Nutrition, Geography, and Cities: Understanding complex food choices in urban environments

Nutrition, Geography, and Cities: Understanding complex food choices in urban environments

Features of the built environment influence health. In the past few decades, a literature on built environment determinants of food choices have emerged, and findings about the extent to which “food environments” influence dietary outcomes are mixed. As methods develop and urban food policy continues to be contested, this talk will provide an overview of this literature to date, and provide recommendations for research and for policy.

Leia Minaker holds a PhD in Public Health and was awarded a Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute Career Development Award in Cancer Prevention (2016-2019). Her research focuses on healthy cities, in particular how cities can influence dietary intake at a population level. She is predominantly a quantitative researcher who works closely with governmental agencies in Canada to conduct policy-relevant research to support health and health equity across Canada.