Scaling up Action on Urban Sustainable Food Systems in the United Kingdom: Agenda Setting, Networking, and Influence

Mat Jones and Sarah Hills
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Mat Jones: Department of Health and Applied Social Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK
Sarah Hills: Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of the West of England, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-12

Abstract: There has been an increasing focus on the potential of city-based initiatives to address the negative impacts of the global food system. Adopting a meso-level policy perspective, this study aimed to explore whether, how, and why the UK non-government organisation led Sustainable Food Cities (SFC) programme has influenced this food agenda at the level of city governance. The research fills a gap in our understanding of the detailed processes through which trans-local food networks influence the capacity of local food partnerships to effect change, sustain themselves, and through a collective effort, to shape the attention of national and international decision-makers. Based on documentary evidence from 29 of the most active member cities and interviews with a purposive selection of stakeholders, the analysis suggests that SFC provided a point of origin for solutions and inspiration on a major and complex issue. However, the absence of a national sustainable food policy framework and little formal national-government recognition of local food governance together with the paucity of funding opportunities threatens the long-term viability of local food partnerships and ultimately places significant constraints on the ability of the programme to effect long-lasting, systemic change.

Keywords: sustainable food systems; meso-level policy analysis; urban food governance; urban food partnerships; policy networks; advocacy coalitions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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