Fragmentary embeddedness: Challenges for alternative food networks in Guangzhou, China

Alternative food networks (AFNs) have been viewed as being more deeply embedded in the fabric of places and the social relations of their food systems than conventional food networks, and have been regarded as ‘spaces of hope’ for addressing sustainability challenges associated with global food systems. This paper argues that embeddedness, however, is contingent and shifting rather than an intrinsic quality, and is shaped by the cultures of production, trade, and consumption in particular places. This paper evaluates challenges that emerging AFNs in Guangzhou, China, are confronting relating to their embeddedness in place. The paper is underpinned by research involving interviews and focus groups with key food system actors and stakeholders in Guangzhou, including government officials, organic farmers, retailers, and non-governmental organizations. It demonstrates that AFNs in Guangzhou achieve only ‘fragmentary embeddedness’ in local cultures and systems of production, retail, and consumption. Despite strong social relationships established by a few successful farms and their loyal consumer groups, AFNs more broadly have struggled to embed themselves in the social and cultural fabric of the city and its commercial foodscapes. In terms of territorial embeddedness, the association of AFNs with western values, which do not always translate into Guangzhou’s production and retail systems, can limit their embeddedness and scaling up in this context. The split between ‘new’ farmers (i.e., educated and urban-rooted producers ‘returning to the land’) and common farmers (i.e., local peasants) further exacerbates the difficulty of integrating AFNs in rural communities. Regarding social embeddedness, AFNs struggle to meet local consumer preferences regarding food appearances, quality, and taste, and therefore consumer trust in them is limited. In terms of institutional embeddedness, AFNs lack government policy support, despite the alignment of their missions with national strategies. More efforts are needed to deepen the embeddedness of AFNs in Guangzhou’s food system and cultures if they are to respond effectively to China’s food crisis and wider sustainability issues

Computational and experimental analysis of elastic deformation in impact

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On the measurement of angular vibration displacements: a laser tiltmeter

A novel modification and use of the optical geometry which is used as the basis for the Laser Torsional Vibrometer [1] is described. This latter instrument measures the torsional oscillation (or local rotational speed fluctuation) of a rotating component of arbitrary shape and in the presence of solid body vibrations of the component itself. The Laser Torsional Vibrometer relies on the mean speed of rotation of the component to produce a time resolved voltage analogue of the angular velocity. There are many cases of engineering interest however where a component undergoes an angular oscillation about an axis rather than a simple translation or rotation with a unidirectional angular velocity In modal analysis for example where rotational and translation motions are of equal importance the absence of suitable transducers means rotational mobilities are rarely measured [2]. In what follows it is shown how a modification to the optical geometry of the Laser Torsional Vibrometer can produce an instrument which is capable of measuring the local angular or tilt velocity in this situation and will therefore solve this problem