RESFOOD - integrated planning - municipalities’ and regional actors’ roles and collaborations for resilient regional food systems

Description

The project explores how municipalities work with the development of regional and local resilient food systems. The research identifies barriers, opportunities, innovative approaches, as well as possible ways to strengthen local food systems and integrated planning – both within municipalities, between municipalities and between municipalities and other regional and local key actors.

The project contributes to research on securing food supply by studying strategies, planning tools and working methods. Case studies in three selected municipalities aim to deepen the understanding of their conditions and working methods in planning practice. Interviews will be conducted with civil servants from different departments in the three selected municipalities. In parallel, the work of regional key actors will be analysed. Co-production of knowledge with regional and local key actors is used to strengthen the municipalities’ capacity promoting resilient food supply and food preparedness.

There are 290 municipalities in Sweden which fulfil several different important societal functions such as land and water planning, environmental and health protection, food procurement, public meals, civil defense and emergency preparedness. Municipalities have, considering their many areas of responsibilities and authorisation, a potential to support local resilient food systems. In January 2024 a proposal for a new food preparedness law (SOU 2024:8) was published. The proposed legislation may enter into force on the first of January 2025 and will, in that case, mean a greater responsibility on Sweden's municipalities in their work on food preparedness.

RESFOOD is one of two transdisciplinary projects that received FORMAS funding (read more about the other project FOODPREP). The project is a part of the research area food systems planning. This is an emerging field that engages policy makers, planners, planning organizations, civic leaders, stakeholders in the food chain, as well as academic scholars worldwide, to develop sustainable and resilient food systems.