GUELPH — Every year the planet loses an area the size of Scotland due to urban sprawl, population growth and erosion. All this adds even more fragility to global food security.

University of Guelph professor Wayne Caldwell from the school of environmental design and rural development and rural planning, and development graduate student Kelsey Lang are examining rural and urban planning regulations in Commonwealth nations such as Canada to try to make sure they support efficient and sustainable land use.

“We will not be sustainable if our urban planning methods don’t change,” said Caldwell.

He’s leading a project on behalf of the Commonwealth Association of Planners, which will provide recommendations for Commonwealth countries while drawing upon other international examples.

The project team includes planners from Australia, Canada and South Africa. They are tasked with developing planning techniques that will ensure future rural planning is sustainable, while keeping in mind the effects it can have on a community’s food security.

Caldwell and his team have set out four goals to understand the factors contributing to unsustainable rural and urban planning.

The first goal is to identify relevant trends affecting food production and food security. These trends are important to explore because they are related to land use, food production and distribution, land loss and risks to food security, among others.

Next, they want to establish a link between food security, natural resource management, land loss and planning.

The third goal is to explore the role of the planner in food production and distribution, in addition to explaining why food security is a planning issue.

And finally, the teams plans to identify and share innovative planning practices. Caldwell and his team will provide a series of recommendations for planners and governments across the Commonwealth. These recommendations will serve as a guide to better planning and they will focus on broader solutions hopefully contributing to a more food-secure society.

For these recommendations to be implemented, the planners will have to work with government officials, grassroots initiatives, community members and farmers.

They’re hoping decision makers will take a long view of the matter.

“When it comes to planning, we sometimes fall into the trap of only thinking about the near future,” said Caldwell. “But indigenous people often think of their responsibility to seven generations ahead, and that’s a model we need to think of in order to become more sustainable.”

Collaborators on this research include Anneliza Collett from South Africa’s Department of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries and Ian Sinclair from Edge Land Planning, Australia. An expert panel with representation across the Commonwealth will contribute to the development and review of materials.

This research is funded through the Commonwealth Foundation and the Commonwealth Association of Planners.

This article was written by a participant in the Students Promoting Awareness of Research Knowledge (SPARK) program at the University of Guelph.

By Anthony Ngai

Published in the Guelph Mercury, Mar. 14, 2013