Roadmapping to Enhance Local Food Supply: Case Study of a City-Region in Austria

Abstract

Due to the current challenges of climate change, population growth in urban settlements and resource depletion, agri-food researchers have put an increasing emphasis on the sustainability transitions of food systems. In this regard, there has been an increasing interest in the local food supply of cities and their surrounding regions, as local food is considered to be a contributing factor toward more sustainable, resilient and just urban food systems. Based on this background, a roadmapping process was conducted to assess the status quo and to identify measures to enhance the local food supply in the city-region of Graz in Austria. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 47 stakeholders, analysed textual materials and calculated food carrying capacities. The obtained data served as input for a series of three workshops, where measures were derived. Our results suggest that cooperation among agri-food stakeholders should be facilitated by local decision makers in order to promote food from regional sources within the target area. Furthermore, smart technologies can help to scale-up local food supply schemes, and to track down food stocks and flows more efficiently. Besides, food policy councils and open food labs can help to incubate food product innovations and to support partnerships among agri-food stakeholders, including local small-scale farmers. In the future, engagement and empowerment processes with local food stakeholders should be addressed to enable transformational processes. Roadmaps can help to initiate such processes.

Responsible Research and Innovation in Enterprises: Benefits, Barriers and the Problem of Assessment

“…For example, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) could be used to evaluate how efficiently innovating organizations transform their resources and time (input) into socially desirable "outputs" [64,65]. Such "RRI productivity" approach could also be used at the strategic planning stage to choose between competing technology roadmaps [66][67][68] with different anticipated inputs and outputs.…”

Responsible Research and Innovation in Enterprises: Benefits, Barriers and the Problem of Assessment

“…For example, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) could be used to evaluate how efficiently innovating organizations transform their resources and time (input) into socially desirable "outputs" [49,50]. Such "RRI productivity" approach could also be used at the strategic planning stage to choose between competing technology roadmaps [51][52][53] with different anticipated inputs and outputs.…”

Measures to Increase Local Food Supply in the Context of European Framework Scenarios for the Agri-Food Sector

“…This section provides a description of the methodology applied in the SFGG project, where the measures to enhance local food supply evolved [28]. Furthermore, the scenario approach used in the project FOX is described [29], as well as the methodological combination of the two foresight approaches, which is the main focus of this article.…”

“…The local measures from the roadmap of the region of Graz [28] and the framework scenarios from the European project FOX-Food processing in a box [29]-can be classified as foresight methods. According to the OECD-EC definition of cities in Europe, half of the 828 identified cities in the EU, Switzerland, Iceland, and Norway have an urban center larger than 50,000 inhabitants, with 341 falling in the range of 100,000 to 500,000 inhabitants [30].…”

“…When considering the regional level, Styria is average, compared to other German and Austrian regions [32]. The project Smart Food Grid Graz (SFGG), providing local measures, deals with the formation of more local food value chains serving various goals [28], such as a reduction in CO 2 emissions due to shorter transport distances [33,34], the promotion of the local economy, and strengthening of rural areas, as well as the provision of fresh and diverse food [35,36]. The EU defines local food systems as systems where production, processing, and retail take place within a defined geographical area, and by the closeness of social relationships between the producer and consumer [37].…”