Land (Ab)use Planning: Consequences of Failed Planning Models; Food Systems in Global South Cities

The Moynihan Institute’s South Asia Center presents Samina Raja, SUNY Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Land use planning decisions, often executed under the ambit of local governments, have a significant impact on the pursuit of food justice in Global South cities. This presentation explores how acontextual planning frameworks influence urban food systems, especially in cities in contested, occupied, and/or conflict regions.

Situated in a Kashmiri food justice framework, the presentation will explore the impact of varied planning frameworks, including, most recently, the application of a so-called “smart city” approach, on Srinagar’s urban food system. Preliminary evidence from Srinagar suggests that acontextual, rationalist, and technicist models of planning - such as the smart-city approach - threaten food justice.

The presentation concludes with questions about the viability of smart-city-based land use planning strategies. 

This talk is co-sponsored by the Geography and the Environment Department.

Samina Raja is SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and director of the  Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab. Trained as a civil engineer and urban planner, Raja’s award-winning research, education and civic leadership focus on the role of urban planning in promoting sustainable, healthy and equitable food systems.

With her lab, she has won more than 20 million dollars in research awards, which support projects around the world.   Raja has published hundreds of academic articles, official plans and policy reports in varied venues. She recently authored the book Planning for Urban Agriculture: A New Ethic for City Building (2025), which calls on urban planners to protect and promote agriculture within cities.