The emergence of urbanism had profound impacts on landscape management, agriculture, food preservation, and cuisine. This element explores the 6,000-year history of urbanization through an archaeological perspective of food, using the analysis of cooking vessels, plant residues, and animal bones, along with texts and visual materials to understand the dietary habits that supported and accompanied the development of cities.

Human-environmental changes occurred as farmers became fewer in number but increasingly significant as providers of food for urban consumers. This element also examines how modern cities share patterns of food production and consumption with early urban settlements, and how we can address questions of sustainability, nutritional improvement, and other desirable outcomes by recognizing how urban development has led to unique constraints and opportunities related to food.

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