Catalysers for Scaling Sustainable Food Innovation: Exploring Democratic Engagement and Governance Transformation in Four Urban Contexts

A key challenge for sustainable urban food systems is to shorten supply chains by directly connecting food producers with consumers at a local or regional level. This can be achieved by reducing the physical distance between producers and consumers or by minimising intermediaries, thus fostering solidarity, economic transparency and environmental benefits. However, simply reducing supply chains does not guarantee a sustainable system transformation. Sustainable Food Networks (SFNs) aim to achieve this transformation but often encounter obstacles that prevent their expansion beyond isolated and marginalised contexts. Scalability involves expanding the impact of SFNs through increased participation, broader geographic reach and operational efficiency. Scalability objectives often include improving access to healthy and affordable food, reducing environmental impact, supporting local producers, fostering community links and promoting conscious diets. Key drivers of scalability are growing consumer demand for local food, favourable political contexts, technological advances and the cultures, strategies and tactics of food movement organisations. However, scalability is hampered by barriers such as limited access to land, regulatory and logistical challenges, financial constraints, consumer preferences for conventional food, and the risk of co-option or conventionalisation by incumbent actors. The proposed paper explores and highlights the critical role of ‘catalysers’ in increasing democratic engagement and supporting food system transformation. In the context of sustainable urban food systems and urban food governance, a catalyser refers to a factor, event or mechanism that accelerates or facilitates change. Catalyser can contribute to food systems transformation by overcoming barriers and promoting positive changes in policies, practices or citizen engagement. Considering four urban contexts: Maastricht, Trento, Malmo and Krakow, the paper aims to understand what triggers and enables food systems transformation. The analysis draws on data from a qualitative comparative mixed-methods study, which included in-depth interviews with participants from alternative food networks in the four cities and four dedicated Urban Food Labs (UFLs). These living labs bring together food activists, policymakers, and a multidisciplinary research team to collaboratively explore, understand and engage in how catalysers can be designed to scale SFNs for systemic transitions. Ultimately, the study aims to contribute to the ongoing debate on the dynamics of scaling in urban food governance, with a focus on the catalysts involved in this transformation.