Sustainable Urban Food Policies: Financial Approaches for Lasting Impact

Urban Food Policies (UFPs) play a key role in promoting public health, social inclusion, sustainability, and resilience in cities. Despite their increasing adoption and implementation on a global scale, many UFPs remain reliant on short-term, project-based funding, limiting in this way their long-term impact and institutional stability. This study addresses the overlooked issue of sustainable financing of UFPs by analysing how cities can secure long-term, resilient funding, closing a notable gap in the field of research. Using a qualitative comparative case study approach, followed by a normative one, based on five different evaluation criteria, this article analyses five cities (Milan, Toronto, Paris, Belo Horizonte, and Barcelona) drawing on policy documents, budget reports, and literature. The analysis identifies five main financing models: internal municipal funding, cross-departmental integration, green/climate funding and EU support, donor and philanthropic dependence and transition risks, and participatory and procurement-based models. Key enabling factors include early integration of food goals in cities’ food policy, cross-sectoral coalitions, and an adaptive governance model, opting for a blended financing model as the most sustainable one. The findings underline that sustainable financing is inherently political; it does require strategic alliances and institutional reforms to include food policies within lasting urban governance structures, and in this way, to advance food justice.