Multi-stakeholder collaboration for sustainable urban food systems in Europe
Improving food supply chains in urban areas can help address numerous urban challenges. Improving supply chains though, and ensuring their sustainability, requires not only shortening them, but shortening the flow of other goods and services as well. By addressing short food supply chains, the closing of nutrient, water and carbon cycles, and multifunctional land use, the EU-funded SUPURBFOOD (Towards sustainable modes of urban and peri-urban food provisioning) project took a more comprehensive approach to sustainable urban food production. Project partners created innovative approaches to these aspects in Europe and the Global South by learning from best practices and by developing, experimenting with and assessing new practices and approaches. Specifically, they analysed ways in which Bristol, Ghent, Riga, Rome, Rotterdam, Vigo and Zürich address the reuse and recycling of nutrients, water and urban waste, short food supply chains, as well as the multifunctional use of urban and peri-urban spaces. In addition to European cities, cases were reviewed from city regions in the Global South concerning the reuse of urban waste and wastewater, short food supply chains and multifunctional urban and peri-urban agriculture. This helped identify innovate approaches to food production and delivery, nutrient, waste and water management, and multifunctional use of space. Dialogue, experience sharing, best practice exchange and joint learning among SMEs, researchers and policymakers from the participating European cities and the Global South led to a series of policy recommendations targeting policymakers and practitioners. SUPURBFOOD has provided science and industry stakeholders with a valuable opportunity to collaborate and exploit new research prospects in addressing pressing urban challenges.
Keywords
Food supply chains, multifunctional land use, SUPURBFOOD, urban food production, urban and peri-urban agriculture
