Abstract Although food is an emerging topic on municipal policy and planning agendas, a systematic examination of policy development, its implementation and the instruments used at the urban level is lacking. This study was carried out with the aim of gaining new insights into the prevalence of certain food policy instruments and capacity of policy action. In order to do so, we developed an analytical framework to investigate urban policy and planning approaches related to food issues and applied it in ten large German cities. First, we identified different actor groups and analysed their role in urban food policy (level of involvement in municipal food projects). We then studied the variety of policy and planning instruments and their application for different elements in the food system. For the empirical study, we employed a case study approach and utilised data gathering methods of qualitative research, i.e. expert interviews and document analysis. Our empirical findings in the studied cities reveal that urban food policy activities are still very fragmented and often based on individual initiatives within the administration. Integrated urban food policies and their implementation through urban food strategies are still an exception in major cities in Germany. We found that municipal actors follow mainly sectoral approaches, using a wide array of steering instruments, i.e. informational instruments and public procurement policies. However, their capacities for policy implementation remain limited due to missing financial and staffing resources. Accordingly, the potential the urban food system offers for sustainable development through multifunctionality and sectoral integration, is still underexploited. The systematic approach developed in this study may contribute to a better understanding of different policy approaches taken. The applied typology of policy instruments might also be useful for identifying effective ways to implement urban food strategies, to understand mismatches between instruments and different policy domains, levels and administrative units, e.g. at the urban-rural interface, and to design of new policy instruments.

中文翻译：

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德国城市地区的城市食品政策：主要参与者和政策工具概述

摘要 虽然食品是市政政策和规划议程上的一个新兴话题，但缺乏对政策制定、实施和城市层面使用的工具的系统审查。进行这项研究的目的是获得对某些食品政策工具的流行和政策行动能力的新见解。为此，我们开发了一个分析框架来调查与食品问题相关的城市政策和规划方法，并将其应用于德国十个大城市。首先，我们确定了不同的参与者群体并分析了他们在城市食品政策中的作用（参与市政食品项目的程度）。然后，我们研究了各种政策和规划工具及其在食品系统中不同要素的应用。对于实证研究，我们采用案例研究方法，并利用定性研究的数据收集方法，即专家访谈和文件分析。我们在所研究城市的实证结果表明，城市食品政策活动仍然非常分散，而且往往基于行政部门内部的个人举措。在德国的主要城市，综合城市食品政策及其通过城市食品战略的实施仍然是个例外。我们发现市政参与者主要遵循部门方法，使用广泛的指导工具，即信息工具和公共采购政策。然而，由于缺少财政和人力资源，他们执行政策的能力仍然有限。因此，城市粮食系统通过多功能性和部门整合为可持续发展提供的潜力仍未得到充分开发。本研究中开发的系统方法可能有助于更好地理解所采取的不同政策方法。政策工具的应用类型也可能有助于确定实施城市粮食战略的有效方法，了解工具与不同政策领域、级别和行政单位之间的不匹配，例如在城乡界面，以及设计新的政策工具.