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The endeavour to align the goals of the Swedish food strategy with the national environmental quality objectives and the 17 global SDGs, presents an extraordinary challenge that calls for systemic innovation. Industrial symbiosis can potentially provide the means for increasing sustainable food production, using locally sub-exploited resources that can reduce the need for land, agrochemicals, transport and energy. This case study of the municipality of Harnosand, aims to assess opportunities and challenges for using waste flows and by-products for local food production, facilitated by industrial symbiosis. A potential symbiotic network was developed during three workshops with the main stakeholders in Harnosand. The potential of the COVID-19 pandemic to instigate policy changes, behavioural changes and formation of new alliances that may catalyse the transition towards food systems based on industrial symbiosis is discussed. The material flow inventory revealed that many underexploited resource flows were present in quantities that rendered them commercially interesting. Resources that can be used for innovative food production include, e.g., lignocellulosic residues, rock dust, and food processing waste. The internalised drive among local companies interested in industrial symbiosis and the emerging symbiotic relations, provide a fertile ground for the establishment of a local network that can process the sub-exploited material flows. Although there are multiple challenges for an industrial symbiosis network to form in Harnosand, this study shows that there is a significant potential to create added value from the regions many resources while at the same time making the food system more sustainable and resilient, by expanding industrial symbiosis practices. Funding Agencies|Mid Sweden University; municipality of Harnosand

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Purpose This paper aims to propose the concept of social terroir to help navigate phenomenological and epistemological conditions of small-scale food entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach This study used a qualitative research approach and was implemented in the peripheral region of Jämtland in northern Sweden. The study interrogated the ambitions of craft brewers when starting up, their long-term goals and visions, including questions about the reason for starting up a brewery, how the different brewers cooperate and how and why the products are designed and labelled the way they are. Findings This study shows that the production of craft beer is an inherently social practice that is part of a particular sociocultural milieu. This milieu informs production in distinct and interrelated ways: through connecting to place and locality in the different aspects of production and marketing, through cooperation to develop production and overcome barriers, and through embedding their work in sustainability discourses. Originality/value The study addresses how, in the context of craft beer, terroir or taste of place, is a matter of social ties to place and community–social terroir. What is novel is the way in which social terroir becomes a critical ingredient in the production of craft beer. This illustrates how small-scale food production and gastronomic efforts can link people, places and businesses.

The evolution of the craft beer sector has been gaining traction around the world since the 1980s, developing from factors such as an increased demand for alternative and locally distinct flavours in beer, increased interest in pairing food with the right type of beer, and increased income levels. Meanwhile, the economic and political contexts for establishing and running craft breweries differ between cities, regions, and nations. This study takes its point of departure from the producer perspective of the craft beer sector in the alcohol monopoly of Sweden, where the interest in craft breweries has also developed quickly over the last decades. The main purpose of the study is to contribute to the understanding of producer perspectives on operating in an alcohol monopoly, and how this effects development opportunities. The study has an explorative, mixed methods approach and is based on a survey encompassing all Swedish craft brewers as well as qualitative data from northern Sweden, including interviews with craft beer producers, site visits, and document analysis. The conclusions provide a complex picture of the Swedish alcohol monopoly and its impact on the craft brewers, and hence the development of the craft beer sector. However, the critical dimensions are more pronounced among the producers, suggesting that the Swedish organisation favours large-scale breweries, creates uncertain market conditions, leads to quick and unexpected decisions, and creates logistical difficulties. From an international comparative dimension, this indicates that the craft beer sector in Sweden could benefit from and grow even stronger with modifications to the market conditions according to the situation in other geographical contexts.

The importance of the cultural and creative industries (CCI) continues to grow as a result of increasing competitive pressure for cities to attract visitors, skilled labour and investors. Thus, cities must position themselves as creative places, and much of the development of the CCI sector takes place through city networks. Such networks can also support the ways cities position and brand themselves vis-a-vis the cultural and creative sector. An important CCI sector is gastronomy, which has become a key element of urban development plans. This study offers an exploratory perspective on the role of gastronomic city networks in city branding. More specifically, it is a case study of the UNESCO Creative City Network (UCCN) and the member cities of its gastronomy sub category. Sources of data within this case study are qualitative interviews of UCCN member cities, complemented by a document analysis and a webpage review. Insights from the empirical data point out several branding benefits associated with joining the UCCN. The exchange of knowledge, best practices and experiences emerge as the key benefits of UCCN membership. From a branding perspective, national and international recognition, attracting more visitors, investors and creative businesses are stressed. Opportunities for a more distinct brand identity, increased media, and citizen pride are some of the other favorable branding outcomes of UCCN membership. Drawbacks of the network include frustration with the levels of administration and bureaucracy, leading to a deficit in actual creative networking in regards to branding development opportunities.

