City Region Food System Toolkit: Assessing and planning sustainable city region food systems
This toolkit (PDF) by the FAO, RUAF Foundation and Wilfrid Laurier University’s Centre for Sustainable Food Systems provides guidance on how to assess and build sustainable city region food systems (CRFS). It includes support material on how to: define and map your city region; collect data on your city region food system; gather and analyse information on different CRFS components and sustainability dimensions through both rapid and in-depth assessments; and how to use a multi-stakeholder process to engage policymakers and other stakeholders in the design of more sustainable and resilient CRFS. The City Region Food System assessment is aimed to help strengthen the understanding of the current functioning and performance of a food system in the context of a city region, within which rural and urban areas and communities are directly linked. It forms the basis for further development of policies and programmes to promote the sustainability and resilience of CRFS. The toolkit outlines the approach, techniques and tools used by seven cities that engaged in a CRFS assessment and planning process in the period 2015-2017. It tells the story of why and how they have been implementing this process and what outcomes they achieved. It is meant to be a resource for policymakers, researchers, and other key stakeholders and participants who want to better understand their own CRFS and plan for improvements. The CRFS assessment is aimed to help strengthen the understanding of the current functioning and performance of the city region food system. It forms the basis for further development of policies and programmes to promote the sustainability and resilience of CRFS.
For more information on the ‘Food for Cities’ programme and a quick run through the toolkit, please visit this website.