Food Policy Processes in the City of Rome: A Perspective on Policy Integration and Governance Innovation

Abstract

In the food policy arena, the topic of governance and how to create a governance system that would deal with cross-cutting issues, including new ways of perceiving the public sphere, the policymaking, and the involvement of the population, has become an important field of study. The research presented in this article focuses on the case study of Rome, comparing different paths that various groups of actors have taken toward the definition of urban food policy processes: the Agrifood Plan, Food Policy for Rome, and Community Gardens Movement. The aim of the research is to understand the state of the art about different paths toward food strategies and policies that are currently active in the Roman territory while investigating the relationship between policy integration and governance innovation structures. Indeed, this paper dives into the governance structure of the three food policy processes, the actors and sectors involved, and the goals and instruments selected to achieve a more sustainable food system for the city. In this context, their characteristics are analyzed according to an innovative conceptual framework, which, by crossing two recognized theoretical systems, on policy integration and governance innovation frameworks, allows to identify the capacity of policy integration and governance innovation. The analysis shows that every process performs a different form of governance, implemented according to the actor and backgrounds that compose the process itself. The study demonstrates that governance innovation and policy integration are strongly linked and that the conception and application of policy integration changes according to the governance vision that a process has.

Profiling Citizens on Perception of Key Factors of Food Security: An Application of K-Means Cluster Analysis

“…[25]. The food-planning process is developing in many Italian cities [26]. The first movement of urban food policies began its activities in 2010 with the Food Plan of the province of Pisa (Tuscany), resulting from the joint efforts of the University of Pisa, the Laboratory of Rural Studies Sismondi and the Province of Pisa.…”

Food Policy Coherence and Integration: a review of adopted methodologies

“…Baldy et al (2022) compared two German cities to determine how practice in policymaking improves PI at the local level. Minotti et al (2022) investigated the governance of three food policy processes in Rome, all aimed to improve sustainability in the city. Sibbing et al (2021) assessed 31 Dutch municipalities to understand how they integrated food-related topics in the city governance.…”

“…The multidimensional framework allowed to analyse qualitative data to outline the enabling factors and obstacles to PI. Similarly, Minotti et al (2022) interpreted qualitative data from nine interviews and participatory observation through Candel and Biesbroek's framework, to describe three food policy processes in Rome. On the contrary, A study on Ugandan nutrition policy combined process-tracing methodology with policy mechanisms approach (Namugumya et al, 2020a).…”

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Governance and Actions for Resilient Urban Food Systems in the Era of COVID-19: Lessons and Challenges in China

“…Morrow [43] drew upon ethnographic research conducted in Berlin and New York that evaluated self-organization in community food initiatives to show that democratizing food distribution and redistribution policies through self-organization by community members may be a possible solution to unsustainable and unjust urban food systems. Minotti, et al [44] compared the different paths that various groups of actors have taken toward the definition of urban food policy processes to show governance innovation and policy integration are strongly linked in the urban food system. Zhong, et al [45] analyzed household survey data, unstructured interviews and government documents, regulations and laws in Nanjing to show the involvement of both public and private capital in markets may prevent market failure in food system operation.…”