Transformative potential from the ground up: Sustainable innovation journeys, soft change and alignment of interests in urban food initiatives

This paper utilises the ‘sustainable innovation journeys’ concept to trace how people organise and design urban food initiatives and influence city-region food policy. We evaluate whether designs succeed or fail and monitor the exchange of ideas that takes place between stakeholders. Tracing these interactions reveals the transformative potential of innovative projects, particularly if the food system changes they bring to the fore are aligned with policy interests. Three case studies provide on-the-ground insights to assess how small and medium-sized enterprises at the micro-level induce sustainability shifts. The case studies are businesses in the city-regions of Rotterdam, The Netherlands (urban farm and circular food economy); Vigo, Spain (food, forest and multi-functional land use); and Zurich, Switzerland (organic food and short supply chains). Each initiative was studied in-depth over a two-year period, with follow-up analysis for a further four years to monitor change over time (2013–2018). The cases promote the adoption of micro-level innovation practices: locally designed transition pathways that bring the benefits of change to the city-region (i.e. from the micro-level initiative to meso-level policy). The analysis highlights the importance of ‘soft change’. This can be something as simple as visiting an inspiring urban food initiative and meeting with stakeholders to generate mutual understanding, from where interests align to influence food chain practices and policy. Soft changes act as ‘seeds of transition’ for a shift towards more sustainable urban food systems, but we observe too potentially negative impacts due to lack of alignment at the micro- (initiative) or meso- (city-region) levels.

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Urban Food Strategy in the Making: Context, Conventions and Contestations

Agriculture ◽

10.3390/agriculture11020177 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 177

Author(s):

Mattia Andreola ◽

Angelica Pianegonda ◽

Sara Favargiotti ◽

Francesca Forno

Keyword(s):

Food Systems ◽

Food System ◽

Food Policy ◽

System Failures ◽

Direct Observations ◽

Food Policy Councils ◽

Political Economic ◽

The City ◽

Depth Interviews

Contemporary food systems face several paradoxes regarding equity and sustainability. Considering food production—an issue that simultaneously affects both the supply (production) and demand (consumption) sides—several cities have begun to implement new strategies, called Urban Food Policies. These approaches aim to address the various challenges presented by food system failures, while also involving the existing network of grassroot initiatives. For this reason, these have established Food Policy Councils, arenas where institutions can engage with supply chain actors and food activists, deciding through the processes of participatory democracy their Urban Food Strategies. This article investigates the evolution of a new Urban Food Strategy in a middle-sized Italian town, Trento. Despite a growing number of case studies discussing the promises and problematic aspects of UFS, empirical research and analysis tend to overlook the role of the context in which these processes are embedded and how the system of political, economic, cultural, and environmental opportunities weigh upon the success of these policies. The paper draws upon a multi-method qualitative approach combining in-depth interviews, document analysis, and direct observations of the construction process of an Urban Food Strategy for the city of Trento.

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Validating the City Region Food System Approach: Enacting Inclusive, Transformational City Region Food Systems

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10051680 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 1680 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

Alison Blay-Palmer ◽

Guido Santini ◽

Marielle Dubbeling ◽

Henk Renting ◽

Makiko Taguchi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

System Approach ◽

Food Systems ◽

Food System ◽

City Region ◽

The City

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SOCIOTECHNICAL INNOVATIONS OF SHORT FOOD SYSTEMS CASE STUDY OF THE CITY REGION ILE DE FRANCE

Proceedings of the Design Society: DESIGN Conference ◽

10.1017/dsd.2020.338 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 2149-2156

Author(s):

H. Serhan ◽

G. Yannou-LeBris

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Case Studies ◽

Food Systems ◽

Growth Strategies ◽

City Region ◽

Production Distribution ◽

Regional Sustainable Development ◽

Ecological Transition ◽

The City

AbstractThis paper relies on four case studies designed as short food systems aimed at coupling production, distribution, and consumption to contribute to the ecological transition of the City-Region Île-de-France. Through documentary research and interviews, we explore the growth strategies and sociotechnical innovations these short food systems implemented, and the links that can be established between these innovations, localism strategies, and the regional sustainable development.

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Towards Territorially Embedded, Equitable and Resilient Food Systems? Insights from Grassroots Responses to COVID-19 in Italy and the City Region of Rome

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13052425 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (5) ◽

pp. 2425

Author(s):

Simona Zollet ◽

Luca Colombo ◽

Paola De De Meo ◽

Davide Marino ◽

Steven R. McGreevy ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Food Systems ◽

Food System ◽

Food Sovereignty ◽

Alternative Food Networks ◽

Small Scale ◽

System Transformation ◽

City Region ◽

The Face ◽

Negative Impacts ◽

The City

The negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have further exposed and exacerbated the structural weaknesses and inequalities embedded in the global industrial agri-food system. While the mainstream narrative continues to emphasise the importance of ensuring the uninterrupted functioning of global supply chains to counter COVID-related disruptions, the pandemic has also highlighted the resilience of small-scale, sustainable family farming and of spatially and socially embedded food systems. Based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of three surveys, this study examines organic and agroecological farmers’ responses to the first COVID-related lockdown (March–May 2020) in Italy, as well as the responses of grassroots alternative food networks (AFN) in the city region of Rome. The results show how local grassroots action played a significant role in ensuring food access, provisioning, and distribution, often in the face of delayed or insufficient action of mainstream food system actors and institutions. These grassroots responses identify opportunities and barriers for agri-food system transformation away from neoliberal, market-based interventions and towards policies that support food sovereignty and democracy in the context of localised, agroecology-based and more resilient agri-food systems.

