Planning for Whom? Toward Culturally Inclusive Food Systems in Metro Vancouver

Abstract

IntroductionFood system planning involves envisioning and implementing structures and processes that influence the food supply chain. Planning is embedded in formal governance structures, people's organizations, social movements, and the private sector, at multiple scales, including municipal, regional, national, and multinational levels. Food policy councils (FPCs), as regional organizations that aim to influence food system planning, began to emerge in North America and across the globe in the 1980s (McCullagh and Santo 2012). They seek to address citizen disempowerment in the food system (Lang 1999) and the absence of food and agriculture in municipal policy and planning (Pothukuchi and Kaufman 1999). They have the potential to contribute to strategic food system planning by building alliances between diverse stakeholders, conducting system-level research and consultation to address a broad range of concerns related to public health, social justice, and ecological integrity (McRae and Donahue 2013). Therefore, many FPCs aim to transform urban areas into sites of "food citizenship," where people can actively partake in shaping the food system (Lang 1999;Harper et al. 2009).Many FPCs have been successful at bringing together diverse food system stakeholders (consumers, farmers, policymakers, scholars, food industry representatives), forming coalitions to increase the strength of alternative food initiatives (Levkoe and Wakefield 2014). However, many alternative food initiatives themselves, including FPCs, have been criticized for not effectively or equitably engaging members from diverse racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds (