The City of Vantaa has a clear focus on making the city smarter and more sustainable when it comes to food. Everyone can somehow relate to food and it is something we all need. So, through different projects the city is starting to make food more local, alive, sustainable, and adapting new circular production and business models.
Healthy Liveable Neighbourhoods: Urban gardens and biodiversity
The City of Vantaa is collaborating in the Healthy Liveable Neighbourhood project to enhance urban farming and green blocks to the city. In the PILOT demonstration Habeetats and Copenhagen Seeds, both from Copenhagen, Denmark, are setting up pollinator bee nests and urban gardens to Vantaa and activating local residents to share insights and knowhow about natures biodiversity and importance of living seed banks, bees and flowers.
The Food Cluster: Vantaa as Urban Food Capital of Finland
The city of Vantaa has also developed a food business community, the food cluster, including over 70 different companies working in the food sector. Vantaa is already one of Finland’s top food producers, with companies such as Fazer, Valio, HK Scan, Läntmannen etc. and innovative start-ups with new sustainable solutions to the food business. Together with research facilities and universities they have piloted several food projects towards a more sustainable urban food city. The vision for the food cluster is to make Vantaa the Urban Food capital of Finland by 2025.
CircularHoodFood project: Circular economy and urban farming
Ongoing is also the CircularHoodFood project, funded by EU and Uudenmaan liitto. Together with HSY, Metropolia UAS, University of Helsinki, Vantaa is focusing on circular economy in the food sector and offering solutions for more urban farming. During this project the city has started building new urban farming communities in their major rental house apartments together with VAV Asunnot Oy. Here start-ups such as Helsieni, iFarm, Plantsteps and Blokgården have established both indoors and outdoors urban farming solutions for the residents, so they can now grow their own mushrooms, lettuce, herbs, chilies, tomatoes, etc.