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Agricultural and Food Policy

Developing Sustainable Food Systems, Policies, and Securities - Practice, Progress, and Proficiency in Sustainability ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-2599-9.ch001 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-15

Author(s):

Abiodun Elijah Obayelu ◽

Simeon Olusola Ayansina

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Food Systems ◽

Food System ◽

Food Policy ◽

Policy Intervention ◽

Sustainable Food Systems ◽

Sustainable Food ◽

Adequate Food ◽

System Sustainability ◽

Sustainable Food System

Policy plays significant role in defining the food system of any country, and a sustainable food system is necessary for food security. This chapter maps out the causal interactions between food systems, food security and policy, and the challenges in transition to a sustainable food system while respecting the rights of all people to have access to adequate food in Nigeria. Explicit, rigorous, and transparent literature search was undertaken and many articles were assessed and reviewed. Although the results established a mutual relationship between food system and food security, existing literature have widely failed to take interactions between food systems, food security and policy into account. While food production is used as an entry point to improving food system sustainability, the quest for food security are undermining transition towards sustainable food systems. It was found that without right policies in place, it may be difficult to have food systems that are sustainable and ensure food security. This chapter provides a useful contribution to policy, and research on transitions towards sustainable food system. Any policy intervention to address one part of the food systems will impact on other parts and will determine whether a country is food secure or not. Enabling policy environment is therefore essential in ensuring a sustainable food system and for the attainment of food security.

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“When We Stand up, They Have to Negotiate with Us”: Power Relations in and between an Agroindustrial and an Indigenous Food System in Bolivia

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10114001 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. 4001 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Johanna Jacobi ◽

Aymara Llanque

Keyword(s):

Political Ecology ◽

Case Studies ◽

Food Systems ◽

Local Community ◽

Food System ◽

Real Life ◽

Three Dimensions ◽

Scientific Culture ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Production And Consumption

Our global food system is characterized by an increasing concentration and imbalance of power, with trade-offs between hunger, inequality, unsustainable production and consumption, and profit. A systematic analysis of power imbalances in food systems is required if we are to meet the 2030 Agenda vision of promoting sustainable production and consumption patterns and ending hunger and poverty. Such an analysis, with a view to a transformation to more sustainable and just food systems, requires tools to be developed and tested in real-life case studies of food systems. To better understand the structures and mechanisms around power in food systems, this study applies a political ecology lens. We adapted the “power cube” analysis framework that was proposed by the Institute of Development Studies for the analysis of spaces, forms, and levels of power. We apply the analysis of these three dimensions of power to two food systems in the tropical lowlands of Bolivia: one agroindustrial and one indigenous. After identifying food system actors, the food system spaces in which they interact, and what forms of power they use at what levels, we discuss some implications for an emerging scientific culture of power analyses in critical sustainability assessments. Mechanisms of hidden power undermine visible legislative power in both case studies, but in our example of an indigenous food system of the Guaraní people, visible power stays with a local community through their legally recognized and communally owned and governed territory, with important implications for the realization of the right to food.

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Tree Species Diversity and Socioeconomic Perspectives of the Urban (Food) Forest of Accra, Ghana

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10103417 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (10) ◽

pp. 3417 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Bertrand Nero ◽

Nana Kwapong ◽

Raymond Jatta ◽

Oluwole Fatunbi

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Tree Species ◽

Forest Cover ◽

Food System ◽

Food Policy ◽

Urban Forest ◽

Urban Forestry ◽

Tree Cover ◽

Land Use Types ◽

The City

Urban and peri-urban forestry has emerged as a complementary measure to contribute towards eliminating urban hunger and improved nutritional security. However, there is scanty knowledge about the composition, diversity, and socioeconomic contributions of urban food trees in African cities. This paper examines the diversity and composition of the urban forest and food trees of Accra and sheds light on perceptions of urbanites regarding food tree cultivation and availability in the city. Using a mixed methods approach, 105 respondents in six neighborhoods of Accra were interviewed while over 200 plots (100-m2 each) were surveyed across five land use types. Twenty-two out of the 70 woody species in Accra have edible parts (leaves, fruits, flowers, etc.). The food-tree abundance in the city is about half of the total number of trees enumerated. The species richness and abundance of the food trees and all trees in the city were significantly different among land use types (p < 0.0001) and neighborhood types (p < 0.0001). The diversity of food-bearing tree species was much higher in the poorer neighborhoods than in the wealthier neighborhoods. Respondents in wealthier neighborhoods indicated that tree and food-tree cover of the city was generally low and showed greater interest in cultivating food (fruit) trees and expanding urban forest cover than poorer neighborhoods. These findings demonstrate the need for urban food policy reforms that integrate urban-grown tree foods in the urban food system/culture.

