Third Natures? Reconstituting Space through Place-making Strategies for Sustainability
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Published
Jun 4, 2012
Terry Marsden
Abstract
The recent rises in food prices represent the ‘tip of the iceberg’ and a ‘canary in the mine’ moment for world agriculture. They are underlain by a continuing race to the bottom and by speculative processes whereby systems of resource production and exploitation are continuing to rely upon ‘infinite supply’ assumptions and narrow technological solutions to world hunger. It is argued here that these conditions are leading to a dominant and aggregated policy framing that tends to marginalize diverse and place-based agro-ecological systems, through the creation of a renewed legitimacy for bio-economic, rather than eco-economic, solutions. Nevertheless, the current food crisis is also providing opportunities for more place-based and reflexive governance arrangements. This article outlines the relationships between these bio-economic, and alternative eco-economic, strategies and focuses on some of the key articulation mechanisms between the two paradigms. Of key importance here is understanding the reconstitution of space and state processes in these contested but innovative articulations.
How to Cite
Marsden, T. . (2012) “Third Natures? Reconstituting Space through Place-making Strategies for Sustainability ”, The International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food. Paris, France, 19(2), pp. 257–274. doi: 10.48416/ijsaf.v19i2.229.
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References
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2009–10, HC 227. London: The Stationery Office.
Forman, R. (2008) Urban Regions: Ecology and Planning Beyond the City. Cambridge: Cambridge University
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Friedland, W., Ransom, E. and Wolf, S. (2010) Agri-food alternatives and reflexivity in academic practice,
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Goodman, D., Sorj, B. and Wilkinson, J. (1987) From Farming to Biotechnology: A Theory of Agro-industrial
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Goodman, D., DuPuis, M. and Goodman, M. (2011) Alternative Food Networks: Knowledge, Practice and Politics.
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Government Office for Science (2011) The Future of Food and Farming: Challenges and Choices for Global Sustainability.
London: Government Office for Science.
Henderson, G. (1998) California and the Fictions of Capital. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Henrichs, C. (2010) Conceptualising and creating sustainable food systems: how interdisciplinarity can
help, in: A. Blay-Palmer (ed.) Imagining Sustainable Food Systems: Theory and Practice. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Horlings, L. and Marsden, T. (2011) Towards a real green revolution: exploring the conceptual dimensions
of a new ecological modernization of agriculture that could feed the world, Global Environmental
Change, 21, pp. 441–452.
Kippie, T.K. (2002) Five Thousand Years of Sustainability? A Case study on Gedeo Land Use (Southern Ethiopia).
Heelsum: Treemail Publishers.
Kitchen, L. and Marsden, T. (2009) Creating sustainable rural development through stimulating the ecoeconomy:
beyond the eco-economic paradox?, Sociologia Ruralis, 49(3), pp. 273–294.
Kitchen, L. and Marsden, T. (2011) Constructing sustainable communities: a theoretical exploration of the
bio-economy and eco-economy paradigms, Local Environment, 16(8), pp. 753–769.
Langeveld, H., Sanders, J. and Meeusen, M. (eds) (2010) The Bio-based Economy: Biofuels, Materials and Chemicals
in the Post-oil Era. London: Earthscan.
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Earthscan.
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Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 25(1), pp. 69–80.
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Marsden, T.K. and Sonnino, R. (2008) Rural development and the regional state: denying multi-functional
agricutlture in the UK, Journal of Rural Studies, 4(4), pp. 422–440.
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Beyond the Food Crisis. London: Routledge.
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world (dis)order, Global Environmental Change, 21(3), pp. 804–813.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Synthesis. Washington, DC:
Island Press.
Morgan, K., Marsden, T.K. and Murdoch, J. (2006) Worlds of Food: Place, Power and Provenance in the Food
Chain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Nemes, N. (2009) Comparative Analysis of Organic and Non-organic Farming Systems: A Critical Assessment of
Farm Profitability. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
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a Policy Agenda. Paris: OECD Publishing.
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Food Sovereignty. London: Earthscan.
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Assen: Royal Van Gorcum.
Pretty, J. (2003) Agro-ecology in developing countries: the promise of a sustainable harvest, Environment,
45(9), pp. 8–20.
Pretty, P. and Hine, R. (2001) Reducing Food Poverty with Sustainable Agriculture: A Summary of New Evidence.
Colchester: Centre for Environment and Society, University of Essex.
