SIRIUS

 
SIRIUS (Sustainable, Innovative, Resilient, and Interconnected Urban food System) will enhance the governance capacity in transitioning urban food systems, and establish learning arenas that illuminate similarities and differences of urban planning and decision-making on urban food system governance in China and Europe.
 
Sustainable urbanisation is coupled with the sustainability and resilience of glocal food production and consumption. Economic transformation and climate change have brought complex and dynamic challenges for urban food systems, while new urban economies and social innovations are emerging in various
countries to tackle food problems.
 
However, identifying and assessing transition pathways of future urban food systems remain primarily neglected in studies on urban sustainability. Local planners and policy-makers seek scientific guidance and learning opportunities about mechanisms to navigate towards sustainable urban food systems.
 
SIRIUS (Sustainable, Innovative, Resilient, and Interconnected Urban food System) will develop interdisciplinary methods, innovative understandings, and practical
managerial insights bridging socio-spatial contexts in China and Europe. It will shed light on trends of urban food production and consumption in Chinese and European cities, and identify the natural and societal factors that will influence the vulnerability and resilience of urban food supply chains. This project will reveal how new business models, social entrepreneurship, and other innovations in the urban food sector are evolving locally. Our research outcomes will enhance the governance capacity in transitioning urban food systems, and establish learning arenas that illuminate similarities and differences of urban planning and decision-making on urban food system governance in China and Europe.
 
DRIFT is work package lead in WPs 3 and 4 and will also be intensively involved in establishing a transdisciplinary learning arena between European and Chinese city regions.
 

 
Duration of the project
Sirius runs from 2019 to 2022.
 
Funding
Sirius is funded under the EU Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) Urban Europe.
 
Partners
Lancaster University, UK; Institute of Urban Environment Xiamen, CN (Chinese Academy of Sciences); Institute of Ecology and Geography Xinjiang, CN (Chinese Academy of Sciences)
 
DRIFT Team
Timo von Wirth, Aniek Hebinck