Food as relational practices: reflecting on alternative food networks for university campuses.

In recent decades, food procurement programs in the Public and Private Sectors PPSs) have increasingly been used to improve food quality and reduce costs in public and private institutions, promoting social and environmental sustainability. This chapter explores how PPSs can create innovative and accessible distribution networks in small urban areas. Focusing on university campuses, it examines how newly designed Alternati- ve Food Networks AFNs) can enhance distribution systems and foster community building through interconnected service nodes. Can AFNs act as catalysts for systemic transitions in urban neighbourhoods marked by gentrification and social tensions and in peri-urban areas of production and distribution? From the spatial and service design perspective, the physical environment plays a key role in shaping relational and functional dynamics through interconnected places that amplify relationship-building. Food exchange creates a web of commercial, social, and productive connections that transcend geographic boundaries. Cities address this through policy tools involving universities, integrating AFNs into larger distribution networks. The goal is understanding how these systems can shape territorial identities and strengthen social bonds.