Avoiding the Local Trap

TLDR

Local food systems are widely assumed to be ecologically sustainable and socially just, yet scale is socially produced and not inherently superior. The authors define the local trap and argue that planners must avoid it. They use scale theory from political and economic geography to show that local food systems are not inherently more sustainable or just than larger systems. They find that outcomes depend on the agenda, not the scale, and that their theoretical approach provides a way to avoid the local trap.

Abstract

A strong current of food-systems research holds that local food systems are preferable to systems at larger scales. Many assume that eating local food is more ecologically sustainable and socially just. We term this the local trap and argue strongly against it. We draw on current scale theory in political and economic geography to argue that local food systems are no more likely to be sustainable or just than systems at other scales. The theory argues that scale is socially produced: scales (and their interrelations) are not independent entities with inherent qualities but strategies pursued by social actors with a particular agenda. It is the content of that agenda, not the scales themselves, that produces outcomes such as sustainability or justice. As planners move increasingly into food-systems research, we argue it is critical to avoid the local trap. The article’s theoretical approach to scale offers one way to do so.