Urban food policies in German city regions: An overview of key players and policy instruments

Highlights

• Integrated urban food strategies are nearly absent in Germany.

• Actors have very limited capacities for steering food issues.

• Urban food policies concern mainly food consumption, particular public procurement.

• Wide array of policy instruments were applied, but informational were most common.

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.