THE MILAN URBAN FOOD POLICY PACT: THE POTENTIAL OF FOOD AND THE KEY ROLE OF CITIES IN LOCALIZING SDGS

Abstract

Food security for all is a non-negotiable goal to ensure human survival in a healthy planet. Advancing in this field requires a transition towards more integrated policies encompassing the complexity of the food paradigm and its multifuncitonality in a global context. Cities are now recognized as key food- actors and have reacted with place-based solution to the failures of national and global food related policies. Recent developments, like the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP), consolidate the role of cities as key players of the global food system and create a space for collaboration in which cities act with local solution to address global issues through a translocal approach that is redefining the concept of decentralised cooperation. Furthermore the MUFPP offers a vision of food security as key policy component able to underpin fair, inclusive and sustainable human development. Cities for long time have been responsible for the ecological decline of urban living conditions and yet they are hub of socio-ecological innovations from social kitchens to advanced business food models and integrated urban planning. This paper addresses some key questions related to the additional value that the MUFPP provides to cities and to the global agenda and what lever it can move to stimulate a change.