Food and the Cities
How Do Cities Feed Themselves
10 Jun 2025
by Gilles Fumey
Gilles Fumey is a professor and researcher in cultural geography. He specializes in the geography of food.
He is one of the authors of Géographies en mouvement, a blog first hosted by the newspaper Libération, then by Mediapart in 2020. His titles include “Manger local, manger global : l’alimentation géographique” (Eating locally, eating globally: geographical food) and “Géopolitique de l’alimentation” (Geopolitics of food) (with a preface by Edward Mukiibi). He has written for us this article on the topic of urban food policies, showing how the urban food system is important and how change is already happening!
He wrote this article for us on the topic of urban food policies, showing the importance of the urban food system and how change is already underway!

In Search of Food Democracy
For almost twenty-five years, scientific research into what is known as “food democracy” has been funded by the European Union. They address the issue of how to better control the supply of food to cities, from the smallest to the gigantic metropolises. After all, food crises can arise where we least expect them. We all remember the terrible Irish famine of 1845-1852, which was all the more astonishing given that everything had been pinned on the miracle of the potato, a tuber well adapted to the poor soil of the British Isles, which had finally been freed from famine. Just when Europe seemed to have found the way to food abundance, it was hit by a violent migratory crisis and a famine on its territory that was to result in a million deaths. Since then, we’ve come a long way in popularizing the idea that we need to regain control of our food, secure supplies, avoid having foods that don’t belong to our culture imposed on us, and take agricultural products out of globalized markets wherever possible. The exact opposite of what liberalism has been promoting since the 1980s!
Slow Food has played an important role in this new awareness. Slow Food has shown that citizen participation in the elaboration of supply policies leads to forms of food democracy that respond to current environmental, economic and social issues. Five European cities were surveyed, including Aarhus, Barcelona, Ghent, Glasgow and Wroclaw. In France, Paris, Montpellier, Lyon and many other cities led by left-wing parties have drawn up “territorial food plans” (PAT).

The promotion of farmers' markets and direct sales from producers to consumers is an effective way to transform the food system in cities.
Aarus, Barcelona, Ghent, Glasgow, Wroclav
In Aarhus (Denmark), youth associations, NGOs and private institutions have come together in the Food Maker collective to build cooperative market projects. In Barcelona (1.6 million inhabitants), a Political Council formed to mark the city’s election as “World Capital of Sustainable Development” in 2021, has provided financial and technical support for long-term agricultural and food projects, while aiming to empower vulnerable citizens. Thanks to this Council, potential conflicts with companies have been resolved. In Ghent (Belgium), a Food Policy Council made up of thirty associations representing all sectors has been working with environmental authorities. To be effective, it has its own budget and is attentive to all citizens, especially the most vulnerable. A snowball effect has made Ghent a magnet for food companies. In Glasgow (UK), the Food for all collective was very active during Covid and has since nurtured numerous initiatives, notably on improving food quality. Finally, in Wroclav, multiple networks worked with the municipality to commit to tangible results in citizen control of food.
A wide variety of players
If we take into account civil society organizations (CSOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), we find collectives such as Agricola Mpidusa in Lampedusa, which closely monitors the evolution of land threatened by tourism. They can also help farmers with water and environmental management, and welcome people in distress, particularly the disabled. In Cologne, Germany’s first Food Policy Council (along with the one in Berlin) is working hard on food education. And on building up a nationwide network, which is areal challenge in this country where the food industries are very powerful.
The birth of the Slow Food-initiated Earth Market in Barcelona, capital of sustainable food in 2021, has been widely supported by local collectives, as has that of Rome, where Slow Food has worked to raise the city council’s awareness of a systemic food policy. There, the Food Council is working to be more effective, though very active with migrant women. Everywhere, the informal joins the political, particularly in countries with more developed local democratic cultures, such as Germany and Belgium, or countries like Italy (examples in Rome and Lampedusa) with strong solidarity associations.
Everywhere, CSOs and NGOs, as well as local public authorities, have taken social demand for recognized public expertise seriously, often resulting in the creation of food councils with a solid legal basis. It’s worth noting that women often play a pioneering role in bringing attention to food issues, particularly as they are on the front line when it comes to feeding children, as was the case in Paris, where the mayor, Anne Hidalgo, supported all initiatives concerning canteens in early childhood schools. The Covid crisis also showed that vulnerable populations needed support: not only refugees and the homeless, but also… students, especially those who financed their studies with work that was impossible to carry out during the confinements.

Slow Food connects young people from around the world who are passionate about protecting our food systems.
In Citizen Control of Food
These changes reflect a slow but inexorable realization that climate change is leading cities to reflect on the vulnerability of the productivist system. Some are acquiring land and making it available to market gardeners for school and hospital canteens. Others, like Montpellier (France), are developing initiatives to launch a “food social security system”. As in New York, they are taking action against junk food by punishing the abuses of manufacturers. They take over direct municipal management of school and hospital food supplies, as in Marseille and Vittel (France). They raise public awareness by developing vegetarian menus, thus highlighting the excesses of animal protein consumption. In Lyon (France), the subject has been a very violent political episode for opponents of the ecologist mayor’s office.
Slow Food’s “good, clean and fair” approach can encourage alternatives to industrialized, globalized food. Citizens, politicians and industry players share the ideal of more local food, always in solidarity with farmers and respectful of people’s health.
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