Twelve years after the Pothukuchi and Kaufmann seminal study, the “food system” has not only ceased to be a “stranger to the planning field” (2000), but it has become the trigger for “one of the most important social movements of the early twenty-first century in the global north” (Morgan, 2009): “food planning”. Indeed, in less than ten-years-time: more than hundred articles on the topic have been published in international planning and architecture scientific journals and magazines; leading planning associations on both sides of the Atlantic, as APA and AESOP, have established specific sustainable food planning focus groups (2005, 2009); and a dedicated World Town Planning Day conference was recently held (2010). What is more, this growing research interest did not evolve in isolation, but instead was coupled by an equally relevant statutory engagement: in fact, during the same period, more than thirty urban and regional food system strategies were released by different local administrations worldwide and, importantly, the first planning-department-led one was pioneered in Europe. By fully acknowledging the relevance of this dynamic food system planning momentum, the present paper will draw the attention to one of its most challenging and hitherto under-researched nodes: the effective integration of the food prism into the spatial planning rationale and field of practices. In order to address this challenge, three emblematic metropolitan contexts – Amsterdam, New York and Milan – and their recent advancements in this direction will be closely explored. In particular, some insights into the analytic, design and organisational dimensions of the integration will be contingently provided. Last but not least, through the specific case-studies examination, the paper will advance the proposition that for further strengthening the European research agenda a twofold approach is needed. On one side, a greater dialogue across the emerging landscape of European food planning experiences should be sought and encouraged, while, on the other, the identification of valuable knowledge-building opportunities ought to span beyond geographical limits.

The challenge of integrating sustainable food systems and spatial planning: strengthening the European research agenda

ILIEVA, ROSITSA TODOROVA;
2012-01-01

Abstract

Twelve years after the Pothukuchi and Kaufmann seminal study, the “food system” has not only ceased to be a “stranger to the planning field” (2000), but it has become the trigger for “one of the most important social movements of the early twenty-first century in the global north” (Morgan, 2009): “food planning”. Indeed, in less than ten-years-time: more than hundred articles on the topic have been published in international planning and architecture scientific journals and magazines; leading planning associations on both sides of the Atlantic, as APA and AESOP, have established specific sustainable food planning focus groups (2005, 2009); and a dedicated World Town Planning Day conference was recently held (2010). What is more, this growing research interest did not evolve in isolation, but instead was coupled by an equally relevant statutory engagement: in fact, during the same period, more than thirty urban and regional food system strategies were released by different local administrations worldwide and, importantly, the first planning-department-led one was pioneered in Europe. By fully acknowledging the relevance of this dynamic food system planning momentum, the present paper will draw the attention to one of its most challenging and hitherto under-researched nodes: the effective integration of the food prism into the spatial planning rationale and field of practices. In order to address this challenge, three emblematic metropolitan contexts – Amsterdam, New York and Milan – and their recent advancements in this direction will be closely explored. In particular, some insights into the analytic, design and organisational dimensions of the integration will be contingently provided. Last but not least, through the specific case-studies examination, the paper will advance the proposition that for further strengthening the European research agenda a twofold approach is needed. On one side, a greater dialogue across the emerging landscape of European food planning experiences should be sought and encouraged, while, on the other, the identification of valuable knowledge-building opportunities ought to span beyond geographical limits.
2012
spatial planning; sustainable food systems; integration
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11311/697916
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