Market Place: Food Quarters, Design and Urban Renewal in London

This book is about designing for food. It explores three fast transforming urban sites in London, centred on the regenerating spaces of Borough, Broadway and Exmouth Markets, in the period from 2005 to 2008. It suggests that what are conceptualised as 'food quarters' emerged in each place, modelling new forms of interconnection between physical design and social processes in which food-related renewal was at the heart. Using case study research, informed by design, morphological and social science techniques, the book explores how this interplay between compact city design and social practices focused on food, strongly influenced the making of everyday life in these places. It suggests that the quarters at once enriched the experience of food and eating, and increased urban sustainability and conviviality in and around previously moribund food spaces, while paradoxically contributing to gentrification effects. The book frames this experience within more spatially dominant approaches to city design, which seem to close off convivial food options and choices that would support a more satisfying and resilient urban life. The book draws some conclusions about the complexities of designing and planning for food-led renewal that might apply more broadly to other places in London and potentially to other cities in future.