Navigating governance tensions in alternative food networks through a hybrid governance approach

Abstract

This paper investigates governance dynamics in transitions towards alternative food systems. The paper offers a combined framework conceptualising alternative food networks (AFNs) as evolving in a hybrid sector between the market, community and public sector which generates governance tensions. Using ‘La Ceinture Aliment-Terre Liégeoise’ (CATL) in Liège, Belgium, as a case study, the paper investigates how governance dynamics shape the development of the CATL as an AFN and identifies strategies used to cope with governance tensions, to enable further upscaling. The findings contribute to the understanding of the role of AFNs in the governance of food transitions. We argue that coping effectively with governance tensions is an integral and necessary part of the upscaling processes of AFNs. That is, the way governance tensions in the hybrid sector are coped with affects the upscaling process of these initiatives and therefore their transformative impact.