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Processes of Participation in the Development of Urban Food Strategies: A Comparative Assessment of Exeter and Eindhoven

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  • Aniek Hebinck

    (Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm SE-106 91, Sweden
    Rural Sociology Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen 6708 PB, The Netherlands)

  • Daphne Page

    (Centre for Food Policy, City University London, London EC1V 0HB, UK)

Abstract

Urban food strategies are increasingly being used as means to address a multitude of challenges presented by food system failings. The use of participatory approaches has become common practice in the field of urban food systems planning. These approaches are believed to democratize, legitimize and increase effectiveness of addressing challenges. Despite these “promises”, they have also been viewed as problematic for being unbalanced and lacking accountability. This paper sets out to compare the creation and use of new participatory spaces in two initiatives in two European cities in their on-going attempts to formulate urban food strategies through multi-actor processes. This is explored through operationalisation of two key concepts essential to participatory approaches: participation and accountability. As such, the paper addresses how participatory processes for urban food strategies can be conceptualised when policy making involves the interplay of actors, knowledges and spaces. We conclude that within the two cases, ample attention is given to get a cross-section of the types of participants involved, while accountability is an aspect still under-represented. Based on the two cases, we argue that incorporation of accountability in particular will be instrumental in the development and implementation of more mature urban food strategies. However, it is essential for participatory processes to not completely break from more “traditional” policy processes, at risk of limiting progress in strategy development and deployment.

Suggested Citation

  • Aniek Hebinck & Daphne Page, 2017. "Processes of Participation in the Development of Urban Food Strategies: A Comparative Assessment of Exeter and Eindhoven," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-18, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:6:p:931-:d:100327
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    Cited by:

    1. Rebecca Sandover, 2020. "Participatory Food Cities: Scholar Activism and the Co-Production of Food Knowledge," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-17, April.
    2. Sara A. L. Smaal & Joost Dessein & Barend J. Wind & Elke Rogge, 2021. "Social justice-oriented narratives in European urban food strategies: Bringing forward redistribution, recognition and representation," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(3), pages 709-727, September.
    3. Lara V. Sibbing & Jeroen J. L. Candel, 2021. "Realizing urban food policy: a discursive institutionalist analysis of Ede municipality," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(3), pages 571-582, June.
    4. Jana Baldy, 2019. "Framing a Sustainable Local Food System—How Smaller Cities in Southern Germany Are Facing a New Policy Issue," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-25, March.
    5. Hebinck, Aniek & Selomane, Odirilwe & Veen, Esther & de Vrieze, Anke & Hasnain, Saher & Sellberg, My & Sovová, Lucie & Thompson, Kyle & Vervoort, Joost & Wood, Amanda, 2020. "Exploring the transformative potential of urban food: a future research agenda," SocArXiv 4k6dh, Center for Open Science.
    6. Francesca Galli & Aniek Hebinck & Brídín Carroll, 2018. "Addressing food poverty in systems: governance of food assistance in three European countries," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(6), pages 1353-1370, December.
    7. Jana Baldy & Sylvia Kruse, 2019. "Food Democracy from the Top Down? State-Driven Participation Processes for Local Food System Transformations towards Sustainability," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(4), pages 68-80.
    8. Andreia Saavedra Cardoso & Tiago Domingos & Manuela Raposo De Magalhães & José De Melo-Abreu & Jorge Palma, 2017. "Mapping the Lisbon Potential Foodshed in Ribatejo e Oeste: A Suitability and Yield Model for Assessing the Potential for Localized Food Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-31, November.
    9. Adanella Rossi & Mario Coscarello & Davide Biolghini, 2021. "(Re)Commoning Food and Food Systems. The Contribution of Social Innovation from Solidarity Economy," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-30, June.

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