Understanding Neighbourhood Food Access: Practices and Perspectives of Residents of Scarborough Village, Toront

Within food access research, little attention has been given to the perspectives and practices of residents in food insecure neighbourhoods. Taking a people-centred approach and using semi-structured interviews, this thesis explores food access through the day-to-day practices, strategies, challenges, perspectives, and emotions of residents of Scarborough Village, a low-income and food insecure urban neighbourhood in Toronto, Canada. The findings of this research are used to argue that including the voices of those commonly marginalised in the decision-making process of neighbourhood food environments is an important and valuable step towards a more just food system. To include these voices, more urban food access research and action needs to shift its approach from simplistic understandings of food security toward more comprehensive understanding of food access based on the concepts of food justice and food sovereignty. Only by doing so will urban food access research realise the often complex, context-specific needs of those it seeks to assist.