Abstract
Global food insecurity levels remain stubbornly high. One of the surest ways to grasp the scale and consequence of global inequality is through a food systems lens. In a predominantly urban world, urban food systems present a useful lens to engage a wide variety of urban (and global) challenges—so called ‘wicked problems.’ This paper describes a collaborative research project between four urban food system research units, two European and two African. The project purpose was to seek out solutions to what lay between, across and within the different approaches applied in the understanding of each city’s food system challenges. Contextual differences and immediate (perceived) needs resulted in very different views on the nature of the challenge and the solutions required. Value positions of individuals and their disciplinary “enclaves” presented further boundaries. The paper argues that finding consensus provides false solutions. Rather the identification of novel approaches to such wicked problems is contingent of these differences being brought to the fore, being part of the conversation, as devices through which common positions can be discovered, where spaces are created for the realisation of new perspectives, but also, where difference is celebrated as opposed to censored.
Highlights
There are such streams of energy running through this city and we have not yet sufficiently explored them
We argue that the principles of co-production, including equitable and diverse knowledge positions and generation, collaboration, and situatedness—the multiple “objective” or “scientific” views of reality [25] (p. 8) have relevance to interactions between academics from different contexts
Perhaps most importantly, when read as a collection of responses all focusing on the same objective—that of food system transformation—it shows how all actors, despite holding different ideological positions, are working towards a common goal, and not opposite goals
Summary
There are such streams of energy running through this city and we have not yet sufficiently explored them. The introductory quote by a resident of Kinshasa may read as a strange entry point to an urban food system (UFS) article focusing on a collection of city food system engagements It details a hunger, used in this paper metaphorically, to expose the sense of dissatisfaction that speaks across contexts. While the hunger in Kinshasa, as with Cape Town or Kisumu, may be real physical hunger and the need to access food, the hunger in Gothenburg or Greater Manchester may be a real hunger, and a hunger for a more socially and ecologically just food system This quote demonstrates three useful points; firstly, how food and the urban system connect [1,2], secondly, the utility of food as a means to speak to wider urban challenges and conditions, a lens [2] to investigate the city. It points to perspective and context [3] and everyday struggles across all cities
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
