Examining the Insider/Outsider Dimensions of Local Food System Planning: Cases from Dunedin and Christchurch New Zealand.

Diverse local and 'alternative' food networks offer a variety of context-specific responses that aim to challenge the global, conventional food system. These community-based interventions are often supported by local governments, who are attempting to engage with food issues through local-level policy and governance arrangements, most notably through food policy councils. In New Zealand, such practices are in an emergent phase and there is relatively little research on food system planning, despite the emerging engagement with food at a local level. Drawing on case studies from two New Zealand cities (Dunedin and Christchurch), this research explores the role of different actors, including planners in mediating tensions between community and government and identifies potential points of interventions for planners in attempts to transition towards more resilient and just food systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]