Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FOODCLIC (integrated urban FOOD policies – developing sustainability Co-benefits, spatial Linkages, social Inclusion and sectoral Connections to transform food systems in city-regions)
Reporting period: 2022-09-01 to 2024-02-29
The FoodCLIC project (2022-2027), 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. The project does so through creating strong science-policy-practice interfaces across eight European city-regions (45 towns and cities). The backbone of such interfaces is provided by Food Policy Networks. FoodCLIC supports these food policy networks to establish living labs as virtual and physical spaces for members of the food policy networks to understand the food system and co-design, implement, analyse and evaluate real-life interventions that aim to build a policy-relevant evidence-base through learning-in-action. In addition to realising actual changes in food environments, real-life interventions will help to uncover barriers to, and facilitators of, scaling processes and to identify innovative business models, investment schemes and conducive market conditions and land use plans.
Activities are informed by an innovative conceptual framework (the CLIC), which emphasises 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.
FoodCLIC has six objectives that, together, are contributing to the realization of the project’s overall aim and vision:
1. To map urban food systems, policies and actions and analyze good practices in terms of integration, with a special focus on urban food environments and short supply chains.
2. To develop a reflexive monitoring framework and guidelines to help planners and policy-makers to understand the range of barriers to, and opportunities for, interventions that enhance urban food environments and the urban food system
3. To mobilize a wide range of food system actors across the SPPI and build their capacity to actively contribute to the development of integrated food policies and food-sensitive planning frameworks.
4. To develop, implement, monitor, evaluate and redevelop evidence-based integrated urban food policies and planning frameworks that realize food environments able to deliver co-benefits in terms of health, climate, circularity, inclusion and the empowerment of communities.
5. To build a pan-European knowledge base for evidence-based integrated urban food policies and food-sensitive planning frameworks, including a range of implementation actions.
6. To strengthen existing and create new networks of cities and towns.
Activities are informed by an innovative conceptual framework (the CLIC), which emphasises 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.
FoodCLIC has six objectives that, together, are contributing to the realization of the project’s overall aim and vision:
1. To map urban food systems, policies and actions and analyze good practices in terms of integration, with a special focus on urban food environments and short supply chains.
2. To develop a reflexive monitoring framework and guidelines to help planners and policy-makers to understand the range of barriers to, and opportunities for, interventions that enhance urban food environments and the urban food system
3. To mobilize a wide range of food system actors across the SPPI and build their capacity to actively contribute to the development of integrated food policies and food-sensitive planning frameworks.
4. To develop, implement, monitor, evaluate and redevelop evidence-based integrated urban food policies and planning frameworks that realize food environments able to deliver co-benefits in terms of health, climate, circularity, inclusion and the empowerment of communities.
5. To build a pan-European knowledge base for evidence-based integrated urban food policies and food-sensitive planning frameworks, including a range of implementation actions.
6. To strengthen existing and create new networks of cities and towns.
Phase 1 Preparation and identification/mobilization of stakeholders (M1-6)
- Eight Living Lab teams established
- Guidelines developed to analyse stakeholders, food policies, food initiatives, urban food environments and food systems
- Training on stakeholder identification and analysis
- Development of the Reflexive Monitoring and Dynamic Evaluation (RMDE) framework started
- Good practices analysed with focus on key barriers and facilitators
Phase 2 Analysis of food systems and visioning (M6-15)
- FoodCLIC’s Living Labs identified food policies and initiatives, stakeholders and networks engaged with city-regional food systems and environments
- LLs organised multi-stakeholder workshop for system understanding and visioning
- Development of Food Sustainability Tool started
- Monthly-support sessions on-the-job assistance for collaborative and adaptive governance, reflexive and responsive practices
- Training on food system analysis and visioning
- Ethics Handbook developed
- Relevant projects mapped in collaboration with CLEVERFOOD
Phase 3 Strategic planning and co-design of interventions (M15-20)
- Creation of guidelines for co-designing real-life interventions
- Training on strategic planning and co-design of real-life interventions
- Two part training on Intercultural & Intergenerational Co-design
- City regional workshops focused on strategic planning to identify pathways for an integrated city-region food strategy
- Development of the RMDE framework
- Seventy interviews with selected FPNs to identify strategies to overcome the barriers to change
- Most valuable exploitation plans identified
Phase 4. Implementation of real-life interventions and development of integrated food policies (M21-48)
Activities start May 2024
Phase 5. Anchoring and broadening (M14-54)
- International high-level Think Tank established
- CLEVERFOOD events attended as part of the Food Systems Project Collaboration Network
