Improving Food System Resilience: Digital Food Sharing Pathways of Urban Agriculture in Chicago

Food security describes a state in which citizens have a stable and accessible food supply. The stability of the local food supply is often dependent on a globalized food supply chain, resulting in a food supply that is delocalized. A "disembedded" food supply is sourced outside the local area or region, requiring a network of different food and knowledge pathways to make food accessible to the consumers (Stone and Glover 2017a, 88). The digitization of these pathways has furthered the delocalization of the food supply through remote coordination and computerized shipping algorithms which facilitate online ordering and the transport of food across hundreds of miles. Digitization has also transformed food accessibility in cities: meal-delivery applications and grocery delivery services have allowed consumers to directly order food to their homes, and social media and the internet have provided a platform for the sharing of food-related skills and knowledge. As such, digital food pathways, the network through which food resources are purchased, distributed, and accessed online, present an important arena for improving food security through increased urban accessibility to food.