Integrated urban food system policies – how cities and towns can transform food systems for co-benefits

Call updates

Oct 7, 2021 5:48:04 PM
The HORIZON-CL6-2021-COMMUNITIES-01 call was closed on 6 October. 44 proposals have been submitted in response to this call. The breakdown per topic is indicated below:

HORIZON-CL6-2021-COMMUNITIES-01-05: 5 

The evaluation results are expected to be communicated to the applicants end of January 2022.

Jun 22, 2021 4:20:05 PM
The submission session is now available for: HORIZON-CL6-2021-COMMUNITIES-01-05(HORIZON-IA)

Integrated urban food system policies – how cities and towns can transform food systems for co-benefits
TOPIC ID: HORIZON-CL6-2021-COMMUNITIES-01-05

Programme: Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON)
Call: Resilient, inclusive, healthy and green rural, coastal and urban communities (HORIZON-CL6-2021-COMMUNITIES-01)
Type of action: HORIZON-IA HORIZON Innovation Actions
Type of MGA: HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG]
Deadline model: single-stage
Planned opening date: 22 June 2021
Deadline date: 06 October 2021 17:00:00 Brussels time

Topic description

ExpectedOutcome:

In line with the European Green Deal priorities and the farm to fork strategy for a fair healthy and environmentally friendly food system, as well as of the EU's Climate ambition for 2030 and 2050, the successful proposal will support the development of policies, business models and market conditions contributing to the sustainable, balanced and inclusive development of urban and peri-urban areas and to the empowerment and resilience of their communities, who can access, afford and choose healthier, nutritious and environmental-friendly food.

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• City-region food systems and of the urban-rural linkages across Europe are better understood and taken into account in urban policies;
• The concept of local food environments is better understood and taken into account in local planning, with a view to driving people towards healthier food choices and transforming urban food systems to be healthier, circular and resilient;
• More cities and towns build on good practice initiatives (e.g.: signatory cities of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact) to develop integrated urban food policies and planning frameworks linking health, environment and food systems, bridging the national and the local level and including risk prevention and reduction plans to anticipate and manage food systems shocks, as well as to develop resilience;
• Strengthened urban food systems governance through increased multi-stakeholder engagement in designing and implementing urban food policies in cities and towns across Europe, representing different cultural and geographical settings;
• More Higher Education Institutes engaging in structured and long-term collaborations with local/regional actors to help transform their urban food system through participatory R&I;
• Improved decision-making by government actors willing to commit to change their local food systems, based on ready-to-use knowledge on the typologies, evolution, outcomes and impacts of integrated local food policies, throughout and within Europe, and in comparison with other regions.

Scope:

Urban areas face a serious challenge to ensure healthy, affordable, safe and sustainably produced food to their residents. Many cities and their inhabitants are disconnected from their food – e.g. where it comes from, how it is produced, the impact food production and consumption have on the environment, climate and health, and the complexity and fragility of food value chains –. The way in which cities deal with food is highly variable and often fragmented, but integrated urban food policies and social innovations providing co-benefits are progressively emerging throughout Europe.

A key issue to be addressed is that of poorly planned urban food environments that drive citizens, and children in particular, towards unhealthy packaged food that is high in calories, sugars, salt and saturated fat, which contributes to obesity and diet-related illnesses. Furthermore, different shocks disrupting urban food systems worldwide can exacerbate the already limited access to healthy food, in particular for the urban poor.

Cities have the potential to make healthy and sustainable food available, affordable and attractive to all, which will in turn reduce consumption-based GHG emissions, in a win-win situation for people and the planet.

Proposals under this topic should address the following four issues and be targeted to help at least 5 cities/towns lacking integrated food systems policies to take ambitious and decisive action:

• Understanding: map local food systems, policies and actions, with a special focus on assessing short supply chains and urban food environments (including harmful marketing and advertising and unequal access to healthy food for the urban poor), and on developing local indicators and monitoring frameworks.
• This should be built on existing tools such as the “Food systems dashboard framework” and should include the development of food systems stakeholder maps, maps of the formal and informal food flows and retail channels and, especially relevant in case of food shock crisis, maps identifying the most vulnerable people and their access to nutritious food.
• This should include analysing the local responses to emergencies and take into account the environmental, social and economic dimension.
• Governance: develop and evaluate innovative, multi-actor, urban food systems governance processes and capacities for science-backed integrated policy making and implementation actions that deliver on farm to fork strategy objectives and Food 2030 co-benefits for health, environment, climate, circularity and inclusion, while minimizing trade-offs. Special attention should be given to improving food environments, providing increased food access to vulnerable groups and fostering short supply chains.
• Engaging: mobilise a wide diversity of food system actors from farm to fork (i.e. public and private, the financial sector, civil society and academia). Higher education institutions and research centres, in particular, should be engaged to collaboration with local actors to support evidence-based food policy development and to help provide local solutions to integrated food system challenges.
• Mutual learning: reinforce or create new networks of cities and towns to share good practices and learn from and support each other. This implies involving cities with well-developed food policies to provide guidance and lessons learned, as well as new forms of collaboration/twinning.

Proposals should address inequalities in urban food systems, whether they be due to gender, race and other social categories.

Conducting inter and trans-disciplinary research and involving a wide diversity of food system actors is required to implement the multi actor approach (cf eligibility condition). In particular, a strong involvement of citizens and civil society, together with urban designers, design thinkers, social innovators, planners, social scientists and public authorities to strengthen relationships between urban planning and food choices and to develop new methods and approaches to innovation have to be ensured.

Proposals should set out a clear plan on how it will collaborate with other projects selected under this and any other relevant topic/call, e.g. by participating in joint activities, workshops, as well as common communication and dissemination activities.

Social innovation is recommended when the solution is at the socio-technical interface and requires social change, new social practices, social ownership or market uptake.

This topic should involve the effective contribution of SSH disciplines.

Cross-cutting Priorities:
Social Innovation
Ocean sustainability and blue economy
Socio-economic science and humanities
Societal Engagement