Using communicative ecology theory to scope the emerging role of social media in the evolution of urban food systems

•Focuses on the role of social media in the emergence of sustainable urban food systems.•Uses a communicative ecology framework to describe a range of urban food projects.•Finds that social media accentuates the social relations underlying urban food systems.•Concludes that social media can play an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Futures : the journal of policy, planning and futures studies planning and futures studies, 2014-10, Vol.62, p.202-212
Main Authors: Hearn, Greg, Collie, Natalie, Lyle, Peter, Choi, Jaz Hee-Jeong, Foth, Marcus
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural production
Cities
Communicative ecology
Food
Food supply
Information technology
Social media
Social networks
Studies
Technological change
Urban farming
Urban informatics
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Summary:•Focuses on the role of social media in the emergence of sustainable urban food systems.•Uses a communicative ecology framework to describe a range of urban food projects.•Finds that social media accentuates the social relations underlying urban food systems.•Concludes that social media can play an important role in the future of sustainable urban food systems. Urban agriculture plays an increasingly vital role in supplying food to urban populations. Changes in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) are already driving widespread change in diverse food-related industries such as retail, hospitality and marketing. It is reasonable to suspect that the fields of ubiquitous technology, urban informatics and social media equally have a lot to offer the evolution of core urban food systems. We use communicative ecology theory to describe emerging innovations in urban food systems according to their technical, discursive and social components. We conclude that social media in particular accentuate fundamental social interconnections normally effaced by conventional industrialised approaches to food production and consumption.
ISSN:0016-3287
1873-6378
DOI:10.1016/j.futures.2014.04.010