Let’s Food Cities

Encourage the transition of territories to sustainable and resilient food systems by promoting cooperation and the exchange of good practices between cities around the world.

Within the framework of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact and existing mecanisms for decentralized cooperation, the Let’s Food Cities project aims to encourage cities to transition towards sustainable food systems at a territorial level. The project operates by supporting the implementation of decentralized cooperation projects between French and foreign cities. In order to facilitate the exchange of practices, we have thus created 7 city duos: 7 French having signed the Milan Pact and 7 cooperation partners located in Latin America, Africa, Asia or the Middle East.

Let’s Food Cities’s goal is to identify the challenges to each city’s food system, as well as the alternatives and innovations whose implementation and/or spotlighting would prove beneficial. Understanding the underlying issues and key stakes is a first step towards integrating them in decision-making processes, leading to inflections in policy which can provide the impulsion for building territory-based, sustainable food systems. The French partner cities will also benefit by finetuning their strategies for decentralized cooperation.

Objectives

Develop an axis in support of sustainable food within the international co-operation strategies of the 7 French cities involved.

Foster the sharing of experience, knowledge and initiatives on the topic of sustainable food within a network of 14 cities.

Encourage and support new food projects and policies in the twin cities.

2018

Constitution of 7 city pairs and diagnostics to assess the sustainability of French food systems.

The choice of foreign cities was made with the 7 French cities on the basis of the strength of the cooperation established and the value of comparing food systems. The sustainability assessment diagnostics of the 7 French cities were carried out in collaboration with students from various disciplines involving 22 universities in France.

2019

Let’s Food Tour: 2 months in each of the 7 foreign cities to carry out sustainability assessments of foreign food systems.

Over two months, the Let’s Food team identifies the main issues in the food system and sets out to meet some thirty local players. The result is a 30-minute film which is subsequently presented to the inhabitants of the city under study in the presence of the community and representatives of the State. Following an initial diagnosis, the actors gathered around a co-construction workshop in order to discover ideas from elsewhere and together to identify projects for the future. The deliverables are then given to the communities; the first step in defining a local food strategy.

2020

Finalization of deliverables and monitoring of cooperation

This last year of the project is mainly dedicated to finalizing the 14 evaluation reports and the valuation of the various deliverables, in particular with the 7 French partner cities. It is also an opportunity to identify opportunities to deepen certain cooperations between territories or to create new ones.