Relational space and place and food environments: geographic insights for critical sustainability research

This article draws from critical human geography to argue that research guided by relational conceptualizations of place and space, and grounded by empirical analyses based on fieldwork, participatory methodologies, and critical mapping, provides an opportunity to enrich research on local food environments and daily food practices. The perspective is explained by discussing insights from a research project that examined how a group of high school students in an urban, lower-income community navigate their food environment and make decisions about their food on a daily basis. The focus is primarily on the geographic thinking that framed the project and on its associated methodology. Similar approaches can inspire further critical research on the food environment and food justice and guide work on critical sustainability.