Food Systems Planning and Sustainable Cities and Regions: The Role of the Firm in Sustainable Food Capitalism

This paper takes stock of the growing food systems planning movement in North American cities, regions and towns as a possibility for sustainable regional development through the lens of new directions in everyday food practices. Drawing upon theoretical insights from the economic geography literature as well as empirical insights from the author's recent five-year study into the organic, ethnic and specialty food industry in the Toronto area in Canada, it is argued that a firm-centred perspective into food systems planning can help to deconstruct complexities in the system and also sheds light onto challenges of this form of sustainable regional development.