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L’émergence de stratégies ou de politiques alimentaires dans de nombreuses villes du monde (chapitre 3) pousse la recherche à s’interroger sur les processus de construction, l’accompagnement et l’évaluation de celles-ci. À partir du constat des limites du système alimentaire industrialisé, ces stratégies ou politiques sont fondées sur la nécessité d’opérer un changement, une transition vers un système alimentaire plus durable. Il s’a...

Porté par les industries agroalimentaires, le système alimentaire dominant actuellement n’est pas durable. Les études et les expertises se multiplient pour en montrer les limites en termes d’usage des ressources, de distanciation, de santé, d’équité, d’emploi etc… Face à ces constats, des acteurs publics ou privés se mobilisent et l’on voit émerger des initiatives où les « gouvernements urbains » apparaissent comme de plus en plus actifs et puissants. Écrit par un collectif de chercheurs, cet ouvrage décrit les cadres conceptuels existants pour une démarche d’analyse des politiques alimentaires urbaines, au croisement des concepts de système alimentaire et de ville durable. Il constitue une base de travail pour identifier des questions de recherche, en relation avec les initiatives des gouvernements locaux urbains, au Nord et au Sud. Il est issu des travaux menés au sein d’Agropolis International dans le cadre du programme Surfood (Sustainable urban food systems) ainsi que d’une recherche-action menée en appui à Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole pour la construction de sa politique agroécologique et alimentaire. Les auteurs s’adressent aux scientifiques et aux experts qui analysent et accompagnent les politiques alimentaires urbaines. Les experts de politiques locales dans leur globalité trouveront également un intérêt à la lecture de l’ouvrage.

This paper discusses how a complex-systems perspective can shed light on the analysis of complex food-systems meeting urban food needs. The common features between complex systems and Food Supply and Distribution Systems (FSDS) are explored. A brief review of the major approaches - agent-based models (ABM), social network analysis (SNA), and system dynamics (SD) - is developed in order to make an assessment on the analysis performance of different complex system methodologies while dealing with FSDS. After sifting out the most suitable methodology for the study of FSDS, a system archetype analysis of the FSDS dynamics is elicited from the methodological guide of FAO, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. To finalize, three basic points for the analysis of FSDS obtained from the current research are explained. This content is part of the content leading the SD updates to FAO’s FSDS methodological guide., Proceedings in Food System Dynamics, Proceedings in System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks 2015

The chapter is based on current research conducted by the authors as part of the “CROSSOVER Project – Bridging Communities for Next Generation Policy Making,” an FP7-funded support action of the European Commission, whose main goal is to reach out to and raise the awareness of users, particularly public government practitioners and policymakers, while developing a research roadmap for establishing the scientific and political basis for long-lasting interest and commitment to next generation policymaking. In particular, the chapter identifies the opportunities and benefits resulting from applications of ICT tools for collaborative governance and policy modeling and provides an outline of what technologies are and will be available to meet the needs of policymakers. The project builds on the CROSSROAD model and roadmap with the aim to reach a stronger focus on policy modeling.

It took more than several years to persuade governments to change their attitude towards collaborative, evidence-based governance with strong ICT enablement: a decade which included a worldwide economic crisis, radical changes in the socioeconomic landscape imposed not only by wars, but also of the rise and development of countries with huge manpower and natural resources. Public unrest, very low turnover in democratic activities and a growing lack of trust in governments and their policies are currently characterising societies and countries of our world. In parallel, the world has become increasingly interconnected, complex and fast-evolving, making the effects of individual behaviour and of policy choices much less predictable. We are increasingly dealing with highly improbable events and “wicked problems”, which are often characterized as Black Swans since they appear very rarely, with extreme impact and very limited predictability - at least with the tools deployed. Moreover, within the recent financial crisis we experience the failure of governments to predict or drive even more obvious and important societal goals: public sector income, unemployment, growth, standard of living are more and more becoming “wicked problems” themselves, than deterministically sought-for targets. The paradox is that at the same time, the amount of data available to governments for making sense of the socio-economic environment has increased exponentially, either provided through sensors and the Internet of Things, or through crowdsourced citizens’ ideas and criticism posted on social media. Within this framework, the European Commission has decided to launch the CROSSROAD project within the FP7 programme, aiming at building a consensus-driven Research Roadmap to consolidate and advance research in a new, yet highly fragmented, domain and to provide strategic directions for the future of research in ICT for Governance and Policy Modelling. The main goal of the CROSSROAD project has been to drive the identification of emerging technologies, new governance models and novel application scenarios in the field of governance and policy modelling, leading to the structuring of a beyond the state-of-the-art research agenda, fully embraced by research and practice communities, as comprehensively presented in this book. This book is a result of the collaborative effort of several internationally renowned policy scientists, complex system theorists, governance researchers, economists, management science and ICT experts, under the guidance of the CROSSROAD team. Seville, Athens, Brussels, Lausanne and Samos Island have been welcoming venues for this group, offering opportunities for highly innovative and productive brainstorming. But, clearly, the on-line deliberation toolset deployed by CROASSROAD was the key differentiating factor, engaging several hundred researchers, public sector decision-makers, industry representatives and citizens. May we all remember this collective experience in the times to come, a little proud that we tried the difficult road: not to just “do the things right”, but to make an attempt towards “doing the right things” for ICT-enabled Governance and evidence-based decision making., JRC.J.3-Information Society

Purpose – The growing complexity of social systems and the faster technology evolution make central the role of the innovative information technology in complex organisations, geared towards collective intelligence processes among the various social actors and analytical tools. These are able to foster the participant knowledge, manage the feedback through a holistic approach and hence shift organisations from a plurality of voices to an interactive intelligence representing the ultimate identity of the organisation itself. In this regard, the aim of this paper is to offer a model for managing external and internal knowledge in order to support the viability of the organisation (system) in the longer term. Design/methodology/approach – The paper adopts the interpretative lens provided by Systems Thinking, System Dynamics and Viable System Approach (vSa) to investigate the challenging domain of the knowledge and information management for complex systems as organisations. Therefore, a qualitative and interpretative approach is carried out to reflect upon Big Data approaches and Collective Knowledge Systems (CKS), embracing a system perspective. Findings – The proposed conceptual model shows the crucial role covered by the holistic managing of the external and internal knowledge that permits to align the information variety of the organisation to the context and the entities that compose it in order to create harmonic relations. Leveraging on the concepts of vicariance, bricolage and exaptation, several advantages emerge that are correlated to the capacity of the complex system to reach a greater level of survival, by adapting and dynamically evolving itself. Originality/value – The paper shows how Systems Thinking and Viable System Approach can provide deep insights into the field of information technology, evidencing the systems thinking contribution in analysing, understanding and managing dimensions and paths of social dynamics. A contribution to previous studies is provided with reference to themes as Big Data, information and knowledge management.