Abstract

The article analyzes the food policy of the city of Milan before and after the pandemic, focusing on the characteristics of facilitative leadership, collaborative governance, and its institutionalization process. The governance of the food emergency during the pandemic helped to extend the food policy domain of intervention of the Municipality to the area of food security. The widening of the urban policy area in time of crisis strengthens the ability of Food Policy Office to steer the diversity of stakeholders, economic and social actors, involved in the Milanese food system. Furthermore, the reconstruction of the process shows how collaborative governance has consolidated and institutionalized over time thanks to dual facilitative leadership, the ability to coordinate, and collect data relating to food demands and needs