The contribution of Urban Food Policies toward food security in developing and developed countries: A network analysis approach

Abstract

Cities around the world face new challenges of food security, and are developing urban food policies. Their objective is to integrate hunger problems with the aims of a food system based on environmental, economic and social sustainability. In this study a comparative analysis of the urban food policies' actions is conducted, as envisaged in cities around the world. The methodology is based on the community detection method through network analysis, in which the number of actions cities have in common defines their adjacency in the network.The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, which is a unique city platform worldwide, was used to select the cities and to analyse the actions in them, as classified into six main topics: ensuring and enabling an environment for effective action; sustainable diets and nutrition; social and economic equity; food production; food supply and distribution; and food waste. Three clusters are thus identified: i) agriculture for food security; ii) governance and food economy; and iii) sustainable and healthy consumption. This research provides a description of the main focuses of current policies, and their main political differences. The study may therefore also help improve future development.

Features and Functions of Multifunctional Urban Agriculture in the Global North: A Review

“…Notwithstanding that more than 200 World Cities signed the Milan Food Policy Pact in 2015 (Filippini et al, 2019), a general and consistent uptake at global level is still lacking. A legislative and regulatory environment enabling to ease the establishment and management of small-scale and citizen-driven UA initiatives is needed, overarching the economic, environmental and social functions that sustainable food systems may play.…”

Social justice-oriented narratives in European urban food strategies: Bringing forward redistribution, recognition and representation

“…The recent articles of Filippini et al (2019) (sample of 14 European and 18 non-European cities), Sonnino et al (2019) (sample of 34 European cities and 9 non-European cities) and Candel (2020) (sample of 19 European cities and 21 non-European cities) form exceptions to this pattern, albeit global in focus, not European. These studies demonstrate how extensive document analyses can provide insights into the scope (range of objectives), degree of targeting (specificity of the policy goals) and substantiality (selection of policy instruments) of UFSs (Candel 2020).…”

“…Moreover, document analyses of UFSs can demonstrate how urban food governance is interpreted, justified and (planned to be) implemented by policy makers and other stakeholders (Sonnino et al 2019). Finally, through structured document analyses one can explore commonalities and differences between UFSs in terms of priorities and group them (Filippini et al 2019). Commonly, they function as exploratory or benchmark studies that help to identify gaps, challenges and directions for future research (Candel 2020).…”

“…In some studies, social justice is mentioned as one of the fields or objectives a city may (amongst many other things) focus on (e.g. Baker and de Zeeuw 2015;Candel 2020;Filippini et al 2019;Hodgson et al 2012) or as a vital component or pillar within a holistic view on sustainable food governance (e.g. Moragues-Faus and Morgan 2015;Sonnino 2016Sonnino , 2019Sonnino et al 2019;Vieira et al 2018).…”

Enhancing Food Security by Institutionalizing Collaborative Food Alliances in Urban Areas

“…The agency should ensure that the mutual stakeholder interests across urban-rural landscapes are addressed effectively, which requires a change in governance structures at various territorial levels, investments and resource mobilization. While city and metropolitan governments around the world are increasingly involved in food systems planning and governance [2,24,25,28,56,57], their engagement in CFAs will bring in a unique added value to the institutionalization processes. By providing the required technical assistance, credibility, financial or material support and a valuable network, the urban local governments can positively help overcome the current issues in CFAs like informal food supply, legal concerns, etc., in line with local laws.…”