The project aimed to strengthen the hospitality and inclusivity of urban agriculture, improving access to healthy, ecological, and culturally appropriate food. By exchanging questions, challenges and practices, it sought to generate tools to overcome barriers faced by socio-economically and culturally diverse audiences. > Concrete objectives: Strengthen international cooperation between actors in urban agriculture. Identify both common and context-specific barriers to engagement, including socio-cultural and institutional contexts, pricing systems for economic accessibility, tangible aspects (space, symbols, tools) and intangible ones (welcoming practices, decision-making). Exchange practices and methods to address these barriers. > Planned deliverables: A multilingual handbook compiling strategies and lessons. A policy brief with recommendations for institutions and funders. A self-assessment tool on inclusivity and accessibility. A final event to disseminate results among food justice stakeholders.
Across several European cities, community-led urban agriculture struggles to engage low-income and intercultural residents. Prior research and field experience highlighted barriers beyond economics: limited alignment with local social contexts, pricing models that miss affordability, and both tangible (space design, symbols, tools) and intangible factors (welcoming practices, decision-making) that reduce hospitality. Several partners observed the same patterns in their cities and decided to cooperate transnationally to compare contexts and exchange effective and less effective practices, as this is an area where cross-border learning is especially valuable. Across sites, participation is influenced by everyday constraints and by how places, tools and messages are read locally. First contact matters: names, visuals and ways of welcoming can open doors or keep them half-closed. Affordability also intersects with local food cultures and daily rhythms. As such, the issue speaks to inclusion, promoting equality and non-discrimination; the promotion of alternative forms of participation; environment and climate change.