Integrating Sustainability into Multi-criteria Assessment of Urban Dietary Patterns in Valencia

The increasing global demand for food requires land, water, nitrogen, phosphorus and other resources or inputs, and it leads to harmful outcomes such as greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss. In addition, increased attention on food health, particularly in the Mediterranean urban areas, raises key nutrition challenges related to malnutrition, obesity, and chronic disease. The main objective of this study is to develop a governance procedure to help policymakers promote the most suitable dietary pattern in the region of Valencia. Assessing diets is the focus of the current study, throughout the integration of sustainability concept into a chosen multi-criteria decision making method, particularly the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) which enabled consistent comparison of four theoretical dietary patterns that could shape food strategies in the Valencia metropolitan area; Mediterranean dietary pattern, Flexitarian, Pescatarian, and Vegan. Two stages were completed to apply the method: the individual interviews and the workshop. In the first stage, we tested the experts’ judgments regarding the three criteria of environmental impact, health value and socioeconomic factors. Two pairs of sub-criteria associated with the environmental impact and socioeconomic factors were also considered. According to the 25 experts who participated and their judgments were tested in the first stage, the main determinant of the sustainability of diets was the health and nutritional value of the diet followed by its environmental impact and then socioeconomic factors. The second stage involved participation in an interdisciplinary workshop by 14 experts specialised in the multiple fields covered in this study. The results of this participatory approach not only gives a general picture of what specialists in Valencia think about dietary alternatives but also illustrates a method to support future research in identifying dietary orientations in a certain context. Future AHP or related analyses will support the transition towards new sustainable food systems. This governance process itself could be considered an improvement in the performance of food and sustainability advisory committees or commissions. The effective use of a multi-criteria decision-making method (i.e. the AHP) can provide guidelines for policymakers, particularly regarding the kinds of diets that should be promoted in the public sector in urban areas to achieve sustainable food consumption habits. Here, trade-offs are relevant, and the method has the value of providing a holistic view that integrates conflicting criteria. Although the method can be used to integrate several criteria, the results only express the beliefs of a small group of experts with respect to a certain geographical context. In addition, the conditions affecting experts’ judgments and, consequently, food governance vary from one period to another. Overall, it is a fact that most Mediterranean regions, including Valencia’s metropolitan area, are nowadays deviating away from the typical Mediterranean consumption pattern. However, participated experts still attach a high value to this diet from a holistic point of view. The Mediterranean Dietary Pattern model, according to their opinion, is the most appropriate diet that should be followed by citizens of Valencia. As indicated this finding is perhaps not surprising. But it has been obtained through a systematic participatory approach, so we wish to stress the methodology of governance to reach a sustainable diet ranking, supported by existing knowledge, but taking into account different interests and sustainability dimensions. Finally, future studies should compare the chosen patterns with the actual patterns so that the distance between both models can be considered an indicator for food strategic planning at the local or national level.