Community Resilience and Food Equity: The Case for the Honolulu Hawker Centre

Abstract

Food equity afflicts millions of people each year in the united states. Strong social and community supports that are often found near neighborhoods of better socio-economic status are nowhere the be seen in areas with significant inequalities. This has led to a pattern of poor health that lead to chronic diseases, stigmatization by peers and other mental and physiological issues that develop due to increased exposure to stress and risks. The Honolulu Hawker Centre, which this research aims to design, derives its existence out of the rebirth of the home cook as the publics’ main provider of nutrition. Affordable meals and the option to not choose fast-food is key to the success of the hawkers. Adopting a similar system as developed by Singapore, the centres help to bolster community resilience and provide platforms for open engagement with neighbors, friends and families. The functions of the hawker centre includes, but are not limited to, the dispersal of raw food crops, an educational facility for learning how to cultivate and cook healthy locally- grown food, and reinforce the safety of parks often avoided due to their long association with neglect, fear and crimes. The hawkers themselves become relics of their community as the food they prepare strikes close to the hearts of many who have fond memories of meals once prepared during their childhood. The findings of the investigation reaffirmed that Hawaiʻi has increasingly more at stake by not supporting local agricultural businesses, not allowing decades old laws to change and not reinforcing the development of a strong culture of food production and connection to the land. The implementation of a state-wide hawker centre system would help negate the effects felt from decades of development that has seeded the conditions we feel today, especially in disadvantaged communities.