Urban food environments: An ethnographic study of barriers and enablers to democratic food citizenship
Abstract
Given the magnitude of food systems’ challenges, scholars highlight the need for collective responsibility to engage in food-related behaviours that support the development of sustainable food systems. The concept of democratic food citizenship responds to the need to shift from the individual (i.e., consumption) to the collective responsibility to act on food systems’ implications. Democratic engagement is suggested to give individuals a sense of belonging, responsibility, and empowerment that may encourage them to commit to the environmental and social sustainability of food systems. However, individuals’ social and physical environments may affect their capacity of interaction with democratic food citizenship. As interfaces between people and food systems, food environments can act as important arenas for stirring transformative food agendas of cities. Therefore, this research explores how more democratic food environments are (dis)assembled in an urban context. Based on a case study in East-Central London (UK), this research uses an ethnographic approach that combines qualitative interviews, focus groups, participatory observation and documentary anaylisis. Empirical research is guided by an analytical framework based on an assemblage thinking approach.This research will contribute to the emerging research and policy agenda around the concepts of food environments and food citizenship through new theoretical conceptualizations and empirical insights. It also offers a revised analytical framework to guide empirical research that is of relevance beyond the single case of London.
keywords Food democracy Food environment Food citizenship Urban food systems Transformation
Publikationen
Project staff
Marta Lopez Cifuentes
Dipl.-Ing. Mag. Dr.rer.nat. Marta Lopez Cifuentes
m.lopezcifuentes@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-73112
Project Leader
02.10.2023 - 30.06.2024
Marianne Penker
Univ.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.nat.techn. Marianne Penker
marianne.penker@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-73115
Project Leader
01.07.2022 - 01.10.2023
BOKU partners
External partners
University of Surrey
Roberta Sonnino
partner