Food sharing governance in European cities: insights from a scoping review

Abstract

Food sharing initiatives (FSI) are rapidly growing in urban areas and present new opportunities to shape more sustainable urban food systems through collaborative efforts. These initiatives operate within a governance landscape that supports, influences, guides, and regulates their activities. This scoping review aims to explore the current knowledge of food sharing governance in Europe and reveal some of the governance elements that play a role in promoting or hindering the expansion of food sharing initiatives. Our research first offers a quantitative analysis of the literature, pinpointing areas for further investigation. Additionally, we provide a qualitative understanding of the benefits food sharing initiatives entail and the barriers and enablers they encounter. This comprehensive insight has led to developing a new framework to classify internal and external food sharing governance elements consisting of eight categories: structural factors, regulation, resources, discourses, relations between social actors (including power relations), participation, knowledge, and internal organisation. While avoiding idealisations and assessing these initiatives within their specific contexts is crucial, it is worth granting them visibility and support as they possess the potential to transform the food system.