The fourth Milan Urban Food Policy Pact regional forum was held on 4th November. The event “Mediterranean Cities: What have we learned from COVID-19?”, organised by València and Tel Aviv-Yafo was an opportunity for participating cities to share their experiences in managing the health and socioeconomic crisis.
The first speaker was Tel-Aviv, which, in response to the pandemic, issued food vouchers, provided food kits and promoted research as part of a programme to plan food delivery. According to the Social Worker Abigail Hurwitz, the success of this programme was such that in the future it will educate the community on nutrition and healthy eating. In turn, the city plans to install containers with vertical gardens in communities that need it most.
Representing the city of València, Marta Alandi Palanca, Technician at CEMAS, highlighted the solidarity of small local producers working on the outskirts of València and have offered their services to the administration from the outset. In addition to highlighting the historical resilience of “the counting strip”, she addressed the initiatives that helped overcome the first wave of the pandemic. We share three of them:
- The creation of common spaces so that everyone involved in the food sector can interact, for example, with the Municipal Food Council and Municipal Agricultural Council
- The implementation of basic support baskets to help people in emergency and vulnerability situations
- The launch of “Sociópolis”, a series of urban gardens installed in different parts of València for the community to grow their own food and to promote a healthy lifestyle. An initiative that complemented the social food programmes offered by the City Council of València and was supported by the Red Cross, the Health and Community Foundationand Ecollures.
CEMAS would like to thank the organising committee of the regional webinars of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact and participating cities that have made the meeting a space for critical, diverse and creative dialogue.
