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Abstract:In cities across the world, local food networks aim to make food systems more sustainable and secure for all. As part of that effort, some of these networks also seek to introduce social innovation in the mode of selling food, namely as a way to initiate a broader transition of the sector. Based on two years of action research conducted together with promoters of Montreal's seasonal markets, this article offers an account of the co-constructed narrative of a transition of the agri-food sector. On the one hand, transition theory anticipates that the transition to sustainability of the agri-food sector would depend on the protection and empowerment of innovative 'niches' that are facing the locked-in structure of the agri-food 'sociotechnical regime'. Yet, on the other hand, the seasonal markets do not fit well in this portrait: they are shown to evolve at the intersection of the sociotechnical regime and innovative niches. For this reason, they are subject to regime rules and become difficult to protect as an entity. As such, seasonal markets face 'structuring tensions' that generate both practical dilemmas and innovative solutions in their modes of organization. These solutions, however, rely on webs of resources and supports that constitute 'key relations' for unlocking the agri-food regime rules. It is through managing these tensions and relations that the seasonal markets end up reconfiguring social and material relations and providing solutions for food security and a more sustainable food system. Therefore, we argue that the structuring tension and key relation concepts are useful for understanding the dynamics of social innovation in the transition to sustainability in food systems.

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Le champ des sustainability transitions est peu connu dans les cercles universitaires francophones, demeurant surtout, à ce jour, une affaire européenne. L’objectif de cet article est donc avant tout d’introduire ce champ au monde francophone : il s’agit de présenter les sustainability transitions, ses principales écoles, leurs problématiques théoriques et empiriques, leurs pratiques méthodologiques et leurs critiques. L’article est organisé autour des trois problématiques centrales du champ, soit : les problèmes de l’incertitude, de la complexité et de la réflexivité dans la gouvernance du développement durable, le fort degré de verrouillage des principaux systèmes sociotechniques empêchant leur « transition vers la durabilité », et le défi plus méthodologique du pilotage du changement et des transitions. L’article présente ces trois problématiques en montrant leurs ancrages dans différentes filiations théoriques des sciences sociales et des sciences de l’environnement, et en propose finalement une critique épistémologique et politique qui invite à réfléchir davantage aux conséquences des sustainability transitions sur les transformations actuelles des sociétés dans le contexte des crises écologique et climatique.The field of sustainability transitions is near to unknown in francophone academic circles, being mostly a european subject matter. The purpose of the paper is above all to introduce this field to the francophone world by presenting the main schools of thought in sustainability transitions, their theoretical problems and empirical issues, their methodological practices and their critics. The paper is organised around three central problems of the field, which are: the issues of uncertainty, complexity and reflexivity in the governance of sustainable development, the strong degree of lock-in in the main socio-technical systems that impede their transformation towards sustainability, and the methodological challenges of steering change and transitions. These problems are paralleled with their roots in various theoretical filiations in social sciences and environmental sciences. Finally, the paper propose an epistemological and political critic of the field, inviting to a better reflection on the consequences of sustainability transitions on current social transformation in the context of ecological and climatic crises.El campo de las transiciones sustentables es poco conocido en los círculos universitarios francófonos, siendo sobre todo, aún en estos días, una problemática europea. El objetivo de este artículo es ante todo, introducir este campo en el mundo francófono: se trata de presentar a las transiciones sustentables, sus principales escuelas, sus problemáticas teóricas y empíricas, sus prácticas metodológicas y sus críticas. El artículo está organizado alrededor de tres problemáticas centrales del campo de estudio, a saber: los problemas de la incertidumbre, de la complejidad y de la reflexividad de la gobernabilidad del desarrollo sustentable, el fuerte grado de bloqueo de los principales sistemas ...