Author: Helle Fuglsang Vilsbøll, City of Kolding.
In Kolding, we have reached an important milestone on our journey towards a more sustainable food system. We have signed the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP) and we are really looking forward to this international collaboration. Signing the MUFPP is one of the actions allocated to Kolding and a first step in creating the Governance structure needed to secure political anchoring and long-term commitment.
The Mayor of Kolding, Jørn Pedersen, signed the MUFPP back in December 2021. The process took about 2 ½ months, as the recommendation first had to be approved by the Planning and Environmental Committee (PBMU) before being passed on to the City Council for final approval and signature.
“We are now part of a European and an international partnership with more than 200 cities taking part worldwide. This provides a great opportunity for leveraging the knowledge and experience in both networks”,
says the mayor of Kolding. Kolding is the second municipality in Denmark to sign the pact – only Copenhagen has already joined.
Jørn Pedersen (Mayor of Kolding) signing the MUFPP. Credits: Astrid Bakkegaard Cramer
By signing the pact, Kolding commits to address different actions and policies, which all serve to transform the food system in a more sustainable direction. One of the activities will be to review and adjust our already existing urban policies, plans, and regulations to make sure that they support a fairer, robust, and sustainable food system.
As a design city, we bring innovation and creative thinking to the forefront of everything we do. Based on the initial stakeholder mapping we have conducted during 2021, we are now able to reach out and involve the different food system actors, students, and citizens in further development.
We are now ready to take the Governance structure to the next level with the new City Council, and we will be working towards the establishment of a Food Council and Food Commission. We are looking forward to having these two structures in place, as they will be instrumental for the future commitment and implementation.
Beyond that, we expect 2022 to be a very busy year with all the Living Labs that are supposed to “go live”. Just to mention a few – we will work on creating more climate-friendly canteens, establish school gardens and develop educational material, create a catalogue with all the local food producers and invite stakeholders and citizens to the Food Labs for food talks, workshops and inspirations. We are very excited to follow the development and learn much more about our food system, and what it will take to make it more sustainable – and we are looking forward to sharing it with you and learning more about your discoveries.