34 research outputs found
Beyond the Alternative Complex. The London Urban Food Strategy and Neoliberal Governance
No full textIn this paper we will introduce the concept of Urban Food Strategies (UFSs) and describe the specific case of the city of London, the first European municipality to develop a governance experiment specifically on food. In particular, we will discuss the positioning of the London Food Strategy (LFS) within the alternative idea of urban development strategies and the mainstream, neoliberal entrepreneurial model by way of discourse analysis. This paper questions the nature of the LFS in relation to the introduction of the sustainable development dogma in London urban governance from the early 2000s to the recent 2012 Summer Olympics, declared as the “greenest games ever”. By way of conclusion, we will argue that alternative projects are not free of neoliberal influences, and even if they are, they will likely be the subject of strategic manipulation to counter balance other reckless institutional entrepreneurial projects.Cet article introduit le concept de stratégies alimentaires urbaines et décrit le cas spécifique de la ville de la Londres, la première municipalité européenne à développer une expérience de gouvernance axée spécifiquement sur la nourriture. Par le biais d’une analyse de discours, nous discutons plus particulièrement le positionnement de la stratégie alimentaire londonienne (SAL) à l’intérieur des stratégies de développement urbain alternatives, et du modèle dominant, néolibéral et entrepreneurial. Cet article questionne la nature de la SAL en lien avec l’introduction du dogme du développement durable dans la gouvernance urbaine de Londres, du début des années 2000 jusqu’aux Jeux Olympiques de 2012 qualifiés de « Jeux les plus verts jamais organisés ». En guise de conclusion, nous soutenons que les projets alternatifs ne sont pas étanches aux influences néolibérales et, même s’ils l’étaient, ils feraient certainement l’objet d’une manipulation stratégique pour contrebalancer d’autres projets institutionnels ouvertement entrepreneuriaux
Sustainability
No full textSustainability is an international, cross-disciplinary, scholarly, peer-reviewed and open access journal of environmental, cultural, economic, and social sustainability of human beings. It provides an advanced forum for studies related to sustainability and sustainable development, and is published semimonthly online by MDPI. The Society for Urban Ecology (SURE), Canadian Urban Transit Research & Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC) and International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB) are affiliated with Sustainability and their members receive discounts of the article processing charge
Food Smart Dublin report on sustainable Irish seafood workshop series
No full textThe Food Smart Dublin Workshops took place between the 24th September and 30th October 2020. The focus was to promote sustainable seafood consumption among young students by building on the intangible coastal cultural heritage of Dublin Bay’s biosphere. Five online workshops were co-hosted by the Food Smart Dublin (FSD) research team and ECO-UNESCO. The workshop series brought together a total of 13 students aged 15-18, most of them local to the Dublin area. The document is a report of the workshops, the outcome of which will inform an academic publication by the FSD tea
One Year of Irish Seafood: Traditional, Historical, Sustainable
No full textThe book takes us on a one-year journey through some of the most traditional, historical and sustainable Irish seafood by tapping into local marine resources and rediscovering forgotten seafood recipes from Ireland’s East Coast culinary heritage. The authors unearthed historical recipes and selected them based on suitability, sustainability and seasonality before visionary chefs transformed them into the appetizing modern dishes promoted in this book. Following seafood seasonality through the year, the book also provides an insight into the history and ecology of each marine creature native to the Irish coasts and featured in the recipes. Moreover, the book offers the reader an opportunity to gain an understanding of seafood sustainability by presenting information about the diverse fishing methods and specific place of the species in the marine food web. At the same time, it presents delicious ideas on how to best exploit the taste of Irish seafood, practised throughout the centuries. With a preface by Darina Allen
Between promise and practice: Exploring the politics of urban food strategies in European cities
No full textOver the last decade, in cities and city‐regions around the world there has been a multiplication of ad hoc policies seeking for a transformation of the urban food systems. This thesis seek to understand the specific European phenomenon of urban food strategies (UFSs), which can be identified as a broad category of efforts by municipalities to improve food quality, access or distribution in order to pursue sustainability and the general wellbeing of the population. Presented alongside narratives of participation, social and environmental justice, active citizenship and the ‘greening’ of the food system, UFSs have been implicitly identified as an “alternative” to the “neoliberal” forces operating in the food system and urban governance. This thesis seeks to fill the knowledge gap surrounding UFSs’ definition, diffusion and content, as well as to illuminate these two labels in order to explore how “alternative” notions around food have been incorporated in institutional urban settings. Throughout the empirical cases of this thesis, the author inquire into discrepancies between what UFSs are believed to be in political and academic contexts and how they become manifest in contemporary urban settings
The researcher as political mediator: co-creation processes in transdisciplinary and trans-sectoral research
No full textTransdisciplinarity should be the starting point for researchers aiming to
make sustainability research truly impactful. We argue that trans-sectoral,
transcultural and transgenerational dimensions are as equally important in cocreation
processes. When these dimensions are ignored, research projects
can easily shift from co-creation to ‘creation’ with a top-down attitude. In fact,
researchers working in sustainability research are often challenged when
navigating different perspectives on the same issue, having to wear different
hats in order to listen to and incorporate these perspectives in co-creation
processes.