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Social justice-oriented narratives in European urban food strategies: Bringing forward redistribution, recognition and representation

Agriculture and Human Values ◽

10.1007/s10460-020-10179-6 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Sara A. L. Smaal ◽

Joost Dessein ◽

Barend J. Wind ◽

Elke Rogge

Keyword(s):

Social Justice ◽

Food Systems ◽

Food System ◽

Food Policy ◽

Political Representation ◽

Decision Rules ◽

Food Justice ◽

Three Dimensions ◽

Target Groups ◽

Theory Of Justice

Abstract More and more cities develop urban food strategies (UFSs) to guide their efforts and practices towards more sustainable food systems. An emerging theme shaping these food policy endeavours, especially prominent in North and South America, concerns the enhancement of social justice within food systems. To operationalise this theme in a European urban food governance context we adopt Nancy Fraser’s three-dimensional theory of justice: economic redistribution, cultural recognition and political representation. In this paper, we discuss the findings of an exploratory document analysis of the social justice-oriented ambitions, motivations, current practices and policy trajectories articulated in sixteen European UFSs. We reflect on the food-related resource allocations, value patterns and decision rules these cities propose to alter and the target groups they propose to support, empower or include. Overall, we find that UFSs make little explicit reference to social justice and justice-oriented food concepts, such as food security, food justice, food democracy and food sovereignty. Nevertheless, the identified resources, services and target groups indicate that the three dimensions of Fraser are at the heart of many of the measures described. We argue that implicit, fragmentary and unspecified adoption of social justice in European UFSs is problematic, as it may hold back public consciousness, debate and collective action regarding food system inequalities and may be easily disregarded in policy budgeting, implementation and evaluation trajectories. As a path forward, we present our plans for the RE-ADJUSTool that would enable UFS stakeholders to reflect on how their UFS can incorporate social justice and who to involve in this pursuit.

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Food for People in Place: Reimagining Resilient Food Systems for Economic Recovery

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12229369 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (22) ◽

pp. 9369

Author(s):

Kelly Dombroski ◽

Gradon Diprose ◽

Emma Sharp ◽

Rebekah Graham ◽

Louise Lee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Food Systems ◽

Food System ◽

Central Government ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Community Based ◽

Short Supply ◽

Aotearoa New Zealand ◽

Essential Services

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated response have brought food security into sharp focus for many New Zealanders. The requirement to “shelter in place” for eight weeks nationwide, with only “essential services” operating, affected all parts of the New Zealand food system. The nationwide full lockdown highlighted existing inequities and created new challenges to food access, availability, affordability, distribution, transportation, and waste management. While Aotearoa New Zealand is a food producer, there remains uncertainty surrounding the future of local food systems, particularly as the long-term effects of the pandemic emerge. In this article we draw on interviews with food rescue groups, urban farms, community organisations, supermarket management, and local and central government staff to highlight the diverse, rapid, community-based responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings reveal shifts at both the local scale, where existing relationships and short supply chains have been leveraged quickly, and national scale, where funding has been mobilised towards a different food strategy. We use these findings to re-imagine where and how responsibility might be taken up differently to enhance resilience and care in diverse food systems in New Zealand.

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How to guarantee food supply during pandemics? Rethinking local food systems from peri-urban strategic agents’ behaviour: The case study of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region

Investigaciones Geográficas ◽

10.14198/ingeo.19554 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sònia Callau-Berenguer ◽

Anna Roca-Torrent ◽

Josep Montasell-Dorda ◽

Sandra Ricart

Keyword(s):

Food Supply ◽

Food Systems ◽

Food System ◽

Food Policy ◽

Local Food ◽

Metropolitan Region ◽

Mutual Aid ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Strategic Agents ◽

Agricultural Areas

The Covid-19 pandemic has acted as a warning for the world’s current food system, especially in urban contexts with global food dependence. This article aims to analyse the food system behaviour of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (in the northeast of Spain) during the first stage of the pandemic by deepening the behaviour of different peri-urban agricultural areas in which local food supply is promoted. Semi-structured interviews to 11 entities and institutions located in the peri-urban area of the BMR based on its productive and management profile have been carried out from March to May 2020. The results obtained highlight the socio-economic, environmental, and health perspective of food supply during the pandemic. Main results show 1) shortcomings in the operation and logistics of the metropolitan food system; 2) the complicity between the local producer and the urban consumer through new sales and distribution initiatives, 3) the role of peri-urban agricultural areas for ensuring food supply and land preservation, and 4) the need to initiate cooperation and mutual aid activities between the different agents involved in the food system. Furthermore, agents underlined the need for rethinking the agroeconomic model to strengthening the producer-consumer nexus and promoting local food policy based on food sustainability, sovereignty, and governance.

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