Scialabba, N. (2007) Organic Agriculture and Food Security. Presented at FAO International Conference on
Organic Agriculture and Food Security, Rome, 3–5 May.
Smith, N. (2007) Nature as accumulation strategy, Socialist Register, 43, pp. 1–21.
Sonnino, R. (2011) Indicators for Sustainable Food in Cities. Presented at the inaugural Sustainable Food
for Cities Conference, Bristol.
Spaargaren, G., Oosterveer, P. and Loeber, A. (eds) (2012) Food Practices in Transition: Changing Food Consumption,
Retail and Production in the Age of Reflexive Modernity. New York: Routledge.
Sundkvist, A., Milestad, R. and Jansson, A. (2005) On the importance of tightening feedback loops for
sustainable development of food systems, Food Policy, 30(2), pp. 224–239.
Sustainable Development Commission (2011) Looking Back, Looking Forward: Sustainability and Food Policy
2000–2011. London: Sustainable Development Commission.
Tucker, A., Huppes, Guinée, J., Heijungs, R., de Koning, A., van Oers, L., Suh, S., Geerken, T., Van Holderbeke,
M., Jansen, B. and Nielsen, P. (2006) Environmental Impact of Products (EIPRO): Analysis of the Life
Cycle Environmental Impacts Related to the Final Consumption of the EU-25. Brussels: European Commission.
Wales Rural Observatory (2010) A Survey of Farming Households in Wales. Cardiff: Cardiff University.
Welsh Assembly Government (2010) Food for Wales, Food from Wales 2010–2010: Food Strategy for Wales. Cardiff:
Welsh Assembly Government.
Wright, E.O. (2001) Deepening democracy: innovations in empowered participatory governance, Politics
and Society, 29(1), pp. 5–42.
Humanities Press.
Blay-Palmer, A. (ed.) (2010) Imagining Sustainable Food Systems: Theory and Practice. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Boyd, J., Prudham, W. and Schuman, R. (2001) Industrial dynamics and the problem of nature, Society and
Natural Resources, 14, pp. 555–570.
Brown, L. (2011) This will be the Arab world’s next battle, The Guardian, 22 April, Published online
May 2012.
Carson, R. (2007) Laying the foundations for a bio-economy, Systems and Synthetic Biology, 1, pp. 109–117.
Clark, N. (2011) Inhuman Nature: Sociable Life on a Dynamic Planet. London: Sage Publications.
EFRA (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee) (2010) Dairy Farmers of Britain, 5th Report of Session
2009–10, HC 227. London: The Stationery Office.
Forman, R. (2008) Urban Regions: Ecology and Planning Beyond the City. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Friedland, W., Ransom, E. and Wolf, S. (2010) Agri-food alternatives and reflexivity in academic practice,
Rural Sociology, 75(4), pp. 532–537.
Friedmann, H. (2010) Scaling up: Bringing public institutions and food service corporations into the project
for a local, sustainable food system in Ontario, in: A. Blay-Palmer (ed.) Imagining Sustainable Food
Systems: Theory and Practice. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Goodman, D., Sorj, B. and Wilkinson, J. (1987) From Farming to Biotechnology: A Theory of Agro-industrial
Development. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Goodman, D., DuPuis, M. and Goodman, M. (2011) Alternative Food Networks: Knowledge, Practice and Politics.
London: Routledge.
Government Office for Science (2011) The Future of Food and Farming: Challenges and Choices for Global Sustainability.
London: Government Office for Science.
Henderson, G. (1998) California and the Fictions of Capital. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Henrichs, C. (2010) Conceptualising and creating sustainable food systems: how interdisciplinarity can
help, in: A. Blay-Palmer (ed.) Imagining Sustainable Food Systems: Theory and Practice. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Horlings, L. and Marsden, T. (2011) Towards a real green revolution: exploring the conceptual dimensions
of a new ecological modernization of agriculture that could feed the world, Global Environmental
Change, 21, pp. 441–452.
Kippie, T.K. (2002) Five Thousand Years of Sustainability? A Case study on Gedeo Land Use (Southern Ethiopia).
Heelsum: Treemail Publishers.
Kitchen, L. and Marsden, T. (2009) Creating sustainable rural development through stimulating the ecoeconomy:
beyond the eco-economic paradox?, Sociologia Ruralis, 49(3), pp. 273–294.
