Investigating the connectivity between urban foodscape and migrant women’s food security

Cities in the Global South, including Bangladesh, are experiencing the proliferation of informal settlements as a result of rapid urbanization, population growth, and climate-induced migration. These informal settlements are becoming more prevalent, particularly in the coastal cities of Bangladesh, and are exerting greater pressure on the urban landscape, resulting in detrimental impacts on food security. Urban migrants in these settlements, especially women, are the most vulnerable and exposed to food insecurity due to the lack of livelihood opportunities. In order to cope with this food-related vulnerability, they often utilize the limited spaces of their dwelling and neighbourhood to grow food, often referred to as ‘foodscapes’. These women-led foodscapes often transform the spatial environment of housing in informal settlements, which remain understudied in the context of Bangladesh. To unfold this urban foodscape-food security nexus, this research attempts to examine how the practices of the urban foodscape contribute to migrant women's food security by taking the Greenland slum in Khulna as a case study. This qualitative research is conducted using a qualitative data analysis process that follows a case study-based approach. In this research, face-to-face interviews, Likert scales, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and observation methods were conducted to collect data from households. Besides, content analysis, descriptive statistical analysis, and spatial analysis were applied to analyze the data. The research reveals that nature-oriented and built environment-oriented foodscapes are the broad two urban foodscape categories prevalent in the Greenland slum of Khulna, both at the dwelling unit and neighborhood level. The spatial nature of these foodscapes is predominantly home-based and gender-oriented, managed largely by women; therefore, a deep spatial linkage has already been established between the dwelling and foodscapes. Beside this, women are the predominant actors and wield substantial power to make decisions regarding contribution to labor, location of foodscapes, intensity of food management, and participation in foodprovisioning activities. Findings also suggest that the presence of foodscapes in this settlement also ensures two pillars of household food security at a certain level: food availability and accessibility. However, the nexus between foodscapes and food security is constrained by three broad categories of factors: socio-political, economic, and physical. Furthermore, the research concludes by offering some recommendations based on those factors. These recommendations will aid policymakers and built-environment professionals in developing some comprehensive policy guidelines and resettlement or upgrading schemes for the Greenland slum by incorporating women-led foodscape practices into the spatial planning of housing.