Residing with the exponential growth of gastronomy tourism research, a number of review articles have examined the relationship of gastronomy and tourism from distinct thematic and disciplinary perspectives. What remains absent is a comprehensive overview that encapsulates the interdisciplinary dimensions of this area of research. In response, this study comprehensively investigates gastronomy tourism literature utilizing a network and content analysis, with an aim to map the main subject areas concerned with gastronomy tourism and relations between varying subject areas. In doing so, themes determining gastronomy tourism and focus for future exploration are identified. The review findings suggest that the trajectory of gastronomy tourism research is characterized by the dominance of "tourism, leisure, and hospitality management" and "geography, planning, and development." Three recommendations are proposed to assist development of gastronomy tourism research: increased dialogue across subject areas, development of critical and theoretical approaches, and greater engagement with sustainability debates.

Within the last few years, cities around the world have promoted creativity as a new resource for driving future development. As a result, a number of networks have emerged around this theme. The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) is one such network that attempts to use creativity as a mechanism to achieve sustainable growth and development. The network has grown rapidly since its inception in 2004 and now has 180 members worldwide, all of which have adopted the UCCN guidelines and directives. In this paper, the authors explore if and how cities use their membership to implement sustainable development goals. The paper uses the northern Swedish city of Ostersund as a case study, which has been an active member of the UCCN since 2010. Study findings indicate that membership in the UCCN has enabled Ostersund to advance sustainability discourse at a regional level, as well as improve practice in a limited sense. At the same time, findings also identify a number of challenges for integrating sustainability objectives into the UCCN.

International studies are dealing with the promotion of sustainable food systems more frequently. Additionally, places of purchase and sharing in the choice of food to be consumed have become a network system for families. The aim of this work is to analyse the preferences of Swedish consumers for local/artisanal cheeses and the purchase motivations that guide their choices. We also studied the role played by consumers&rsquo, favourite shopping locations (retail store, hypermarket, city market, supply chain). On the one hand, we examined the attractiveness and the power exercised by the various stores and on the other hand, we viewed the consumer in relation to the frequency of purchase, and the confidence with the sales points. We interviewed 200 people in the city of &Ouml, stersund, highlighting habits, consumption preferences and reasons for purchasing. A multiple correspondence analysis explores the reasons behind the purchase preferences of the local &lsquo, K&auml, llarlagrad getost&rsquo, artisan cheese from the Slow Food brand. The representations of social network analysis are used to show the complex articulations that influence the choices of consumers in terms of type of cheese purchased/consumed and places of purchase/consumption. The results showed that Swedish consumers, in the purchase of cheeses, have a loyalty point at the point of sale, follow the advice of the seller and are attentive to the reputation of the product. Those who buy K&auml, llarlagrad getost are sensitive to safety, appreciate artisan cheeses and choose them for their versatility, have a strong connection with the territory and wish to contribute to supporting the local economy. Knowing these characteristics and preferences of Swedish consumers living in a city in the north of the country is important for marketing activities and for promoting tourism and sustainable gastronomy.

In the last decades, many ventures and stakes into the creative and cultural industries (CCI) have been undertaken across the world. It has become somewhat more of a rule than exception that cities, regions and nations all have outspoken goals into this field. Research into the CCI tends to focus on larger cities and densely populated regions, and little research has focused on rural and sparsely populated regions.In this paper, the purpose has been to investigate the impact on economy and employment of the cultural and creative businesses away from urban areas. A second purpose was to study ways of improving the sectors potential to grow in such regions. Thereby a contribution is made towards reducing the knowledge gap between rural versus urban areas in the field of cultural and creative industry studies.The main methodology of the study can be characterized as interactive, as the researchers have closely followed a venture, called Drivkraft, into stimulating CCI in a remote context. The results point towards lack of efficiency and effective ways on behalf of the public sector to support the growth of CCI. In the studied venture, commercial actors themselves are shown to be better able to perform such a task. The study also shows that the CCI can be a strong contributor of employment and business opportunities in remote and sparsely populated regions as well, with high numbers of micro-businesses in our example case.