Hirth, S orcid.org/0000-0002-6719-1214, Oncini, F, Boons, F et al. (1 more author) (2022) Building back normal? An investigation of practice changes in the charitable and on-the-go food provision sectors through COVID-19. Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy, 18 (1). pp. 410-427. ISSN 1548-7733
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about debates on rethinking food and other socio-technical systems. While swiftly re-establishing normality has understandable appeal in a crisis, the landscape-level changes during the pandemic also hold windows of opportunity to “build back better” and to achieve sustainability transitions. In this article, we ask whether a cycle of disruption and adaptation results either in the rise of more sustainable niche practices or the consolidation of the socio-technical regimes in place. To approach this question, we consider the specific cases of charitable and on-the-go food provision and examine the extent to which COVID-induced adaptations have resulted in debates about, and implementations of, more just and sustainable practices. We draw on systems transitions and practice theoretical approaches to elucidate dynamics and elasticity and thus the effect of socio-technical practice changes. After describing the pre-COVID food regimes, we evaluate organizational practice adaptations during the lockdowns with regard to (1) changing cultural images of food security and provision, (2) socio-technical innovations, and (3) new forms of governance. We find that rather than justifying the public and policy frame of “building back better,” the effect of recovery measures reinforces the socio-technical regimes and omits wider sectoral and societal sustainability challenges such as the systemic reduction of poverty and waste.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited trading as Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of the Environmental Policy Group, Wageningen University & Research. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Sustainability transitions; practice change; charitable food provision; food poverty; on-the-go provision; waste |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 21 Feb 2023 15:50 |
Last Modified: | 21 Feb 2023 15:50 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Taylor & Francis Group |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/15487733.2022.2076352 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:196214 |