Innovation ‘In-Between’: Food Policy Transformation at the City Level

Urban food systems have become key sites for sustainability transformations, yet food policy remains weakly institutionalised and fragmented across governmental departments and policy sectors. Drawing on comparative findings from the Horizon Europe project DEMETRA (“Democratic Governance, Environmental and Climate Challenges, and Societal Transformation: Deliberation, Inclusiveness, and Citizen Empowerment for Sustainable Food Systems”), this presentation examines how food policy innovation emerges within seven European cities and highlights the governance constellations that enable, or constrain, more sustainable food system change. The analysis shows that neither government nor civil society actors alone drive transformation; instead, innovation typically arises ‘in-between’, through collaboration among civil servants, elected representatives, and organised civil society, often complemented by knowledge actors and food-system businesses. Innovation also emerges within the multi-level governance setting in which urban food policy is embedded: while higher-level frameworks provide guidance in specific sectors, they rarely address the transversal nature of food, creating gaps and mismatches where city-level experimentation can then take place. By analysing these dynamics, the paper contributes to debates on agri-food transformations, demonstrating how specific actor and governance configurations condition the emergence, scope, and ambition of urban food policy innovation.