Local Food and the peri-urban Landscape - Analysing Foodsheds and Self-Sufficiency in European Metropolitan Regions

The debate on urban resilience and metabolism has directed increasing attention to the ecological footprint of food consumption, self-sufficiency as a means of food security, and regionalisation of food systems for shortening supply chains. Recently, metropolitan regions have proposed food policies that aim to develop region agri-food systems, which connect urban food consumption and the food production in the agricultural landscape of the surrounding peri-urban and rural hinterland – the city’s foodshed.
The paper at hand presents a data-driven approach to assess the spatial extent of the metropolitan foodsheds of the four case study regions London, Berlin, Milan and Rotterdam. Including food consumption differentiated to individual dietary components and food groups and different types of agricultural production systems (incl. organic, conventional) and consumption pattern (incl. food loss and waste and food origin), the model estimates agricultural area demand per captia and the overall metropolitan regions. Therefore global and regional statistics are applied. Based on current population and future population projections for 2050, we carried out a comparative assessment of the foodshed area needed to meet regional food demand and the regional self-sufficiency level (SSL). Aiming at enhancing understanding of the agricultural landscape affected, we provide a visual mapping element to illustrate the area demand.
Results show substantial variations in the spatial extent of metropolitan foodsheds and self-sufficiency levels between the case study regions London (baseline 1,862 m²/capita), Berlin (2,052 m²), Milan (2,093 m²) and Rotterdam (1,718 m²), depending on population density and distribution, geographical and landscape characteristics and proximity to neighbouring urban agglomerations. Whereas the self-sufficiency is possible in the Berlin region without substantial land use changes, other regions like Rotterdam-South Holland would face a need for a more intensified agricultural production, if not relying on food import from elsewhere.
The application of the model as a food production-oriented land use and landscape planning tool offers a new perspective on the potential role of metropolitan regions for strengthening urban self-sufficiency. It also enables the ex-ante assessment of spatial consequences of changes within metropolitan food systems. The peri-urban landscapes, which would become more relevant for agricultural production, are at the same time also increasingly under pressure from other land use demands including residential, commercial and industrial uses, as well as for transportation infrastructure, leisure green spaces, reforestation and nature conservation. In response, more multifunctional, eco-efficient, and location-adapted farming systems and landscape management could lead the way from theoretical to practical self-sufficiency and to localised metropolitan food systems.