The Quality Turn of Food Deserts into Food Oases in European Cities: Market Opportunities for Local Producers

The current conventional food system is led by large-scale agribusinesses, characterized by indus-trialized production and increasing distance between food production and consumption. In re-sponse, alternative food initiatives (AFIs) have typically emerged as grassroots initiatives that may not be uniformly distributed or accessible. Food deserts, areas with limited access to healthy and affordable food, are often discussed without considering food quality. Addressing this, this article aims to assess food deserts for healthy, local, and sustainable products in 11 European cities, com-paring conditions before and after implementing food innovative actions focused on shortening food chains during three years of study. The methodology involves locating alternative production and consumption spaces (APS and ACS) and drawing a walking distance around them, identifying densely populated areas outside these radii as food deserts. Results show that implementing AFIs has reduced food deserts in 9 out of 11 cities (average from 10.1% at T0 to 7.4% at Tf), opening new market opportunities for local producers and increasing consumer access to local and sustainable produce. This approach can potentially transform food deserts into food oases, enhancing food security and sustainability.