Politics of scale in urban food governance - A case study of Malmö, Sweden

Sammanfattning: With the rescaling of environmental issues through international city networks, cities are increasingly viewed as key sites where innovative solutions are formed. The issues concerning food, which predominantly has been viewed as rural and national issues, have also found its way onto the urban agenda. To provide further understanding of the rescaling process and the role which the city plays in the development of the food system, this study applies a case study approach. Questions on the practice of scalar concepts, inclusion of stakeholders and values, and struggles and resistances in relation to urban food governance are investigated. Both documents and interviews are used to analyze one policy and three measures on food system development in Malmö, Sweden. The study finds that the urban food governance is placed with values of sustainable production, often understood as organic, which aren’t upheld by food producers in the peri-urban area. This has led the urban food governance in this case to be contained within the urban center, excluding the peri-urban areas and big producers. The rescaling of food governance does therefore not imply a re-localization of the food system. Although left out of measures, the municipality is still trying to make a change in food production. Primarily by using their consumption power as a large actor together with other municipalities to increase the availability of sustainable foods in the city. Considering what in this case can be suggested to be a city/consumer alliance on the perspective of food issues, and the municipality resorting to public procurement as a tool to make a change, it consequently becomes a question on the possibilities for consumers to have agency in matters of system transformation.