Post-pandemic Urbanis

135 The resilience of a system also includes the economic security of
its actors, which ensures that the economic situation in times of
crisis does not lead to the failure of system components. A secure
food supply thus also requires not only that it profit a few, but that
all workers (from farm labor to crafts to trade) have a robust basis
for work. Municipalities must keep this in mind when taking action:
cheap food has social as well as health and environmental side
effects and limits the security of supply.
Food Poverty
In the pandemic, some of the social problems on the producer side
of the food system have made it into the headlines. The social problems
in the city on the consumer side rather less so. At the latest
since the introduction of the Hartz IV reforms to the German welfare
system in 2005, social scientists have suspected material and
social deprivation in the area of food for poor households. Yet the
magnitude of the problem remains largely unexplored for Germany.
The Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Ministry of Food and
Agriculture has come to the same conclusion: “In Germany, too,
there is poverty-related malnutrition and, in some cases, hunger, as
well as limited sociocultural participation in the area of nutritional
needs.” 12
The crisis exacerbates these social problems. From a resilience
perspective, difficulties arise when malnutrition or reliance on
charitable organizations is tolerated even outside of situations of
social crisis. There is a lack of capacity, for example, to buffer price
increases or canceled school and daycare meals.
The first and most important step at the city level is to stop ignoring
the problem of poverty-related malnutrition. The social aspects of
food supply on the part of consumers must be given much greater
focus. Everyone must be able to obtain sufficient supplies of good
food.
12 WBAE – Wissenschaftlicher Beirat für Agrarpolitik, Ernährung und gesundheitlichen
Verbraucherschutz beim BMEL, “Politik für eine nachhaltigere Ernährung: Eine
integrierte Ernährungspolitik entwickeln und faire Ernährungsumgebungen gestalten,”
expert report (Berlin: 2020).