Gıda sistemi krizine kentlerde çözüm arayışları: İstanbul'da alternatif yapılar, aktörler ve politikalar
Seeking solutions to the food system crises in cities: Alternative structures, actors and policies in İstanbul
Yazar: CANSU İLHAN
Danışman: DOÇ. DR. EBRU KERİMOĞLU
İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi / Lisansüstü Eğitim Enstitüsü / Şehir ve Bölge Planlama Ana Bilim Dalı / Şehir ve Bölge Planlama Bilim Dalı
Derece: Doktora, 2024
Konu: Şehircilik ve Bölge Planlama = Urban and Regional Planning
Dizin: Alternatif gıda ağları = Alternative food networks ; Gıda politikaları = Food policies ; Kentsel politika = Urban policy ; Tarım gıda sosyolojisi = Agricultural food sociology ; Şehir coğrafyası =   ; Şehircilik = Urbanization ; Şehirsel sosyal hareketler = Urban social movements

Özet:
Gıda sistemi, çevresel, ekonomik ve toplumsal faktörlerin etkileşim içerinde olduğu karmaşık bir yapıdır. Bu sistem, tohumdan sofraya kadar geniş bir yelpazede toplumsal ve ekolojik konuları içerisine alan çok boyutlu bir süreçtir. Gıda sistemi üretim, dağıtım, işleme, tüketim ve atık yönetimi gibi bir dizi faaliyeti içermekte ve bu faaliyetler çevresel faktörlerle, ekonomik koşullarla ve toplumsal dinamiklerle etkileşim halindedir. Geçmiş yüzyılda bilimsel ve teknolojik gelişmelerle birlikte dünya genelinde gıda üretimi ve verimliliği önemli ölçüde artmış olmasına rağmen, günümüzde hala milyonlarca insan açlık ve yetersiz beslenme sorunlarıyla karşı karşıyadır. Küresel Açlık İndeksi'ne göre her yıl milyonlarca insan açlık nedeniyle yaşamını yitirmekte, yüz milyonlarca insan açlıkla mücadele etmekte ve milyarlarca insan gıda güvencesizliğiyle karşı karşıya kalmaktadır. Ayrıca, mikro besin eksiklikleri veya gizli açlık olarak adlandırılan sorun, milyarlarca insanı etkilemektedir. Bunlara ek olarak, kentleşme, nüfus artışı, tarımsal üretimde kullanılan kimyasal girdilerden kaynaklanan çevresel sorunlar, iklim değişikliği ve bunun sonucunda ortaya çıkan aşırı hava olayları gıda sistemlerinin temel zorlukları arasındadır. Son dönemde ise 2008 küresel gıda krizi ve 2020'deki COVID-19 pandemisi, gıda sistemlerinin sürdürülebilirliği konusundaki endişeleri artırmış ve sistemin kırılganlığını bir kez daha gözler önüne sermiştir. Küresel gıda sisteminin neden olduğu çok boyutlu kriz ise dünya genelinde gıda muhalefetlerini ve alternatif bir sistem arayışını ortaya çıkarmıştır. Gıda sistemine ilişkin endişelerin toplum tarafındaki karşılığı üretici ve tüketicilerin doğrudan birbirine bağlandığı yeni örgütlenme pratiklerini ortaya çıkarırken, diğer yandan sistemin dönüşümünde ve sürdürülebilir bir sistem oluşturmanın yollarının oluşturulmasında öne çıkan bir diğer aktör ise yerel yönetimler olmuştur. Bu çalışma yerel yönetimlerin ve alternatif gıda örgütlerinin kabiliyet, kapasite ve rollerini ve değişimin öznesi olarak bu iki yapının etki sınırlarını açıklığa kavuşturmayı amaçlamıştır. Çalışmada araştırma yöntemi olarak nitel araştırma yöntemi, araştırma deseni olarak ise "durum çalışması" seçilmiştir. Çalışmada kullanılan yöntem, araştırma sorularının doğasından kaynaklanan gereksinimler doğrultusunda belirlenmiştir. Çalışmanın bulguları yerel yönetim politikalarının çoğunlukla mevcut yasal sınırlarla kısıtlandığını ve İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi'nin (İBB) politika yaklaşımının radikal bir kopuş ortaya koymadığını, aksine mevcut zorlukları anlama, uyum sağlama ve sürdürülebilir gıda sistemine geçişi teşvik etme amacını yansıttığını göstermektedir. Alternatif Gıda Ağları'nın ise alternatif sistem tahayyüllerini uygulama potansiyeline sahip olmakla birlikte geniş toplumsal katmanlara ulaşmadıkça sistemi dönüştürme kapasitesinin sınırlı olduğu ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu bağlamda hem yerel yönetimin etkili yönetişim adımları atması hem de alternatif gıda inisiyatiflerinin kapsayıcı bir yapı oluşturarak toplumsal çeşitliliği desteklemesi, İstanbul'un sürdürülebilir gıda sistemine geçişinde kritik önemdedir.

