Building alliances for agroecological urbanism: The comparison of Vitoria-Gasteiz and Preston

Abstract

There is an increasing argument for integrating strategies of local food initiatives to build greater social integration and more inclusive placemaking processes. This is because alliance-building may support the construction of new meanings around local food and promote self-reflection to address current limitations if diverse local food initiatives, particularly including those formed by and for ethnic minority groups, are part of this process. In this context, studies are increasingly elucidating the challenges that prevent the formation of alliances across diverse groups. This paper aims to contribute to these debates by identifying the main challenges in collectively building agroecological urbanism in cities. It applies a case study methodology including online semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and document analysis to draw from lessons learnt from two cities (Preston, England, and Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country). The study highlights that the building of interconnected networks of local food initiatives has three main barriers: limited resources, depoliticised engagement with food citizenship, and bifurcated conceptualisations of food questions. In discussing what this means for promoting agroecological urbanism, the paper points to possible pathways to surpass these limitations.