The relevance of the food desert concept and its opposite, the food oasis, for the urban theory. Some insights from the case of the Turin district “San Salvario”

In the last 15 years, the concept of food desert has gained a certain relevance in the theorisation of urban development (Shaw, 2006; 2014). However, in using this concept, the attention of scholars and practitioners has tended to rely almost exclusively on the socioeconomic and spatial dimensions of the urban market (Russell and Heidkamp, 2011). The attention almost exclusively focuses on the residents’ accessibility to the city’s different food retailers (fast- food, supermarkets, corner shops, organic shops, local farmers’ markets). Rarely the existing literature has also considered the quality and sustainability of the local food supply. In order to overcome such a gap, in the paper, the food deserts are introduced to identify portions of urban areas characterised by the scarce availability of healthy and varied food products, i.e. products with a high level of agricultural biodiversity. The paper also uses qualitative analysis of the food supply in the urban district of San Salvario (Torino, Italy) to develop some preliminary considerations and policy suggestions