Abstract:
The food system is a complex construct where environmental, economic, and social factors regularly interact with each other. The interactions between the components of the system lead to various outcomes in a wide range of areas. Extending beyond being an area of sole consumption, food is a multidimensional system that encompasses a variety of societal and ecological issues from seed to table. The food system involves various activities within a broad process including but not limited to production, distribution, processing, consumption, and waste management. Each of these activities are intricately linked to environmental factors, economic conditions, and societal dynamics. Therefore, the food system is profoundly influenced by cultural, social, and economic contexts. Having a deep understanding of the interactions within a food system is crucial to achieve a sustainable and resilient system.
Over the past century, scientific and technological advancements provided a significant increase in global food production and efficiency. Yet, millions of people still face hunger and malnutrition. According to the 2022 Global Hunger Index, each year 9 million people lose their lives due to hunger, 828 million people suffer from hunger, and 2.3 billion people face food insecurity. Moreover, micronutrient deficiencies, also known as hidden hunger, affect more than a billion people worldwide. In addition to the challenges related to safe, healthy, nutritious, and sufficient access to food urbanization, population growth, greenhouse gas emissions arising from high-input farming activities as well as disrupted ecosystems, intensified climate crises and extreme weather events, the elimination of peasantry in agriculture, food inflation, and food-related public health problems prove to be the major challenges to the current food system.
The global food crisis in 2008 led to protests and uprisings that were sparked by the hike in food prices, while the COVID-19 pandemic that broke out in early 2020 resurfaced the concerns about the sustainability of food systems. The pandemic also revealed the vulnerabilities in food production and distribution systems due to diseases that can spread from animals as well as the vulnerability of the system to crises due to restricted food and labor mobility during the pandemic. While the 2008 food crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic underlined the challenges that threat the global food system, the environmental damage, social upheaval, and public health issues caused by the food system have long been a hot topic of debate.
In summary, current food systems fail to ensure food safety for everyone, and the impacts of food production, processing, transportation, distribution, consumption, loss, and waste have increased more than ever. Recent crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the wars revealed the fragile nature of food systems, thus emphasizing the importance of ensuring a flexible food system in the face of crises.

Concerns regarding the sustainability of food systems continue to intensify. Multidimensional food crises that arise from ecological, economic, and social issues have brought about opposing food movements as well as a quest for alternative systems worldwide. There are many factors that gave rise to opposing food movements and a search for alternatives: issues such as ensuring food security; concerns about the production, distribution, and safety of the food consumed; the elimination of peasantry in agriculture; the dominance of multinational corporations; the intensification of the climate crisis and ecological damage arising from the current production practices, monoculture, and the increased use of highly chemical inputs; concerns about the ability to continue transporting agriculture, food, and components at the global scale. In addition to these concerns, there is a growing demand for transformation and sustainability from society, thus leading to the emergence of new organizational practices that strive to directly connect producers and consumers. These initiatives, known as Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) include various structures such as food communities, cooperatives, initiatives, and community-supported agriculture.
AFNs take a stance against the wild and uncontrolled growth of industrial agriculture. They draw attention to the social and ecological costs of this growth and offer the opportunity to make an epistemic intervention. In addition to AFNs, local governments play a leading role in the transformation of the food system. As of the 21st century, many cities have begun to formulate 'urban food strategies' and 'food charters' in an effort to address food policies. Urban food strategies aim to create an alternative position that strives to balance the negative externalities by addressing various environmental and health issues that are overlooked by the market. These strategies focus on managing urban food systems in a more sustainable and fair fashion while approaching food policies with a broader perspective.
The increasing role of cities in matters related to food represents a significant departure from the former situation where private market forces were dominant and the influence of local authorities was quite limited. Today, cities increasingly bear the responsibility to find solutions to the problems that emerge within their boundaries. The increasing population and urbanization rates make cities more inclined to take action to meet their residents' need for food, further emphasizing their key role in food systems. In summary, the multilayered crisis within today's food system, which is a consequence of neoliberalization and the corporate food regime that emerged in the 1980s, as well as the necessity to readdress the food system have been embodied as alternative systems that are formed by civil society with different motivations. On the other hand, cities have become increasingly important with their practices in implementing urban food policies.
