Augmenting agroecological urbanism: the intersection of food sovereignty and food democracy

ABSTRACT

Food sovereignty has emerged as a leading sense-making framework for the nascent conceptualization of an agroecological urbanism – a radically new paradigm for urbanization, grounded in political agroecology. At present, discourses like food democracy are often isolated from food sovereignty and agroecology in the urban context, potentially resulting in missed opportunities for creating holistic, inclusive, and scalable transformation in the urban food system. This study used data from existing municipal food policy in Seattle, U.S.A. and interviews with Seattle community gardeners to probe resident practices and policy recommendations in relation to the conceptual frameworks of food sovereignty and food democracy. The findings identify two key dimensions of food democracy as notably absent from the food sovereignty framework within this contextualized landscape, including mechanisms that enable vertical deliberation between food system stakeholders and opportunities for strengthened self and community efficacy – thus, exposing a potential gap in the ongoing development of an actionable agroecological urbanism. Working in tandem within the frame of agroecological urbanism, the food sovereignty and food democracy frameworks may support transition from unsustainable growth patterns and enable agroecological massification in an urban Global North context.

KEYWORDS:

• Food democracy
• food sovereignty
• urban agroecology
• agroecological urbanism
• food systems
• agroecology

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to extend their sincerest gratitude to the urban gardeners who warmly welcomed Megan Resler into their gardens and shared their inspiring stories of civic engagement and resilience. Without their open participation it would not have been possible to gain these insights into the lived experience of urban agroecology. Additionally, we would like to thank our two peer-reviewers for their insightful and actionable comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. Further thanks to Juha Helenius, Katriina Soini, Ann Ojala, and Janne Salovaara for their invaluable guidance and support in the development of this paper.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Megan L. Resler, upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This fieldwork was funded by the University of Helsinki’s Friends of the Environment Fund, the Cooperative Teaching and Research Fund, and the Finnish Cultural Foundation.