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integrated urban FOOD policies – developing sustainability Co-benefits, spatial Linkages, social Inclusion and sectoral Connections to transform food systems in city-regions

Project description

A new recipe for healthy and sustainable urban food policies

All citizens should be able to fill their plate with nutritious, safe, sustainable and affordable food. However, Europe’s urban areas are struggling to ensure availability and consumption of healthy, sustainable food among deprived and vulnerable groups. With this in mind, the EU-funded FoodCLIC project will create more sustainable urban food environments by building strong science–policy–practice interfaces (i.e. food policy networks) and experimenting with innovative approaches and business models in Living Labs across eight European city-regions. Activities will be supported by an innovative conceptual framework (the CLIC), which emphasises sustainability co-benefits, spatial linkages, social inclusion and sectoral connectivity. FoodCLIC will also support multi-stakeholder engagement, including deprived and vulnerable groups.

Objective

Europe’s urban areas face significant challenges to ensure the availability and consumption of healthy, affordable, safe and sustainably produced food. Such challenges converge within local food environments, but are often neglected by public planners. Promising initiatives taken by municipalities to change the architecture of food choice often fail to become embedded in the wider policy context and to reach deprived and vulnerable groups. Key factors responsible for this are: (1) siloed ways of working and (2) fragmentation of knowledge on facilitators and barriers related to food system transformation. These factors hinder the development and implementation of integrated urban food policies.

FOODCLIC will create strong science-policy-practice interfaces across eight European city-regions (45 towns and cities). The backbone of such interfaces will be provided by Food Policy Networks, which will manage real-world experimental Living Labs to build a policy-relevant evidence-base through learning-in-action. Activities will be informed by an innovative conceptual framework (the CLIC), which emphasizes four desired outcomes of food system integration (sustainability co-benefits, spatial linkages, social inclusion and sectoral connectivities). Capacity-building and direct support for intensive multi-stakeholder engagement (including deprived and vulnerable groups) will enable policy actors and urban planners across partner city-regions to develop continuously evolving integrated urban food policies and render planning frameworks food-sensitive. Results will be communicated and disseminated amongst others by extending the novel policy practices to another eight city-regions in Europe and Africa, an online Knowledge-Hub, a high-level Think Tank and partners’ networks.

In these ways, FOODCLIC aims to contribute to urban food environments that make healthy and sustainable food available, affordable and attractive to all citizens (including deprived and vulnerable groups).

Coordinator

STICHTING VU
Net EU contribution
€ 1 302 625,00
Address
DE BOELELAAN 1105
1081 HV Amsterdam
Netherlands

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Region
West-Nederland Noord-Holland Groot-Amsterdam
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
€ 1 302 625,00

Participants (25)

Partners (2)