Bauhaus Bites was glad for the opportunity to host a panel on ”Shaping Urban Food Systems with the New European Bauhaus” at the Sarajevo International Scientific-Expert Conference of Agriculture and Food Industry earlier this month, during our study visit in Sarajevo. 

Nadira Berbić from the project coordination team at NTNU, together with Fabiola FIgueira from the Municipality of Fundão (Portugal), Emilia Pardi from PUSH Palermo (Italy), Dominic Pender from Birmingham City Council (UK), Iva Bedenko from the City of Zagreb (Croatia), and Kathy Belpaeme from Ostend (Belgium), first presented how Bauhaus Bites is integrating co-creation, nature-based solutions and sustainable diet shifts, and how this approach is creating new synergies between the sustainable food, climate and New European Bauhaus agendas. 

During the hour-long discussion we also showcased how our project cities are bringing this approach to life, co-creating solutions for vibrant, healthy and sustainable food environments across their distinct contexts. From healthy food truck menus and edible neighborhood pocket parks in Ostend to an expanding network of community gardens and food upcycling programmes increasing health and food security for Birmingham’s most disadvantaged residents. 

This year’s conference theme was “Closing the Agri-Food Loop: Resources, Policy and Productivity.” Conference discussions examined, among other topics, how to strengthen local food production and support more sustainable, circular bioeconomy models to address the food system’s regional and global challenges. Three common messages emerged from our panel discussion, which we hope can be Bauhaus Bites’ contribution to the conference's overarching question of how to build a more sustainable food system:

1.  Bottom-up co creation is critical for developing lasting solutions; for initiatives to succeed and be accepted, communities need to be actively involved and engaged in the development process.
2. Working to transform urban food environments is a key, yet still under-acknowledged leverage point in achieving a shift towards sustainable diets and in turn, sustainable food systems.
3. Finding synergies with related agendas and creating co benefits is key to getting sustainable food systems on the agenda; we need to more clearly highlight food systems' important connections to health, biodiversity, climate and social connection.