ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on concepts that were developed and applied across other chapters in the food and nutrition security section. These concepts are then applied to the three scales set out in this handbook, being the intra-urban, in both high and low technology forms; the city and its immediate region; and cities in telecoupled relationships with distant landscapes, including those overseas. At each scale, the chapter discusses the challenges that arise in sustainably provisioning consumers with a nutritious and culturally appropriate diet. It also discusses the challenges of ensuring justice and equity outcomes for all participants in the food system, not only consumers, but producers, processors, distributors, and retailers. For each scale, the chapters look at the formal and informal institutions that regulate the flows of nutrient and materials in the food system, and how those flows could become part of an equitable circular economy. Overall, the challenge of creating a circular economy for food is seen as one of system design, and fundamental rests on what is seen as the design goal, or purpose, of a food system.
