Table 5.

Description of feedback loops in a synthesis causal loop diagram based on three workshops to understand the systems that influence healthy diet, mobility, and transport in Latin American cities.

#	Feedback Loop	Workshop/s	Description
R1	Road investments to ease congestion	Lima	As car use and congestion increase, governments invest in construction of more roads and highways to ease congestion. The better infrastructure temporarily reduces congestion, but, over time, more drivers use the road and congestion eventually increases.
R2	Expanding region and car use	Antigua Guatemala, Lima	As cities increase their car use infrastructure, it becomes easier for commuters to live outside of the city. As the city grows, the public transit system becomes inadequate for more commuters, who then rely on private vehicles. The longer commutes and increased use of private vehicles increases congestion, which causes cities to invest in more car infrastructure; ultimately this leads to more urban sprawl.
R3	Safety in numbers	São Paulo, Antigua Guatemala	As the perceived safety of public spaces increases, more people will engage in active and public transit. More people on the street and engaged in active transit leads to greater perceived safety of public spaces.
R4	Industry lobbying	Lima	As the food industry gains more economic strength, they exert influence through lobbying and decrease political will to pass policies (like taxes) to reduce consumption of ultra-processed foods. For example, lobbying efforts could be used to impede passage of an excise tax to decrease consumption of ultra-processed foods.
R5	Misinforming the public	Lima, Antigua Guatemala	As food manufacturers sell more ultra-processed foods, their marketing budgets increase. This means that they can market even more widely, increasing the appeal of ultra-processed foods. These include efforts (e.g., advertisements, misleading labels) that reduce consumers' nutrition literacy by convincing them that ultra-processed foods are healthy.
R6	Impacts on Air Quality on Physical Activity	Antigua Guatemala	As city residents shift from high car use to increased use of active and public transit, air pollution decreases. Better air quality encourages people to engage in more outdoor physical activity, which reduces obesity and improves overall health. As the population becomes healthier and more fit, they use active and public transportation at even higher rates.
B1	Public/active transport investment	Lima, São Paulo	As car use and congestion increase, governments invest in improvement or expansion of the public and active transit infrastructure. Commuters respond to the congestion and improved infrastructure by using more public and active transit. This reduces car use and congestion.
B2	Shifting preferences	Lima, Antigua Guatemala	As consumption of ultra-processed food consumption increases, social norms towards foods change and people purchase and consume fewer fresh and healthy foods. Over time, food producers and retailers respond to the change in market demand by growing and selling fewer healthy foods. This reduced availability leads to even less consumption of healthy food and more reliance on ultra-processed foods.
B3	Taxing ultra-processed foods	Lima, São Paulo	Increased consumption of ultra-processed foods eventually leads to an increase in obesity and diet-related chronic disease. Eventually, the government may respond to declines in population health by imposing a tax on ultra-processed foods (e.g., Mexico, Chile), which leads to a decrease in their consumption.
B4	Nutrition literacy	Lima	The government may also respond to declines in population health by passing policies to improve the nutrition literacy of the population. This can include mandatory food labeling or development of dietary guidelines. As the population's nutrition literacy increases, preferences and consumption of ultra-processed foods declines.