ABSTRACT
Many contemporary American cities face a myriad of problems; including high rates of vacant and/or underutilized land; sustained patterns of unemployment and economic disinvestment; and high rates of dietary-related health morbidities. The nation's post-industrial cities likely experience these problems more acutely. A growing number of scholars and urbanists have suggested that urban food system expansion may help mitigate these systemic problems. Largely absent from this scholarship is any discussion on the role of local governments in local food system expansion. This paper suggests an idealized conceptual framework for governance of an urban food system inspired by the partnership governance model. The use of the partnership governance model is useful as it frames consumers, civil society organizations, and urban food producers as partners in urban economic development along with government; and not merely as customers of governmental services. This framework is the product of a systematic review of the following bodies of literature: local food systems and urban agriculture; post-industrial urban studies; urban public health; and public administration.
