Networks and cities' news

Public Policies & Governance for Territorial Food Systems

The transition towards territorial food systems requires new public policies that consider innovative and effective formulas for participatory governance, among other facilitating elements. Food democracy impacts citizen empowerment when it comes to bringing together actors for this necessary action for change. The local perspective and the consolidation of participatory structures can be nurtured through networks such as those promoted by the URBACT Programme through Local Action Groups.

SHORT FOOD SUPPLY CHAINS - Relocalising production to empower actors and make territories resilient

Short Food Supply Chains (SFSC) renew the traditional format of direct sales in order to position themselves as an alternative to the long chains that characterise the global food system, a model that has been clearly identified as unsustainable. The EU's own "Farm to Fork" strategy underlines the value of this necessary reconnection between producers and consumers, between rural and urban areas. All of this in a context where forms of irresponsible consumerism coexist - suffice it to mention the high percentage of losses and waste or the problems of famine and disease associated with it - alongside prosumerism initiatives aimed at breaking down these distances and generating alternative, sustainable, locally-based models. While recognising positive impacts in social terms, there are still aspects to be explored in the economic and environmental spheres, derived from the expansion of the Short Food Supply model. Something similar occurs from the perspective of improving the health and nutrition of the entire population, as well as democratisation and justice related to food governance. It is in this context that regional and local authorities, together with producers and consumers, can enhance strategic initiatives that definitely support a sustainable food system, as promoted by the Glasgow Food and Climate Declaration, recently signed by the FOOD CORRIDORS network.

“Did you say cucumbers?”

“Yeah, they’re cucumbers alright.”

“You just told me they are unidentifiable.”

“The worksheet didn’t work, but I can tell a cucumber when I see one, Ildi.”

When a cucumber is not a cucumber: An EU tale of customs and classification

(Journeys, how travelling fruit, ideas and buildings rearrange our environment. Actar, 2010)

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Feeding a Cooperative Food Network in a Time of Pandemic

This article presents brief comments on three ideas that describe the state of mind of the FOOD CORRIDORS network just before giving way to the final period of a project that has seen the light and grown parallel to the life cycle of a pandemic. It has been a strange circumstance that we would nevertheless like to consider as the engine that has pushed a desire for rebirth or rejuvenation for our network. We understand this rebirth as the means to cultivate new ways of working, new spaces of relationship, environments of curiosity that generate transformative action to the proposed problems. The FOOD CORRIDORS partners, together with the network's experts and the URBACT Programme, have evaluated what we have experienced, what we have learned, and what we would like to propose to continue with the challenge of cooperation between European cities in the face of their significant challenges.

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Bringing Heritage-Based Urban Regeneration and Development to the Road: Success Factors and Principles by ad-hoc expert Matthias Ripp

In this article, our ad-hoc expert Matthias Ripp draws conclusions from successful projects that have used urban heritage as a starting point for regeneration and development and he shares a set of “success-factors” that can be transferred to other cities.

Writing a New Story: Using Heritage-Based Urban Regeneration to Stimulate Urban Resilience by ad-hoc expert Matthias Ripp

Our ad-hoc expert Matthias Ripp, explored in a detailed report how heritage-based urban regeneration can be used as a resource to stimulate urban resilience. He refers to various European projects that were implemented or are still ongoing in the past 10 years. In addition, he developed a set of principles to enable such initiative which can be transferred to different urban contexts.

Lessons from Bologna heritage-driven urban regeneration by lead expert Miguel Rivas

Bologna is more and more widely acknowledged as a benchmark in the field of heritage-driven urban development and regeneration. Against this background, the Municipality of Bologna gently organised a one-day study visit for a KAIRÓS international delegation in November 2021. The selection of spots and the explanations taken from the different hosts stressed a good number of insights that can be synthesised in numerous main lessons, summarised in this article by KAIRÓS Lead Expert Miguel Rivas.