In this roundtable discussion, we want to share our experience of our own
journey with the Food Smart Dublin project while having others share
theirs. We used a trans-sectoral approach between academia, industry
and the public to co-create knowledge flow with the aim to encourage a
behavioural shift from eating high trophic level seafood (tuna, salmon, cod
- the tigers and lions of the sea) to lower trophic and more sustainable local
seafood (molluscs, non-target species) by unearthing historical recipes and
reconnecting Dublin’s society to their tangible and intangible coastal cultural
heritage.
The academic team consisted of STEM and AHSS researchers acting as
knowledge providers in the sense of doing the groundwork, research into
archival and environmental humanities as well as food and culinary history,
while also developing and carrying out surveys on people’s behaviour toward
seafood. The industry partner acted as the innovator being a trained chef and
fishmonger; they had the ‘hands-on’ knowledge and reimagined the recipes
to suit the modern pallet. The NGO partner was the agent of change being a
youth and environmental education centre. They recruited young people and
facilitated interactive workshops on sustainable seafood developed in close
collaboration with the knowledge providers and the innovator.
Now, at the end of the project, we want to reflect on obstacles and connecting
nodes of our co-creation process and invite other researchers, educationalists
and knowledge providers to share their experience of transdisciplinary and
trans-sectoral work. We want to hear from those who may have had to
become political mediators, but also advocates, lobbyists and educators in
their ‘trans’ approach research. We also want to reflect on why policymakers
seem uncomfortable with co-creation approaches and often do not support
projects with concrete institutional change - or with funding. Furthermore,
we encourage others to share their thoughts on what will have to change to
make research projects more fluid and attractive for policymakers to achieve
truly impactful sustainability change
Food Smart Dublin: an interdisciplinary approach to sustainable seafood
No full textFood Smart Dublin is an Irish Research Council funded project under the COALESCE scheme hosted by the Trinity Centre for Environmental Humanities in Trinity College, Dublin since 2019. It aims to promote sustainable seafood consumption by building on the Irish coastal cultural heritage while engaging with innovative chefs and educationalists. The project encourages human consumption towards more sustainable seafood from lower down the food chain by tapping into local marine resources and rediscovering forgotten Irish seafood recipe
Tasting the ocean: How to increase ocean literacy using seafood heritage with a visceral approach
No full textThis contribution explores the growing interest in ocean literacy and sustainable seafood consumption through the lens of transdisciplinary and visceral research methods. It illustrates a series of experimental, marine-focused workshops, carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic for Irish students aged between 15 and 18. The empirical body builds on a series of questionnaires completed prior, during and at the end of the workshops as well as direct observations of feedbacks and interactions. By offering to the students creative and playful methods which included cooking classes, coastal explorations and information about their coastal cultural heritage, we argue that transdisciplinary and visceral methods can facilitate how ocean literacy and sustainable eating is understood and operationalised—in both educational programmes and policy frameworks
Sustainable Seafood Consumption: A Matter of Individual Choice or Global Market? A Window into Dublin’s Seafood Scene.
No full textSeafood consumption is considered a key element for food security and for nutrition related policies. However, seafood is often not easily accessible or perceived as a popular option even by those living in close proximity to the sea. Common culprits are usually identified as a lack of specialized shops, culinary knowledge or as the disconnection with local coastal cultural heritage. This is for instance the case in Ireland: Irish waters provide a great diversity of seafood and yet, its domestic consumption remains unusually low for an island nation. Most of Ireland’s seafood is exported to other countries, whilst the Irish stick to the popular salmon, cod and tuna; a consumption habit that has obvious sustainability externalities. This contribution aims to unpack the issues connected to seafood consumption in Ireland’s coastal capital Dublin and offers a window into the city’s seafood scene. Data presented were gained within the Food Smart Dublin research project, a multidisciplinary project designed to encourage a behavioural shift of consumption towards more sustainable local seafood by rediscovering historical recipes and reconnecting Dublin’s society to their tangible and intangible coastal cultural heritage. The paper thus connects past, present, and future perspectives on the topic. First, the past is explored by delineating the potential of marine historical heritage in stimulating sustainable seafood consumption with the reintroduction of traditional Irish recipes. The present offers a data snapshot on consumption patterns towards seafood gathered from structured online questionnaires results from the Food Smart Dublin project. Respondents offered insights on their relationship with the sea, on the frequency with which they consume seafood and the obstacles they see in consuming more of it. Finally, these perspectives delineate possible future scenarios and recommended governance actions to support policymakers in designing a better and more sustainable seafood system
