From Civic Food Network to Civic Food Platform: collaboration, trust and empowerment in the New Food Economy

A new food economy is emerging also in Italy as a part of a wider food movement about health and sustainability in food matter. In this new model different actors are often involved in collaborative networks in which the differences between consumers and producers are more and more blurred. the present research aims to investigate the bases and the development of their collaborative capability, mostly highlighting trust building processes and social capital assessing implications in their empowerment as fundamental factor for the full establisment of the NFE. Facing a wide range of Italian case studies and with the help of in the depth interviews, the paper thus provides a compative analysis of different civic food networks including those in which the role of ICT is prominent.