Josh, 38, orders most of his groceries over the internet. What he calls 'the boring stuff' - toilet paper, pasta, fruit juice, cereals and so on - arrives automatically outside his flat every two weeks.

He, like most of his neighbours, has a Shop&Drop, a secure place where groceries and other deliveries can be left at any time of day. It's in the garden at the front of his block of flats and is protected by a password that changes from time to time.

Getting the Shop&Drop was what made shopping for groceries online work for John - he didn't see the point of having to wait at home for them to be delivered under the old system. Now he doesn't have to worry about where he is, knowing that the basic essentials will be there waiting for him.

And deliveries direct from the warehouse cut out local depots and supermarkets and so reduce the distance products need to travel, saving energy and cutting carbon.

Josh spends less time shopping now than he used to, but when he does go shopping he enjoys it more. He spends time choosing good quality meat or fish, trying things out before he buys them, at the supermarket or in the high street.

The supermarket often has events that attract him there - most recently a Cheeses of the Pyrenees tasting session and before that a performance by a theatre group from Ipswich. And the high street seems full of life, with more people around.

A lot of the shops have converted their storage space into flats or cafes - they need less space now that many are simply showrooms from where people try things out and order them for delivery. This makes land use more efficient and means fewer new buildings are needed.

The quality of food seems so much better these days - better-looking and with loads more flavour. And the range of choice doesn't seem to have decreased, though certain things are only available - or at least affordable - in season.

The majority of Josh's fruit and vegetables are grown in his local area. He might pick some up at the farmers' market but his main source is his local cornershop. There, he can find produce grown in people's gardens, allotments, green roofs and even from people's window-boxes.

The cornershop is doing a lot better since they signed up to the U-Grow local food scheme. With so much food produced locally, less needs to be transported long distances.