European Forum for a Comprehensive Vision on Urban Agriculture

Project Information

EFUA

Grant agreement ID: 101000681

DOI

10.3030/101000681

Project closed

EC signature date 18 August 2020

Start date 1 November 2020

End date 31 October 2024

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy

Total cost

€ 2 039 437,50

EU contribution

€ 2 039 437,50

Coordinated by

RHEINISCH-WESTFAELISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE AACHEN
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - EFUA (European Forum for a Comprehensive Vision on Urban Agriculture)

Reporting period: 2023-11-01 to 2024-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

EFUA’s objectives were to unlock Urban Agriculture’s potential by achieving better knowledge, better deployment, and better policies in this field.

1. Better knowledge in Urban Agriculture
EFUA was reviewing research and publications on UA to define the knowledge status in UA. It consulted and cooperated with ongoing research projects and influenced upcoming ones to better coordinate research on UA. EFUA strived to define knowledge gaps hindering UA’s development and to define Research & Innovation activities to fill these gaps. EFUA provided the UA stakeholders with updated knowledge. EFUA’s objective was to co-build knowledge together with the stakeholders engaged in the UA Forum.

2. Better deployment of Urban Agriculture
EFUA was reviewing research, publications and reports to collate and analyzed good collective practice and their related forms of governance in Europe. Governance is understood to mean ways of planning, realizing and sustaining UA practices at the city level in the context of interaction with the local social, economic, political and environmental context. EFUA was identifying barriers hindering UA’s development and define strategies and actions to overcome these barriers, targeting the different tiers from EU, to member states and regional and local level. EFUA was also identifying future challenges, potential game changers and promising next practice. This was done again through engaging the UA Forum to achieve stakeholder targeted and adaptable solutions.

3. Better policies for Urban Agriculture
Based on a better understanding, it was EFUA’s goal to build the UA agenda for the next two decades and to purposefully advise policies from EU to city level. EFUA investigated both, 1) policies impacting UA and 2) policies that potentially benefit from UA. By analyzing institutional and normative frameworks EFUA is uncovering links between UA and policies to benefit policy making and define action, and guide UA towards a policy conforming with development priorities. EFUA aimed to relate UA to the decisive EU agendas and priorities to achieve better support and funding. This was undertaken from the European level to the city level and also taking into account a globalized UA, namely by addressing UA in LDCs. In doing so, the UA Forum was helping to define a comprehensive vision and policies and actions that really fit to the requirements of the UA stakeholders.

4. Better networking of stakeholders in Urban Agriculture
EFUA continued the work of the COST Action Urban Agriculture Europe (COST UAE; 2012-2016). EFUA was building on this network and its achievements and link it with other European research activities - namely the Horizon programmes - and communities – from local to global ones and including Least Developed Countries (LDCs) - to establish a community of stakeholders in the field of Urban Agriculture (UA). This community - called the UA Forum is intended to be sustained beyond the project’s lifetime in order to give UA a European voice and to provide policy makers in Europe with a forum to continuously fine tune their UA related policies. Following a quad helix approach, the UA Forum was also one of EFUA’s main mechanisms to boost its various activities from research to impact and to achieve its other objectives.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

EFUA has constantly progressed its objective to unlock Urban Agriculture’s potential. This has included the organisation of three key Conferences: The Rome FACTS Conference set the scene whilst the Sofia NEXT Conference reviewed key EFUA findings such as the emerging Typology on Urban Agriculture.The final ACTION conference in Brussels presented ideas and pathways for comprehensive vision for urban agriculture and for better policies.
These events cemented links between the EFUA partnership and wider networks of practitioners and policymakers from around Europe. In addition, EFUA has disseminated key UA research and knowledge outputs from the project to European policymakers and practitioners through its web-based platform and social media networks. The production of policy briefs, guidelines and factsheets has formed a key part of the dissemination process.
Reports produced include:
1. Future "next practices" of urban agriculture from the perspective of key European actors
2. A UA Typology and Benefit Portfolio that presents in an interactive approach the five main benefit categories of UA and links these to tangible examples of UA - In addition, it exemplifies the six types of urban agriculture, and highlights urban policies by practically offering some successful examples of implementing UA
3. “Planning for and with UA”, clearly summarizes the benefits of different top-down policy and planning approaches, as well as bottom-up needs and demands
4. A comprehensive report on the needs for more targeted city-level policies and tools that maintain and/or increase the resources that support UA-related activities
5. An online good governance portfolio, which explains place-sensitive governace concepts
6. A multilingual Urban Agriculture Manifesto for Europe, which flags needed policy reforms and proposes an agenda that allows UA to flourish in Europe

A publications strategy aimed to ensure that the outputs of EFUA are properly documented through scientific publications and more applied literature. The RUAF Special Edition brought together wide-ranging content from UA experts all over the world. EFUA partners provided the majority of the content which provides a comprehensive overview of the state of UA in Europe. Extensive City and UA business networking has been taking place. This has involved developing links with European networks such as Food2030, Fusilli, Edicities, Eurocities and the Cities Forum. In addition, a series of surveys, training and networking events have been undertaken to engage the UA Business community and identify future policy reforms.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

EFUA was highlighting the diversity, the energy and the latent potential that exists within UA to deliver multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which address our major societal challenges. It was building bridges and fostering understanding between diverse groups of stakeholders from across the sectors, thereby revealing common ground and synergies between once disparate groups – from community gardeners to “Hi Tech” vertical farming entrepreneurs. This "network of networks" reinforced the important message that “together we are stronger” and that all approaches worked towards common goals such as developing the circular economy, reducing food miles and assisting in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss.
The forum growth was achieved particularly through its work on a policy level with key EU institutions and decision makers, national governments and business representatives. This was being undertaken through a series of focused policy talks which are being held all over Europe, including in Brussels itself - which lies at the heart of policy decision making. In this arena, EFUA was providing concrete and workable suggestions to policy makers, business leaders and influencers. These introduced the requirement for integration of Urban Agriculture in EU and national policies and also helped to ease the path for new practitioners entering the discipline. Most importantly EFUA emphasised that Urban Agriculture can solve diverse societal problems through providing flexible, multifunctional and smart solutions.

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