UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Between promise and practice Exploring the politics of urban food strategies in European cities Cretella, A. Publication date 2019 Document Version Other version License Other Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Cretella, A. (2019). Between promise and practice: Exploring the politics of urban food strategies in European cities. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:25 Sep 2021 strategies Cretella Practice food Agnese and urban in European cities in European politics of the Exploring Between Promise Between Promise and Practice: Exploring the politics of urban food strategies in European cities Agnese Cretella 2019 ISBN: 978-94-6380-328-1 Between Promise and Practice Exploring the politics of urban food strategies in European cities Agnese Cretella Between Promise and Practice Exploring the politics of urban food strategies in European cities ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. dr. ir. K.I.J. Maex ten overstaan van een door het College voor Promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel op dinsdag 14 mei 2019, te 14.00 uur door Agnese Cretella geboren te Pescara Promotiecommissie: Promotor: prof. dr. J. Grin Universiteit van Amsterdam Copromotor: dr. A.M.C. Loeber Universiteit van Amsterdam Overige leden: prof. dr. E.H.M. Moors Universiteit Utrecht prof dr. J.L. Uitermark Universiteit van Amsterdam prof dr. R.K. Jaffe Universiteit van Amsterdam dr. D.W. Laws Universiteit van Amsterdam dr. F.R. Dinis de Araújo Avelino Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam Universiteit van Amsterdam Faculteit der Maatschappij‐ en Gedragswetenschappen Content 1 — Introduction 1 1.1 Problematizing food and the city 3 1.2 Research questions and thesis outline 12 2 — Urban Food Strategies. Exploring definitions and diffusion of European cities’ latest policy trend 15 2.1 Relevance 19 2.2 Urban Food Strategies. Emerging narratives 21 Urban 23 Food 24 Strategy 27 2.3 Filling the gaps: definition and diffusion 28 2.4 The origin of a trend 31 2.5 Discussion and concluding remarks 33 3 — Beyond the Alternative Complex. The London Urban Food Strategy and Neoliberal Governance 35 3.1 Introduction 39 3.2 Urban Food Strategies: Is an alternative model emerging? 41 3.3 Methodology 43 3.4 The shift to sustainable development in London’s governance 44 3.5 Introducing food in urban policy 45 3.6 Bipartisan convergence 48 3.7 “The greenest games ever” 52 3.8 Conclusions 54 4 — Food as creative city politics in the city of Rotterdam 57 4.1 Introduction: The drive towards urban food governance 61 4.2 Methodology 65 4.3 Rotterdam’s “creative” turn 66 4.4 Rotterdam’s “green” turn 69 4.5 Food and UA in the Sustainability Program 76 4.6 The Agenda Food and the City 80 4.7 A “new” Rotterdam, but for whom? 83 5 — The Pisa Food Plan. The challenge of bringing sustainable food to the institutional agenda 87 5.1 Introduction 91 5.2 Methodology 93 5.3 Setting the scene 97 5.4 The Pisa Food Plan 106 5.5 Conception of the project 111 5.5.1 International ‘best practices’ 111 5.5.2 Established network 113 5.5.3 Relevance to the context 114 5.6 Project interruption 115 5.6.1 Academic format 115 5.6.2 Organization/Broad objectives 117 5.6.3 Appropriation of movements instances 118 5.7 Discussion and concluding remarks 120 6 — Discussion and Conclusions 125 6.1 Urban food strategies and the ‘food governance’ trend 128 6.2 UFSs: “Alternative” or “neoliberal” policies? 132 6.3 Promoting the urban food policy agenda. The contested role of researchers, food movements and local institutions 141 References 147 Summary 165 Samenvatting 171 Acknowledgments 177 List of visual content Graph 1: From Harris, Dougill et al. 2015, p.70: “Number of Publications by Year (Urban Food Systems); reproduced from Scopus search results accessed on February 2015”. ......................................................................................................................................... 4 Map 1: European distribution of UFSs ............................................................................... 30 Figure 1: The cover page of the “Investing in sustainable growth”, “Sustainability Program” (authorsʹ translation). City of Rotterdam — Gemeente Rotterdam (2011). 70 Figure 2: The cover page of the strategic document “Food & the city”, “Stimulating urban agriculture in and around Rotterdam” (authorsʹ translation). City of Rotterdam— Gemeente Rotterdam (2012). ....................................................................... 71 Figure 3: Rendering of the project for the redevelopment of Schiebroek Zuid — courtesy of EXCEPT (2015). ................................................................................................. 78 Photo 1: The market organized in Rotterdam by “Rotterdamse Oogst”. Courtesy of Rotterdamse Oogst. ............................................................................................................... 72 Photo 2: Interior view of the Markthal, a residential and commercial building provided with an indoor market hall. The municipality is the institutional partner of the project. Photo by the authors. ....................................................................................... 75 Photo 3: GAS distribution session taking place in the squat Newroz, May 2016. Picture by the author........................................................................................................... 102 Photo 4: Entrance of the squat Newroz. June 2014. Picture by the author. ................ 103 Photo 5: Urban agriculture at the squat Newroz. June 2014. Picture by the author. 103 Photo 6: Entrance of the local/organic shop La bottega della leopolda, June 2014. Picture by the author........................................................................................................... 105 Photo 7: Fruit and vegetables on display at the Bottega della leopolda, June 2014. Picture by the author........................................................................................................... 105 Photo 8: The ʺSanta Caterinaʺ farmers market in Pisa, June 2016. Picture by the author. ................................................................................................................................... 106 .