Time-Geographic Project of Household Food Provision: Conceptualization and a Pilot Case Study

Geographers and health researchers routinely analyze data on food-related behaviors to understand potential relationships between the food environment and diet. Analytical uncertainties arise, however, from discounting the sequential connections and household coordination of various food tasks. This study employed the time-geographic construct of the project, which is defined as a series of goal-oriented activities conducted by one or more individuals, to understand the composition and influencing factors of household food provision. To demonstrate the usefulness of the project concept, this study delineated how food activities were woven into a select couple’s daily life paths with the aid of sequence visualizations, and developed an analytical test case using time-use diaries of coupled adults living in Toronto, Canada. Ten dinner project archetypes were identified with distinct characteristics of activity composition and coordination. The study further explored how the dinner project archetypes were related to geographic food environments and meal consumption. By employing the project concept in research on food environments, the interconnectedness between various diet-related activities and diverse patterns of coordination between household members can be captured. Finally, a discussion on how the project perspective can improve the understanding of food environments and healthy eating was presented.