Public land for local food policies: European case studies
"Public Land for Local Food Policies" is one of the actions included in the Food Action Plan. It focuses on how public actors can mobilise public land to strengthen local food policies, improve access to land for local and regional food producers, support soil health, and contribute to more sustainable food governance systems.
The first key output of the action is a European Case Study Long-list Database comprising 20 case studies that span a wide range of public land instruments, including municipal food-producing estates, urban allotment leasing schemes, “edible city” conversions of public green space, structured land banks, and hybrid community–public governance models.
The long-list is not intended as a benchmark study. Rather, it serves as an operational evidence base to support the subsequent short-list selection, peer-learning activities, and the development of a practical “How-to” policy guide under Action 5.
The subsequent shortlist was established through a structured process combining weighted scoring with expert judgement. All 20 long-listed case studies were assessed against agreed criteria: strategic relevance, implementation and governance quality, evidence and outcomes, transferability and scalability, and portfolio contribution. This approach provided a clear basis for identifying the most robust and relevant cases, while also enabling comparison across diverse territorial and institutional contexts.
The final selection was not based on scores alone. In line with the purpose of Action 5, attention was also given to building a balanced portfolio of cases that reflects the range of public land instruments and governance approaches relevant to local food policies.
The shortlist therefore includes different types of models, such as land banks, municipal land allocation schemes, large public land management systems, and integrated agroecological approaches. It also covers different territorial scales, from municipal and metropolitan initiatives to regional frameworks.
The shortlist includes the following case studies:
Agropolis / BoerenBruxselPaysans, Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium – a systemic metropolitan agroecology model combining public land access, agricultural testing, training, incubation and food-chain development.
Banco de Terras de Galicia, Spain – a regional land bank and land-mobility mechanism using parcel inventories, mediation, digital tools and regulated lease procedures to bring underused land back into productive use.
Gradski vrtovi, Zagreb, Croatia – a direct municipal land-allocation programme granting city-owned plots to residents for small-scale food production under transparent rules.
Banca della Terra, Tuscany, Italy – a statutory regional land bank making public, private, abandoned or uncultivated land visible and accessible through lease or concession procedures.
Stadtgüter München, Munich, Germany – a large municipal agricultural estate portfolio combining public ownership, organic farming, environmental management, renewable energy and long-term land stewardship.
Vrtički Programme, Ljubljana, Slovenia – a regulated municipal allotment system based on public calls, lease conditions, ecological rules and managed access to municipally controlled land.
CIRCULANDIA, EU pilot context – an innovative circular soil-restoration model exploring how organic waste streams can support the recovery of degraded public or peri-urban land.
Rural leases with environmental provisions, Métropole Européenne de Lille, France – a contractual public land-management model linking access to agricultural land with environmental clauses and agroecological practices.
An additional fiche has also been prepared for Terras da Costa e Mar Agrarian Park / Agroparque Terras da Costa e do Mar, Almada, Portugal, which offers a complementary peri-urban agrarian-park model combining land regularisation, ecological restoration, farmer support, short supply chains, community involvement and protected landscape management.
Explore the case studies below and access the full documents via the side menu.