An Analysis of the Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank Network and its Potential for Development

The project looks at the Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank to consider how the redevelopment of the existing network can promote opportunities for more integrated community development and cohabitation, while also improving access to food for vulnerable populations. The proposed method is to study the operations of the food banks by analyzing existing and new data, using geographic and statistical mappings, conducting interviews and undertaking comparative analyses with relevant case studies. In light of the organization’s impending relocation, the intention is to consider the operations holistically – across procurement through donation or cultivation, storage, distribution, kitchens, cooking workshops and other affiliated programs – so as to critically address the opportunities and potential limitations inherent to the spatial deployment of the organization in a single new site or across a number of different sites.
Ultimately, the ambition of the research is to think through the specific case of the Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank to spatially address the critical question of food security in mid-size cities.

Faculty Supervisor:

Anne Bordeleau

Student:

Partner:

Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology

University:

University of Waterloo

Program: