Image
About the Partnership
“Our main objective is to foster coordination and collaboration among partners and food-related initiatives, leveraging their combined efforts to drive transformative changes in food systems and position cities as catalysts for this change"
The Urban Agenda for the EU Partnership on Food was launched in January 2024 and gathers twenty-six relevant stakeholders from different sectors and levels of governance to build consensus around shared goals and priorities for sustainable food systems, and advocate for these at the national and EU levels.
The transformation of food systems requires a systemic approach, and the Food Thematic Partnership will prioritise the role of cities in leading this transformation by adopting innovative urban food policies.
The adoption of a multi-level governance, multi-sector, and multi-stakeholder approach, in line with the Urban Agenda for the EU framework, will serve as the cornerstone of the Partnership's overall strategy, enabling to find a holistic and inclusive response to the multifaceted challenges of the food system, relying on the quadruple helix as the main framework to build such strategy.
Thematic Focus
Through a collaborative brainstorming and narrowing-down process, the Partnership identified three overarching themes that represent the most relevant and high-priority topics for its members, while aligning with the Partnership’s expertise, resources, and institutional mandate.
The Orientation Paper specifies the potential outputs and expected impacts of each thematic area, as well as the contributions of each theme to the three UAEU pillars (Better Funding, Better Knowledge, Better Regulation), thereby facilitating the Partnership’s efforts in identifying actions for the implementation phase.
TOPIC 1 – Innovative Funding
Identification and mobilisation of funding for local and regional authorities to support the development of sustainable food systems.
Subtopics:
- FUNDING MAPPING - Funding and financing sources and mechanisms mapping
- SMEs SUPPORT - Local and regional support for entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Enterprises
- RESEARCH & INNOVATION - Support and integration of research, innovation and transfer of innovation in food systems’ development
- PPP - Public-private partnership and investment framework for sustainable regional and local food systems
TOPIC 2 – City-Region Framework
Facilitate dialogue, knowledge and best practices exchange between different stakeholders, including policymakers, research centres/universities, cities, farmers, producers, distributors, and consumers, to develop integrated approaches that address the complex challenges of food resilience at the local level.
Subtopics:
- GOVERNANCE - City region food governance and planning
- PROCUREMENT - Sustainable food procurement criteria
- MONITORING - Data and impact monitoring
- COMMUNITY - Building a local community about food
TOPIC 3 – EU/National Regulation
The third topic focuses on the need for a systemic approach and overarching legislation ensuring coherence and synergies at all levels.
Subtopics:
- EU FOOD POLICY - An integrated EU Food Policy
- POLICY BARRIERS - National and regional key policy barriers and enablers for the integration of sustainable food in urban agendas
- FOOD IN 3S - Enhance the role of urban authorities within Smart Specialisation Strategies targeting food related topics
Identification and mobilisation of funding for local and regional authorities to support the development of sustainable food systems.
Subtopics:
- FUNDING MAPPING - Funding and financing sources and mechanisms mapping
- SMEs SUPPORT - Local and regional support for entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Enterprises
- RESEARCH & INNOVATION - Support and integration of research, innovation and transfer of innovation in food systems’ development
- PPP - Public-private partnership and investment framework for sustainable regional and local food systems
Facilitate dialogue, knowledge and best practices exchange between different stakeholders, including policymakers, research centres/universities, cities, farmers, producers, distributors, and consumers, to develop integrated approaches that address the complex challenges of food resilience at the local level.
Subtopics:
- GOVERNANCE - City region food governance and planning
- PROCUREMENT - Sustainable food procurement criteria
- MONITORING - Data and impact monitoring
- COMMUNITY - Building a local community about food
The third topic focuses on the need for a systemic approach and overarching legislation ensuring coherence and synergies at all levels.
Subtopics:
- EU FOOD POLICY - An integrated EU Food Policy
- POLICY BARRIERS - National and regional key policy barriers and enablers for the integration of sustainable food in urban agendas
- FOOD IN 3S - Enhance the role of urban authorities within Smart Specialisation Strategies targeting food related topics
We invite you to explore the Miro-board embedded below to view the Orientation Paper at a glance.
Members
By clicking on the symbol 
, in the top left corner, you will be able to see the different layers of this map.
National authorities
- Food Systems Directorate, Ministry of Agriculture of Malta (MT)
- French National Council for Food Resilience (CNRA) (FR)
Cities (Urban Authorities)
- Municipality of Milan (IT)
- Lisbon Metropolitan Area (PT)
- Environmental Studies Centre, Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council (ES)
- Municipality of Mouans-Sartoux (FR)
- City of Ghent(BE)
- City of Zory(PL)
- Urban Municipality of Kranj (SL)
- City of Vantaa (FI)
- Dublin City Council (IR)
- Municipality of Kristiansand (NO)
European/ national city umbrella organisation
- Eurocities (BE)
- ICLEI European Secretariat (DE)
Other stakeholders
- Ellinogermaniki Agogi (EL)
- University of Barcelona (ES)
- AESOP Sustainable Food Planning (IT)
- Brasov Metropolitan Agency (RO)
- Metropolitan Area of Lille (FR)
- Metropolitan area of Cagliari (IT)
- Alytus District Municipality (LT) (active until April 2024)
European institutions
- European Commission Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO)
- European Commission Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE)
- European Commission Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE)
- European Commission Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI)
- European Commission DG Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD)
- European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Documents
EUI - Call for City-to-City Exchanges
The call for City-to-City exchanges is open on a continous basis.
Check the details and apply to benefit of other city experiences to tackle your sustainable urban development challenges.
Knowledge
View knowledge outputs on Portico
Portico is the European urban knowledge platform developed by the European Urban Initiative (EUI) in support of better urban policy and strategy design, implementation, and mainstreaming.