Againts this backdrop, the aim of this study is to clarify the capabilities, the capacity, and the role of local governments and alternative food initiatives and to delineate the boundaries of their impact as agents of change. By analyzing the urban food system in Istanbul, the study illustrates how local governments and alternative food initiatives contribute to the food system and lead to change.
The research focuses on Istanbul for two reasons: First of all, Istanbul has a longer background in terms of the efforts to shape an alternative food system and hosts the highest number of different organizations and opposing food movements that help shape the alternative food system. The number of such movements particularly proliferated with the formation of neighborhood forums after the Gezi Park protests. The Gezi Park protests increased citizens' capability to take initiative and get
organized in an effort to address various social issues, thus creating a democratic and egalitarian public space. Second, Istanbul proves to be the driving force in Turkey with the population and economic activities it accomodates, and in recent years, the IMM has adopted a comprehensive approach to address urban food policies.
The study explores alternative food initiatives and local policies based on the three main headings suggested by the Food System Approach (social welfare, food security, and environmental safety). The research questions of the study were formulated "to understand" and "to explore the relationships;" therefore, a qualitative analysis proved to be the best method for the purposes of this study. The mehod was refined based on the requirements of the research questions. The method allowed respondents to frankly express their opinions and experiences, thus enabling the researcher to thoroughly understand their impacts on the food system. The case study method provides a detailed examination of a particular case in a real-world context, thus providing an in-depth understanding of the impacts of alternative food initiatives and the local government on the food system in Istanbul.
The primary method to collect the necessary data for the research was face-to-face "in-depth interviews," which were conducted online The interviews were conducted between August 2021 and May 2023. "Document analysis" was utilized as a supporting data collection method. A total of 35 interviews were conducted with respondents in three categories: (1) local government, i.e. IMM (14 respondents), (2) alternative food initiatives (7 respondents), and (3) other actors, i.e. relevant NGOs and producers (14 respondents). Purposive sampling was used to identify the respondents in each category. When selecting the respondents in the IMM, particular attention was paid to ensure that the respondents work in departments that address different aspects of the food system. Respondents in alternative food initiatives were identified so as to ensure that they represent different typologies such as cooperatives and food communities, and community gardens were not included as a typology. Respondents in NGOs were identified to represent organizations that operate in different contexts based on the Food System Approach, and particular attention was paid to include NGOs and professional chambers that operate in various areas, such as environmental safety, food safety, consumer rights, the welfare of producers, etc. When selecting producers for in-depth interviews, it was ensured that they perform agroecological farming. "Descriptive analysis" and "thematic analysis/categorical content analysis" were used to analyse the data.
The findings of the study indicate that the policies of local governments are mostly constrained by existing legal limits, and the policy approach of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) does not prove to be a radical departure from the conventional food system but rather reflects IMM's intention to comprehend existing challenges, to adapt accordingly, and to promote the transition to a sustainable food system. Regardless of how limited they may be, the efforts of the IMM hold the potential to achieve change in the existing system, and effective governance is required to ensure that any step taken towards a sustainable food system evolves into a more effective transformation. The facilitating role of the IMM is a significant and crucial step in transforming the local food system.
Alternative Food Networks (AFNs), on the other hand, have the potential to implement the visions for an alternative system; however, their capacity to transform the system is limited as long as they fail to reach broader social groups. AFNs tend to offer limited social inclusivity as they typically appeal only certain socioeconomic classes.Therefore, AFNs are not likely to trigger anything beyond a transformation driven by ethical consumerism. Unless they achieve to appeal all layers of society, AFNs will fail to fully realize the potential for a widespread social change and transformation. Accordingly, in order to form a more effective strategy for the transition to a sustainable food system in Istanbul, it is critical that the IMM continues its efforts in effective governance and the AFNs adopt an inclusive character that ensures social diversity.
This study, which focuses on the case of Istanbul by scrutinizing both the role and the transformative potential of alternative food initiatives and the IMM, is significant given that it adds onto the limited literature that analyses case studies on the evolving role of local governments in shaping the food system. The study is also valuable for it addresses alternative food initiatives and the local government (in this case the IMM) together towards shaping an alternative system, thus making suggestions on opportunities, limitations, obstacles, and authorities. With its analysis of the IMM, this study proves to be a comprehensive starting point.Yet, it should be kept in mind that the district municipalities in Istanbul also holds the potential to make certain interventions in the food system, and each district municipality is unique in terms of location, authority, budget, and legal limitations. Therefore, future studies may be conducted to further scrutinize different tiers of local governments and their impacts on the food system.