Systemic Analysis of Food Supply and Distribution Systems in City-Region Systems—An Examination of FAO’s Policy Guidelines towards Sustainable Agri-Food Systems

Vanessa Armendáriz,Stefano Armenia,Alberto Atzori

doi:10.3390/agriculture6040065

Vanessa Armendáriz, Stefano Armenia + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture6040065

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Journal: Agriculture	Publication Date: Dec 7, 2016
Citations: 35	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Sapienza University of Rome, University of Sassari

Abstract

The world is continuously transforming to supply growing cities and urbanization processes are still driving important changes in our current food systems. Future sustainability constraints are emphasizing that Food Supply and Distribution Systems (FSDS) are deeply embedded in city-region systems with specific technical and socio-ecological characteristics. This paper aims to provide a systemic understanding on FSDS focusing the integration of urban and rural structures considering the system biophysical boundaries and societal targets. A qualitative framework model, based on the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s FSDS literature, has been developed by using Systems Thinking (ST) and System Dynamics (SD) approaches. The model analysis suggested that to increase sustainability and resilience of food systems large emphasis has to be maintained on: (i) estimation of local territorial carrying capacities; (ii) land use planning to enhance connections among rural supplies and city needs; (iii) city policies, to regulate emergent market size and local scale of production; (iv) technological efficiency at farm, distribution and market levels; (v) urban, peri-urban and rural functional linkages that considers social metabolic balances; (vi) rural development as a core point for building sustainable food systems and counteracting the urbanization growth. These key areas are relevant to test new paths of cities-regions reconfiguration towards the transition to resilient agri-food systems.

Highlights

The world has been continuously transformed in order to supply growing cities with their basic needs and food security
The convention for drawing a Causal Loop Diagrams (CLD) consists of a set by the variables connection labeled with acausal name, related with the polarity, loop role in the system, and a of variables connected are by arrows denoting influence with a given to indicate how the dependent change with(+)
The Food Supply and Distribution Systems (FSDS) mechanics are embedded in the field of Urban Dynamics: population, infrastructures growth and urbanization highly impact the FSDS organizational capability to provide food

Summary

Introduction

The world has been continuously transformed in order to supply growing cities with their basic needs and food security. Agriculture 2016, 6, 65 dynamics of food commodities and prices so that global arrangements are prevailing by stressing local environmental equilibrium and social structures. These transformations are performed via urbanization processes, traditionally considered equivalent to development. Urban and regional food needs are strictly connected to the issue of correctly managing Food Supply and Distribution Systems (FSDS), which are embedded in cities-regions systems who, in turn, are characterized by growing urbanization trends, in turn impacting back on the FSDS functioning

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