Earth, agriculture, fishing, hunting and gathering … The ways of acquiring food and also the factors dominating the settlements’ landscape pattern in the primitive society, has been gradually replaced by industries like manufacturing, financial industry and service industry through thousands years of urbanization. Nowadays, “food” is no longer the priority factor for urban planning while urban pattern has a profound impact on the long-term development of catering. So, what is the relationship between food and our city?

Under the COVID-19 epidemic, the common problem faced by different countries and regions — food shortage, stimulates us to reflect on the place of food in urban life. Through our investigation on Shanghai, Xi’an, Wuhan and Chengdu, four cities that featured by different and distinctive food culture, exploration of the distribution pattern and potential of grain origin, delivery chain, processing chain and retailors in these cities, we intend to take urban green space as carrier to improve efficiency of food production, absorption and processing, alleviate food problems under social crisis and improve the city’s ability to respond to social emergency.

The project was carried out by students from multiple cities in an online collaboration during the epidemic. Through the investigation and research on the culture, traditional cuisine and environment of four typical cities in China, we explore the significance and role of cuisine in the development of different cities and put forward corresponding planning Suggestions.

We have written manuals and have shared our results through websites, offline interviews and so on. We look forward to more offline publicity in the wake of the outbreak to help more people understand what Magical Foodscape means to the city.