Sustainable Food Cities become Sustainable Food Places

Since April, the pioneering UK network of 58 local food partnerships has officially changed its name from Sustainable Food Cities Network to Sustainable Food Places Network.

This may seem a small difference in an initiative that is characterised by actions rather than words. However, it symbolises two things: on the one hand, that even (or especially) the most successful concepts constantly develop and on the other, that the understanding of the relationships between ‘food’ and ‘city’ is developing too. Renaming ‘cities’ into ‘places’ is a fine and creative move to express that food systems work has widened its reach, that apart from entire urban entities also other entities are now ‘driving innovation and best practice on all aspects of healthy and sustainable food’ (Sustainable Food Places www 2020).

Sustainable Food Places is a partnership programme led by the Soil Association, Food Matters and Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming. It is funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and The National Lottery Community Fund. The network was founded in 2010, when only a handful of places that had established food partnerships came together to jointly develop a holistic, place-based and systems approach to ‘good urban food’.

On its website, the network states: ‘We believe that a transition to a healthy, sustainable and more equitable food system requires not only strong national policy but also collaborative action between policy makers, businesses and civil society at the local level… Together, we aim to normalise local food partnerships, good food activism and the healthy and sustainable food they promote as a standard part of the institutional and social landscape of towns, cities, boroughs, districts and counties across the UK.’

Since the beginning of 2020, the Sustainable Food Places Network embarked on a new 5-year programme through which it will adapt and extend its successful model to new places and work with leading pioneers to show just what can be achieved through a collaborative approach to good food. Since March, the UK food partnerships find themselves in the centre of local and national efforts to aleviate the food security pressures which suddenly arose for many people in many cities and places due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

One of the founding organisations of the network was Brighton&Hove Food Partnership with whom André and Katrin collaborate since 2007.

For more information on the Sustainable Food Places Network see here.

For information on Brighton&Hove Food Partnership see here.

Image: Brighton&Hove Food Partnership is member of Sustainable Food Places. The non-for-provit organisation’s response to the Covid-19 food crisis is to ‘secure food for vulnerable people through fundraising and co-ordination’. (source: BHFP www 2020)