Beyond Pilots: Building Durable Governance Frameworks for Urban Food Systems
Published in DEMETRA (Horizon Europe), Policy Brief No. 2, 2026
Recommended citation: Hofer, C. (2026). Beyond Pilots: Building Durable Governance Frameworks for Urban Food Systems. DEMETRA Policy Brief No. 2. Horizon Europe DEMETRA project (Grant Agreement No. 101132286). https://www.qmul.ac.uk/demetra/media/demetra/outputs/DEMETRA-Policy-brief-No2.pdf
Sole-authored policy brief for the Horizon Europe project DEMETRA, addressed to city policymakers, food administrators, and community practitioners.
The brief explains why promising urban food initiatives stay fragile (responsibility for food policy is dispersed and informal, funding runs in short pilot cycles, and momentum is lost when political leadership changes) and sets out five priority actions for building durable participatory governance. It draws on a comparative analysis of how food policy is actually made in seven European cities, based on 120 interviews with policymakers.