The nineteen partners of the EU-funded FOOD TRAILS project have a lot on their plate: putting cities at the heart of agri-food transformation to future-proof European food systems.
Led by the city of Milan, the EU-funded Food Trails project gathers eleven European cities, three universities and five international food organisations committed to translating the MUFPP’s (Milan Urban Food Policy Pact) vision and commitment into measurable and long-term progress towards sustainable city-regions food systems.
The project aims to enable 11 varied-profiled cities to reimagine, develop and implement integrated and innovative food policies for more resilient and healthier food systems where all citizens can access good food.
The project facilitates collaboration among cities, researchers and food experts to foster innovative solutions and approaches, knowledge-sharing and the replication of the best practices developed through the project.
Find more information about the project here.
The Food Trails project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme, under grant agreement n. 101000812
Core activities
At the heart of the project lies the co-designing and co-implementing of pilot actions as leverage points for developing urban food policies.
Each partner city runs a Living Lab, a participatory space for work, dialogue and collaboration to foster innovation, connect local stakeholders and collect evidence to speed up and deepen food systems transformation at the local level.
Those Living Labs aim to foster synergies and co-benefits across the four priority areas of the FOOD2030 European research framework (nutrition and healthy diets, climate and environment, circularity and resource efficiency and innovation and empowerment of communities).
Major outputs
- The development and implementation of Living Labs and pilot actions for the transformation of local food systems and the development of integrated urban food policies in eleven cities.
- The creation of tools and resources on impact investing for municipalities and food policy investors.
- Policy documents calling for urban food systems transformation, addressed at EU and national institutions.
- Production of material on replication of systemic food-related innovative approaches in cities.
- Food Trails think tank gathering world food experts.
- Transfer the concrete knowledge and best practices generated throughout the project to +20 Cascade cities outside the consortium to support them in addressing food challenges and developing ambitious and integrated long-term transformative actions.
Associated Living Labs
The project has 11 living labs, in:
- Bergamo (Italy)
- Birmingham (United Kingdom)
- Bordeaux Metropole (France)
- Copenhagen (Denmark)
- Funchal (Portugal)
- Grenoble-Alpes Metropole (France)
- Groningen (Netherlands)
- Milan (Italy)
- Thessaloniki (Greece)
- Tirana (Albania)
- Warsaw (Poland)