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The CircularHoodFood project promoted urban food production and urban farming. The project covered the entire lifecycle of the urban food system: food production in cities, reducing food waste and promoting sorting.

The target groups were housing companies, businesses and cities. The main emphasis was on increasing cooperation between housing companies and businesses. The project took place in Vantaa and Helsinki.

Results of CircularHoodFood

  • CircularHoodFood organised several pilots with businesses and residents, such as
    • urban farming pilots in apartment buildings and a restaurant
    • a pilot on a higher degree of processing for biowaste from restaurants
    • a pilot on improving sorting in urban homes
    • a communication campaign aimed at residents to reduce food wastage.

  • Project manager Roosa Halonen from HSY sums up the results of the project (from 1,24 onwards). In the end of the video comments from a resident. Click the settings for the subtitles in English.

  • In Vantaa, CircularHoodFood increased the number of businesses in the food cluster from 30 to 70. The meetings of the cluster involved procedures such as developing a concept for a production environment in urban food production and planning plantations on the roofs of the office and production buildings of businesses.
  • CircularHoodFood held an idea competition, after which the actors developed new products and sorting solutions for making recycling easier. The products also ended up in the custom order selection of a furniture supplier for anyone to purchase. The actors produced DIY instructions for the new products in accordance with the plan. The results of the idea competition were also utilised as video-format arts and crafts tips.
  • CircularHoodFood produced entitled Toinen kattaus (‘Second Serving’). Professional chefs provided waste reduction tips for home cooks on short videos.
  • CircularHoodFood published a farming guide for housing companies (pdf) and a “DIY bucket hydro” guide.
  • The project charted urban food production actors and conducted a survey on the current state of the corporate ecosystem.
  • The project yielded four thesis works on subjects such as indoor farming as a business activity. In total, 32 students took part in the project.
  • The project served as the basis for the creation of the Circular Green Blocks project, which continues co-development with housing companies and businesses with partially the same consortium. The project is funded by REACT-EU.

The objective of the CircularHoodFood project was to promote the creation of a carbon-neutral urban environment and circular economy solutions in an urban environment. The project also strived towards reducing the carbon footprint of food and the creation of new business activities, cooperation and new solutions related to urban food production. Before the project, the operators had identified a need to increase awareness of and pilots on how urban food production could be promoted as a practical business activity and as part of urban planning. The project responded to this need and increased cooperation between different actors. The project was coordinated by the Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority HSY, and the other parties were the University of Helsinki, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences and the City of Vantaa. The project ran from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2022 with a budget of €713,056.

The photo: Markku Laine

Further information

Nea Metsänranta
nea.metsanranta(at)hsy.fi

Roosa Halonen
roosa.halonen(at)hsy.fi

Kaj Lindedahl
kaj.lindedahl(at)metropolia.fi

Laura Alakukku
laura.alakukku(at)helsinki.fi

Mika Perttunen
mika.perttunen(at)vantaa.fi