Planning for local food systems: a study on potentials and limitations in Italy and England

The contribution examines the role of planning in improving the sustainability of local food systems. Specifically, by focusing on two domestic contexts of the Global North –Italy and England–, it investigates how planning policies and plans contribute to shape the relationships among food production and consumption across the urban/rural continuum. Research findings underline that the prevailing approach by planners and policy makers in dealing with the food system is regulative and prescriptive. Emphasis is on protecting existing agro-ecological resources and visual amenities of the countryside, rather than exploring the ways in which agricultural production and multifunctionality can guide a transition towards more sustainable food systems. Reasons of this limitation lie in planning’s disjointed focus on distinct policy regimes, which is mainly due to sectoral and regulative designations and to structural conditions. Conversely, a positive contribution in exploring the potentials of food for shaping better urban/rural relationships comes from a number of alternative, non- statutory, collaborative spaces among farmers and civil society. These have emerged in opposition with the standards and regulations typically underlying the planning process. Their potential lies in the reflexive approach and in the process of inclusive negotiation they share in addressing the vulnerabilities of the food system.