharan Africa and their physical distribution contribute to the spatial characteristics of food systems. As smaller urban areas expand in terms of both population and spatial extent, the importance of ensuring both physical and financial access to food throughout a city is critical for ensuring sustainable food systems. In this chapter, we use data collected from two smaller cities, Mumbwa and Monze, Zambia. Using spatial analysis, we investigate how household food purchasing behaviour differs based on the use of three different types of food retailers: traditional markets, small grocers and street vendors. We find significant hotspots of food purchasing behaviour in both Mumbwa and Monze; specifically, households located in the centre of each city purchase primarily from traditional markets, while households near the periphery use a mixture of street vendors and small grocers. Mumbwa households located in hotspots of street vendor purchases have the worst household food access, while Monze households have relatively similar food access regardless of whether they are in hotspots. Although spatial characteristics are often absent from studies related to food security in sub-Saharan Africa, our case study results suggest that food access not only varies spatially, but so does the relationship between households and the food retailers they purchase from. Our findings contribute to the ongoing discussion surrounding transformation of food systems, the emergence of smaller African urban areas and how spatial analysis methods can be applied to study food access.