Abstract
In the food policy arena, the topic of governance and how to create a governance system that would deal with cross-cutting issues, including new ways of perceiving the public sphere, the policymaking, and the involvement of the population, has become an important field of study. The research presented in this article focuses on the case study of Rome, comparing different paths that various groups of actors have taken toward the definition of urban food policy processes: the Agrifood Plan, Food Policy for Rome, and Community Gardens Movement. The aim of the research is to understand the state of the art about different paths toward food strategies and policies that are currently active in the Roman territory while investigating the relationship between policy integration and governance innovation structures. Indeed, this paper dives into the governance structure of the three food policy processes, the actors and sectors involved, and the goals and instruments selected to achieve a more sustainable food system for the city. In this context, their characteristics are analyzed according to an innovative conceptual framework, which, by crossing two recognized theoretical systems, on policy integration and governance innovation frameworks, allows to identify the capacity of policy integration and governance innovation. The analysis shows that every process performs a different form of governance, implemented according to the actor and backgrounds that compose the process itself. The study demonstrates that governance innovation and policy integration are strongly linked and that the conception and application of policy integration changes according to the governance vision that a process has.
Highlights
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought to light important challenges concerning food systems, but it has made visible the multiple ways in which the food system sustains urban life
Urban Food Policies (UFP) have been defined as “a process consisting of how a city envisions change in its food system, and how it strives toward this change”
Starting from the idea that urban food policies are place based and each city would have different governance solutions, it is widespread that collaboration and coordination of policies and actions is impeded by an “inertia and silos mentality at the local, national and translocal level, whereby food system issues are typically divided across multiple departments, ministries or state agencies” (Sonnino and Coulson, 2021, p. 26)
Summary
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought to light important challenges concerning food systems, but it has made visible the multiple ways in which the food system sustains urban life. The increasing emergence of institutional or grassroots processes aiming at fixing the issues of food systems demonstrate that cities are affirming the power of food to sustain the lives of an increasingly urban population and to deliver economic prosperity, address social and health inequalities, and foster environmental sustainability (MoraguesFaus et al, 2013). Inherent in the concept of Urban Food Strategy is the transition of the food system model toward one that is more sustainable, equitable, and socially, environmentally, and economically balanced. This transition involves a large number of institutional and private actors, representatives of civil society, movements, and organizations of various kinds
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