- Inventory of needs European FPNs
- 1st FPN Platform meeting scheduled April 2024
- Set up of HEI network started in collaboration with EU-projects
- Broadening strategy: Call launched to select 5 European and 3 African city-regions
- Eight Living Lab teams established
- Guidelines developed to analyse stakeholders, food policies, food initiatives, urban food environments and food systems
- Training on stakeholder identification and analysis
- Development of the Reflexive Monitoring and Dynamic Evaluation (RMDE) framework started
- Good practices analysed with focus on key barriers and facilitators
Phase 2 Analysis of food systems and visioning (M6-15)
- FoodCLIC’s Living Labs identified food policies and initiatives, stakeholders and networks engaged with city-regional food systems and environments
- LLs organised multi-stakeholder workshop for system understanding and visioning
- Development of Food Sustainability Tool started
- Monthly-support sessions on-the-job assistance for collaborative and adaptive governance, reflexive and responsive practices
- Training on food system analysis and visioning
- Ethics Handbook developed
- Relevant projects mapped in collaboration with CLEVERFOOD
Phase 3 Strategic planning and co-design of interventions (M15-20)
- Creation of guidelines for co-designing real-life interventions
- Training on strategic planning and co-design of real-life interventions
- Two part training on Intercultural & Intergenerational Co-design
- City regional workshops focused on strategic planning to identify pathways for an integrated city-region food strategy
- Development of the RMDE framework
- Seventy interviews with selected FPNs to identify strategies to overcome the barriers to change
- Most valuable exploitation plans identified
Phase 4. Implementation of real-life interventions and development of integrated food policies (M21-48)
Activities start May 2024
Phase 5. Anchoring and broadening (M14-54)
- International high-level Think Tank established
- CLEVERFOOD events attended as part of the Food Systems Project Collaboration Network
- Inventory of needs European FPNs
- 1st FPN Platform meeting scheduled April 2024
- Set up of HEI network started in collaboration with EU-projects
- Broadening strategy: Call launched to select 5 European and 3 African city-regions
In the first 18 months of the project the following progress has been made towards results beyond state of the art:
Bridge the gap between science, practice and policy: Through a mapping exercise relevant local stakeholders were identified across the quadruple helix in each of the eight city-regions with focus on food deprived and vulnerable groups. All these stakeholders were invited to participate in the process mapping food policies, initiatives and food environments as well as identifying the needs and response gaps from the perspective of the different stakeholders. This process has strengthened the capacities of the involved FPNs. Furthermore multi-stakeholder workshops were organised on system analysis & visioning, and strategic planning, followed by a series of co-design workshops to jointly develop real-life interventions.
Implementing a food systems approach: FoodCLIC uses a food systems approach to include both the production as well as the consumption side. Instrumental in implementing a food systems approach has been the use of the CLIC framework. This has guided the analysis of current policies and initiatives, and is currently informing the co-design of the real-life interventions, as well as the Reflexive Monitoring and Dynamic Evaluation Framework (RMDE).
Scaling in practice: FoodCLIC has developed a stepwise Broadening Strategy, which will enable other city-regions to use the innovative results. Currently the guidelines for mapping and gapping are, based on the experiences of the eight partner city-regions, translated into transferrable ‘tools’.
Enriching monitoring and evaluation with reflexivity in action: Integrating various quantitative and qualitative frameworks, FoodCLIC is in the process of developing a so called Food Sustainability Tool and the RMDE framework.
Bridge the gap between science, practice and policy: Through a mapping exercise relevant local stakeholders were identified across the quadruple helix in each of the eight city-regions with focus on food deprived and vulnerable groups. All these stakeholders were invited to participate in the process mapping food policies, initiatives and food environments as well as identifying the needs and response gaps from the perspective of the different stakeholders. This process has strengthened the capacities of the involved FPNs. Furthermore multi-stakeholder workshops were organised on system analysis & visioning, and strategic planning, followed by a series of co-design workshops to jointly develop real-life interventions.
Implementing a food systems approach: FoodCLIC uses a food systems approach to include both the production as well as the consumption side. Instrumental in implementing a food systems approach has been the use of the CLIC framework. This has guided the analysis of current policies and initiatives, and is currently informing the co-design of the real-life interventions, as well as the Reflexive Monitoring and Dynamic Evaluation Framework (RMDE).
Scaling in practice: FoodCLIC has developed a stepwise Broadening Strategy, which will enable other city-regions to use the innovative results. Currently the guidelines for mapping and gapping are, based on the experiences of the eight partner city-regions, translated into transferrable ‘tools’.
Enriching monitoring and evaluation with reflexivity in action: Integrating various quantitative and qualitative frameworks, FoodCLIC is in the process of developing a so called Food Sustainability Tool and the RMDE framework.