The general objective of this study is to investigate how food insecurity manifests in areas with different urban structures. The history of a city affects its urban plan, the shape of its urban network (a phenomenon that can be observed in port cities, cities established centuries before industrialization that expanded organically, or cities that are structured around certain institutions according to cultural priorities). Undoubtedly, these variations in urban morphology influence all facets of daily lives for the inhabitants of these urban areas, including their access to food.

This is the niche that this study aims to focus on to better understand which structures within urban networks could facilitate or hinder access to food, and how that information could be used to devise solutions and strategies to mitigate food insecurity in cities around the world. Algorithms and techniques from the fields of graph theory and network analysis will be used combined with the use of Python, R and GIS to conduct this research. A secondary objective of this research is to expand the geographical areas in which food insecurity is studied and to begin to fill the gap of studies outside of English-speaking and Western countries such as the US and the United Kingdom, where most studies on food insecurity are focused.

This diversification will be achieved through a diverse range of case studies to understand how food insecurity manifests itself and relates to urban morphology in different parts of the world.