Food Equity
POST Houston, 401 Franklin St, Houston, TX 77201
Free and Open to the Public.
RDA’s spring Civic Forum will be devoted to the topic of food equity and accessibility in Houston. The round table discussion will address the spatial implications of urban food distribution and consumption systems in Houston and its region, including the existence of food deserts and lack of accessibility to quality food.
Panelists will be asked to analyze and shed light on the growing inequity between Houston’s communities based on appropriate access to healthy and sustainable food. They will speak to relevant projects, in Houston and across the nation, which exemplify design-oriented alternatives to current urban food networks. The discussion aims to inspire the audience through projects and research, including unconventional examples that utilize design thinking as a problem-solving tool, in which architectural principles are applied to create conducive spaces for growing food in urban areas.
Panelists include Juan José Castellón, Assistant Professor at Rice Architecture; Jonathan Rhodes, CEO/President, Food Fight Farms, Indigo, and Broham Fine Soulfood & Groceries; Susan Rogers, Associate Professor at the University of Houston and Director of the Community Design Resource Center; and Ivy Walls, a budding farmer, community entrepreneur, and founder of Ivy Leaf Farms. Lynn Peemoeller, a food systems planner and lecturer in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, will serve as moderator.
Rice Design Alliance's Civic Forum is made possible through the generous support of Emser Tile and Page, with additional support from the Texas Commission on the Arts. Funding for RDA programs also is provided by RDA Underwriters: Harvey | Harvey-Cleary, Tellepsen Family, Big State Electric, Brochsteins, CED Houston, Marek, Turner Construction, and Walter P Moore.