Kitchen, L. and Marsden, T. (2011) Constructing sustainable communities: a theoretical exploration of the
bio-economy and eco-economy paradigms, Local Environment, 16(8), pp. 753–769.
Langeveld, H., Sanders, J. and Meeusen, M. (eds) (2010) The Bio-based Economy: Biofuels, Materials and Chemicals
in the Post-oil Era. London: Earthscan.
Lawrence, G., Lyons, K. and Wallington, T. (eds) (2010) Food Security, Nutrition and Sustainability. London:
Earthscan.
Lin, L., Zhou, D. and Ma, C. (2010) Green food industry in China: development, problems and policies,
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 25(1), pp. 69–80.
Mann, S. and Dickenson, J. (1978) Obstacles to development of a capitalist agriculture, Journal of Peasant
Studies, 5(4), pp. 97–122.
Marsden, T.K. and Sonnino, R. (2008) Rural development and the regional state: denying multi-functional
agricutlture in the UK, Journal of Rural Studies, 4(4), pp. 422–440.
Marsden, T.K., Lee, R., Flynn, A. and Thankappan, S. (2010) The New Regulation and Governance of Food:
Beyond the Food Crisis. London: Routledge.
McMichael, P. (2011) Food system sustainability: questions of environmental governance in the new
world (dis)order, Global Environmental Change, 21(3), pp. 804–813.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Synthesis. Washington, DC:
Island Press.
Morgan, K., Marsden, T.K. and Murdoch, J. (2006) Worlds of Food: Place, Power and Provenance in the Food
Chain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Nemes, N. (2009) Comparative Analysis of Organic and Non-organic Farming Systems: A Critical Assessment of
Farm Profitability. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) (2005) The Bio-economy to 2030: Designing
a Policy Agenda. Paris: OECD Publishing.
OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) (2011) Report on Green Growth. Paris:
OECD Publishing.
Peet, R., Watts, M. and Robbins, B. (eds) (2011) Global Political Ecology. London: Routledge.
Perfecto, I., Vandermeer, J. and Wright, A. (2010) Nature’s Matrix: Linking Agriculture, Conservation and
Food Sovereignty. London: Earthscan.
Ploeg, J.D. van der and Marsden, T.K. (eds) (2008) Unfolding Webs: The Dynamics of Rural Regional Development.
Assen: Royal Van Gorcum.
Pretty, J. (2003) Agro-ecology in developing countries: the promise of a sustainable harvest, Environment,
45(9), pp. 8–20.
Pretty, P. and Hine, R. (2001) Reducing Food Poverty with Sustainable Agriculture: A Summary of New Evidence.
Colchester: Centre for Environment and Society, University of Essex.
Scialabba, N. (2007) Organic Agriculture and Food Security. Presented at FAO International Conference on
Organic Agriculture and Food Security, Rome, 3–5 May.
Smith, N. (2007) Nature as accumulation strategy, Socialist Register, 43, pp. 1–21.
Sonnino, R. (2011) Indicators for Sustainable Food in Cities. Presented at the inaugural Sustainable Food
for Cities Conference, Bristol.
Spaargaren, G., Oosterveer, P. and Loeber, A. (eds) (2012) Food Practices in Transition: Changing Food Consumption,
Retail and Production in the Age of Reflexive Modernity. New York: Routledge.
Sundkvist, A., Milestad, R. and Jansson, A. (2005) On the importance of tightening feedback loops for
sustainable development of food systems, Food Policy, 30(2), pp. 224–239.
Sustainable Development Commission (2011) Looking Back, Looking Forward: Sustainability and Food Policy
2000–2011. London: Sustainable Development Commission.
Tucker, A., Huppes, Guinée, J., Heijungs, R., de Koning, A., van Oers, L., Suh, S., Geerken, T., Van Holderbeke,
M., Jansen, B. and Nielsen, P. (2006) Environmental Impact of Products (EIPRO): Analysis of the Life
Cycle Environmental Impacts Related to the Final Consumption of the EU-25. Brussels: European Commission.
Wales Rural Observatory (2010) A Survey of Farming Households in Wales. Cardiff: Cardiff University.
Welsh Assembly Government (2010) Food for Wales, Food from Wales 2010–2010: Food Strategy for Wales. Cardiff:
Welsh Assembly Government.
Wright, E.O. (2001) Deepening democracy: innovations in empowered participatory governance, Politics
and Society, 29(1), pp. 5–42.
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