Governing at Scale: Successful Local Food Initiatives in the World’s Cities

Daniel Warshawsky,Robert Vos

doi:10.3390/su11247226

Daniel Warshawsky, Robert Vos

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su11247226

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Abstract

To introduce the special issue on local food initiatives in the world’s cities, this editorial examines the role of scale and the governance of local food initiatives in cities. The seven papers in this issue focus variously on food system governance at the scales of metropolitan regions, neighborhoods, households, and individual consumers. Although local food initiatives must work to overcome structural challenges operating at global and national scales, as delineated in key literature on food systems, taken together, the seven articles suggest that more sustainable outcomes are possible if local initiatives embrace change across multiple scales.

Highlights

This special issue examines key issues and challenges pertaining to the governance of local food initiatives in the world’s cities
Institutions at all scales are critical, local food initiatives are increasingly noted as sustainability solutions for food systems
As noted by the authors in this special issue, local institutions are often constrained significantly by political, economic, and social pressures at national and global scales [6,7,8]. These structural processes may include the legacies of colonialism and underdevelopment; persistent social, racial, and class inequality; malnutrition, health crises, and extreme food poverty; and the political economy of the corporate food retailing industry, financial speculation, and other capitalist imperatives associated with the global food system

Summary

Introduction

This special issue examines key issues and challenges pertaining to the governance of local food initiatives in the world’s cities. Institutions at all scales are critical, local food initiatives are increasingly noted as sustainability solutions for food systems.

Results

Conclusion