The series of knowledge-sharing events for city practitioners, launched by URBACT together with the European Urban Initiative (EUI), is up and running! Liège hosted the second EU City Lab on Local Food Systems in May. Read on to learn about the use of public procurement for local and sustainable food!
The Liège EU City Lab experience
From 29-30 May 2024, Liège (BE) hosted the EU City Lab on Public Procurement for More Local, Seasonal and Sustainable Food. This was the second of a series of three EU City Labs dedicated to Local Food Systems. The first one in Mouans-Sartoux (FR), held on 21-22 March 2024, focused on changing habits for a healthy and sustainable food system. Building on this, the Liège edition proved to be a precious opportunity to discover approaches tested by a number of EU cities to foster public procurement as a leverage of sustainability in local food systems.
EU City Lab on Public Procurement for More Local, Seasonal and Sustainable Food on 29-30 May 2024 in Liège.
This second EU City Lab on Local Food Systems was inaugurated with a keynote speech from Matthew Baqueriza-Jackson, URBACT strategic procurement expert. He touched on the legal, economic and social dimension of public procurement, was an occasion to learn from different cities’ good practices in transforming their local food system.
The cities of Liège (BE), Milan (IT), Brussels (BE), Schaerbeek (BE), Haarlem (NL), and Linköping (SE) shared their insights and concrete examples to enrich the discussion around food system’s transition.
Local and seasonal products at the EU City Lab on Public Procurement #2 on 29-30 May 2024 in Liège.
Save the date: the next EU City Lab
The next EU City Lab, co-organised by URBACT and EUI, will be on the topic of land use for food production and will take place in Milan (IT) on 23-24 October 2024. Save your spot and register here!
In anticipation, you can read up on the first 2 EU City Labs on Local Food Systems in Mouans-Sartoux and Liège.
Be the first one to know about upcoming events by subscribing to URBACT’s newsletter and EUI's newsletter or browsing through Portico to get more knowledge on local food systems!
For more information on the topic, have a look at the URBACT Knowledge Hub on Food and sustainable local systems, where you will also find three online learning modules (modules on food public procurement are expected in July).
