Since 2006 Brighton & Hove has used a cross sector food strategy approach to take a systemic approach to achieving healthy, sustainable and fair food for all. The work is led by EdiCitNet partner Brighton & Hove Food Partnership (BHFP) an independent, politically neutral not-for-profit. More than 200 city-based organisations are partners in the strategy including schools, universities, community food projects and the city authority Brighton & Hove City Council.

In November 2020 Brighton & Hove became the first place in the UK to be awarded a Sustainable Food Place Gold Award.

The Food Partnership’s approach is to bring together businesses, grassroots community and voluntary groups, local authority departments and individuals across the city to work in partnership because together we can solve complex problems.

BHFP also worked with the City Council to sign the Glasgow Food and Climate Declaration, a global initiative that brings together local authorities to act on the climate emergency by committing to putting food at the heart of climate action plans. BHFP encourage frontrunner and follower cities to sign the Glasgow Declaration in advance of COP26 happening next year in Glasgow. More information here.

The first Thursday of February took place a WP2 meeting with great news. WP2 announced that the toolbox is ready to collect information on Edible City Solutions. The main functionalities of the toolbox are already working and EdiCitNet partners can use it to map the Edible City Solutions in their cities. As well as for Edible City Solutions of the rest of the world.

Once a profile for an Edible City Solution is created, it appears on the Edible Map and toolbox users can visualize its public profile and receive comments from other users. The users can search Edible City Solutions using basic and advanced filters to find relevant information for their needs. Then, through the Edible List, that information can be downloaded in an excel file for further analysis. Furthermore, Edible City Solutions can get a concise assessment in terms of sustainability, urban challenges and ecosystem services based on the data they provided.

In the same meeting, WP2 discussed with cities the best strategies to collect data from the Edible City Solutions in order to be as efficient as possible.

WP2 is very glad to announce that the ECS profile (in English) is already available on the EdiCitNet toolbox web.  The ECS PROFILE aims to promote an interactive and inclusive knowledge sharing among people already involved, or willing to get involved, with the edible city movement.  The ECS PROFILE showcase diverse information such as:

– Short description
– Starting year
– Type of ECS (i.e private garden, local market, community kitchen)
– Location and contact
– Link to social medias
– List of edible goods and activities
– Network
– Type of ownership and funding
– Marketing strategies
– Initial budget and running cost
– Type of access (private or public)
– Edible and non-edible nature-based solutions
– Production methods

Furthermore, participants of a certain ECS can give their feedback though the ECS profile by clicking on “SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE”.

Addionally, the ECS profile puts forward a unique performance assessment in terms or sustainability, urban challenges and ecosystem services addressed.

Coming soon (spoiler alert)! Currently, WP2 team is working on a set of interactive features which are based on exiting social medias such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn. The idea is that users will be able to interact with a ECS by leaving comments and questions and following an ECS PROFILE to get updates on events and news.

The City Team discussed the different already existing edible city solutions which will be further analyzed for the EdiCitNet Masterplan Berlin. As an outcome of the meeting, a short description of the projects was prepared. As part of the analysis of those projects, local ECS developers and teams will be interviewed.

Here, feedback on the questionnaires is expected from everyone. We hope to encourage more projects to register on the EdiCitNet Toolbox as well. The City Team is also working on a factsheet about the EdiCitNet research project to enable political involvement.

Furthermore, Terms of Reference were discussed and adapted.

On Tuesday, February 2, the first days of reflection in one of our partner cities SFLL were held.

In the virtual session different entities of the city and other members of the group met, who shared the objectives, challenges and vision of the future in relation to the work they develop around a common axis, such as the implementation of solutions based on nature for food production.

As a support of the project, the entity Arran de Terra proposed a dynamization to promote the participation of everyone with a brief presentation, and more specifically three experiences that have been developed in the municipality. In the course, a climate and dialogue of proximity between the participants was generated, with a debate that allowed drawing a map of proposals with solutions based on nature, and the relationship that people can have in a constructive way. These reflections will be the basis of work of the next forum where work will continue with the aim of making Sant Feliu an edible, sustainable city that generates intergenerational and economic relations around food cultivation.

Read more here: https://www.sostenible.cat/article/el-projecte-ciutats-comestibles-de-sant-feliu-de-llobregat-celebra-les-primeres-jornades-de

The French Ministry of Agriculture has recently launched a 30 million Euro support programme for urban agriculture and community gardens as part of its Corona strategy for the economic recovery of the country. One of the reasons given for this measure is that the edible city can make good use of its advantages, such as creating social cohesion and educational work, especially in these difficult times. Another 34 million are allocated for urban agriculture projects, which are currently underway in areas of urban renewal!

Let’s see who will follow France!

Read more about it here: Agriculture urbaine : les financements France Relance pour l’initiative « Jardins partagés » désormais disponibles | Ministère de l’Agriculture et de l’Alimentation