The Food Trails project, funded by the European Horizon 2020 program and led by the Municipality of Milan, concluded in Brussels with a conference that gathered over 200 participants, including policymakers, city representatives, researchers, and civil society organizations.
During the event, the project’s achievements were presented, demonstrating the significant impact of the actions promoted by Food Trails on the sustainable transformation of urban food systems.
We are proud of our work in Food Trails and of our fruitful leadership. It has been an extraordinary journey, both for the results achieved and the path paved for other European cities to work on these issues. Our commitment does not end here: the collective work carried out within Food Trails will strengthen the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP) network, helping to improve food policies and the processes to develop them. We are confident that the progress made by the Food Trails consortium will inspire future initiatives.
More broadly, Food Trails has left a lasting legacy with 31 pilot actions aligned with the European political framework ‘Food 2030’ (Climate, Circularity, Communities, Nutrition) and the pillars of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (Governance, Nutrition and Sustainable Diets, Social and Economic Equity, Food Production, Supply and Distribution, and Food Waste), implemented across the 11 cities involved. Eight new food policies were launched in cities that initially lacked them, and eight tools were developed to support food policy creation at every stage, now available for all. As part of the project, 26 European cities participated in the Food Trails replication program, creating new opportunities for urban food policy development and producing a practical manual to guide cities in implementing local actions. Additionally, over 110 events were held at international, national, and local levels to raise awareness and promote sustainable food practices.
The project also introduced a new paradigm for how cities can tackle the challenges of sustainable food systems, promoting integrated food policies that work in synergy with the social, economic, and environmental dimensions influencing these systems. These policies not only help protect and formalize existing experimental actions but also ensure political commitment to formalize governance for implementing actions. Moreover, they create opportunities for synergies with other urban policies and municipal departments.
The project also transformed the traditional relationship between cities and researchers, creating a hybrid model where researchers and city officials act as “critical friends,” mutually supporting each other, with researchers providing advice and guidance.
Cities are home to over 75% of the European population and are at the forefront of food innovation, but they face obstacles such as outdated regulations and insufficient financial resources. At the final event, the project calls on the European Commission to include cities in the European Agrofood Board and increase funding for local food policies
Projects like Food Trails demonstrate the potential of local solutions to address global challenges. Food must be considered systemically: if we fail on food, we fail on everything. The importance of diverse approaches, like those implemented by cities, which allow for swift action and the engagement of all stakeholders, is the strategy needed to be effective and to chart long-term paths
Food Trails has laid the groundwork for further progress, not only in the cities involved but across Europe and internationally. One example of this impact is the new cities that joined during the Food Trails journey, including Antalya, Taranto, Sarajevo, and Nice Côte d’Azur, all of which decided to join the MUFPP to deepen their knowledge of food systems.
