The mega urban food system of Dhaka/Bangladesh

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The project starts from the proposition that the analysis of food systems in megaurban contexts offers special insights into the discontinuities, contentions, fragmentations and conflicts which global processes generate in local arenas. This proposition is based upon six assumptions: 1) Megaurban food systems are located at the interface between formal and informal spheres of food supply, distribution and consumption 2) Megaurban food systems reflect the dynamic articulations between global and local forces that shape food supply, distribution and consumption. 3) The informal sphere of the food system is constantly adapting to the structure and dynamics of the dominant modes of globalized food chains. 4) Megaurban food systems reflect the dynamics of specific material and resource flows. 5) Food markets are dynamic nodes within megaurban settlement development. 6) The functioning and efficiency of the informal sector is of utmost importance for sustaining the livelihoods and food security of the urban population. Based upon these assumptions, the project will integrate development economics and development geography to empirically study the food system of Dhaka in Bangladesh. The project addresses the following two guiding questions: 1) How is the megaurban society of Dhaka organized around food? 2) How might the food system change in the future under various plausible scenarios?