Sustainable food cities

The Sustainable Food City network is a movement of cities and places that are taking a joined up approach to their food culture and system. Food is at the heart of some of today’s most pressing social, economic and environmental challenges.

These range from obesity and diet-related ill-health to food poverty,  food waste, climate change, biodiversity loss, declining prosperity and social dislocation.

Food is at the heart of many of our problems - but it is also a vital part of the solution. By making healthy and sustainable food an essential feature of where we live, we can:
  • celebrate the joy of good food
  • boost the local economy
  • protect our biodiversity and countryside
  • create healthier, more vibrant communities.

What is sustainable food?

There is no legal definition of sustainable food but, broadly speaking, it is food that takes into account environmental, health, social and economic issues. Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming, uses this definition:
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Good food should be produced, processed, distributed and disposed of in ways that:
  • Contribute to thriving local economies and sustainable livelihoods – both in the UK and, in the case of imported products, in producer countries.
  • Protect the diversity of both plants and animals and the welfare of farmed and wild species.
  • Avoid damaging or wasting natural resources or contributing to climate change.
  • Provide social benefits, such as good quality food, safe and healthy products, and educational opportunities.

The SFC approach

The Sustainable Food Cities approach is a tried and tested model for driving positive change which involves what it calls the 3 Ps:
  • Establishing an effective cross-sector Food Partnership
  • Embedding healthy and sustainable food in Policy 
  • Developing and delivering a Food Strategy and Action Plan
Picture credits, clockwise from top: Carrots by Alon; Brandywine tomatoes, by Susy Morris; Wells Farmers Market, by Susie Weldon