S09 - Session O2 - Towards more resilient, community-driven urban food systems: designing and implementing case studies in European cities

Authors: Isabella Righini *, Giuseppina Pennisi, Chiara Cirillo, Pere Muñoz, Adam Curtis, Cecilia Stanghellini, Francesco Orsini

Increasing urbanization rates, loss of natural resources, and the effects of climate change are challenging the sustainability of European Cities. Therefore, ensuring the sustainability of the Urban Food System is crucial to achieve food and nutrition security. Conventional systems are increasingly vulnerable to present and future disruptions, prompting us to change the way we produce, consume, and think about food. The development of local-regional food systems can play an important role through the multifunctional services they provide to the inhabitants of the city and its surroundings: increasing the availability of fresh and nutritious food, reducing food miles, contributing to urban renewal, social inclusion, job creation, environmental and food education, and promoting local economies. This study aims to encourage the development of such systems across the city-regional landscapes by supporting their design and implementation, within the framework of the European project "Food systems in European Cities n FoodE" (H2020-862663). Fifteen pilot case studies, co-designed with citizens and relevant stakeholders, are set up in eleven EU cities and serve as a demonstration and first application in the market and social context of innovative solutions. These local initiatives range from small-scale fisheries and low-tech market gardens to agricultural parks, semi-industrial high-tech greenhouses, and vertical farming, in rural, coastal, and urban agglomerations. The results of the community-based design approach of the pilot initiatives, that defined the priorities and optimal features to be implemented, are reported and analysed. Then, the study (i) analyses the main characteristics and impact areas of the implemented local initiatives (ii) their role in the environmental and socio-economic dimensions of the city-region context, and (iii) the potential approaches limitations. The main outcomes will offer the basis to identify models and design strategies in similar contexts considering the needs and desires of the actors involved as well as local needs and available resources.