Urban Food Democracy and Governance in North and South

Abstract

In this chapter, we argue that Urban Food Networks (UFNs) are a format of collective action that seeks to manage social change within the 'field' of urban agriculture (UA). Our intention here is to argue that a field perspective is helpful when studying UA as a facet of social life in the city. This is because fields highlight the relationships between different actors, institutions, ideas and values, and they frame UA as one way of trying to influence social routines in the city. By the same token, UA can be a reflection of dynamism in social routines in the city. City food production is organisationally complex, culturally symbolic, and politically contested. For some years, research on UFNs has been rich and this is linked partly to the wealth of micro case studies that exist. The field framework offers two distinct potentials for UFN scholarship. Firstly, it presents UFNs as an integral part of the varied picture of city food: cities include UFNs because networks of people join together to collectively respond to perceived opportunities or challenges associated with dominant food actors. Secondly, the field concept connects micro-networks with forces of influence at the macro-level suggesting that, in complex social systems such as cities, food activism is one way in which social life is re-created. Such arguments indicate the adaptability of field theory to UA in general, while an examination of UFN social media communications, reveals the empirical potentials of the concept, strengthing the potential for analytical connections between UA in 'south ' and 'north'.

Reflecting on the Potential and Limitations of Urban Agriculture as an Urban Greening Tool in South Africa

“…This has also been shown elsewhere in Africa, with the ruling classes framing UA as "the antithesis of modernization and indicative of an official failure in the urban development process." Thus, stigmatizing UA as backward, rural and traditional (Drechsel and Dongus, 2010;Thornton, 2019). As urban agricultural initiatives and citizen-led approaches are assumed to contribute to environmental-, social-, economic-, and broader political considerations (Cilliers and Victor, 2018), it is worth revisiting the concept of urban agriculture from a cultural perspective, to understand and circumvent social challenges and stigmas.…”

Dachas and food democracy—What makes a (good) food citizen?

“…Most forms of the alternative agri-food movement and AFNs (alternative food networks) originate from the Western context, or, increasingly, from the South (e.g., Thornton, 2020). However, as various scholars, including Müller (2020), Jehlička (2021), and Pungas (2023), have demonstrated, knowledge originating in the The terms "food citizenship" and "agrarian citizenship" are often used interchangeably with the term food democracy.…”

AgriCultura

“…Current work about landscapes as a cultural heritage is especially dedicated to identifying general (Palang and Fry 2003) and exceptional (Mitchell et al 2009) values and to conserve and valorise the urban landscape (Longstreth 2008). The current literature about urban agriculture is devoted to agro-urbanism and to planning and building a new vision that connects city and countryside (Viljoen 2005), as well as improving food access and social justice (Winkler Prins 2017;Pearson et al 2016;Thornton 2019).…”