The Alison Community promotes the transition to healthy and sustainable food in two neighborhoods of the Barcelona city-region

Nowadays, maintaining a healthy lifestyle is not easy. Among the many factors that influence it –social, technological, economic, environmental and political– access to healthy and sustainable food becomes a high complex challenge. Addressing this challenge therefore requires innovative, effective, and sustainable models. These must take into account multiple actors and sectors, and act at local, regional, national and international scales, promoting sistemic initiatives and integrated policies. At the same time, these models should be progressively adapted as the challenge evolves.

Within the framework of the European FoodCLIC project, the Alison Community, coordinated by the IrsiCaixa Living Lab for Health and the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB), is experimenting with innovative solutions to this complex challenge through community engagement pilots that aim to transform food environments and guarantee access to healthier, more sustainable, affordable, and ethically produced food.

During 2025, two metropolitan neighborhoods –Sant Cosme in El Prat de Llobregat and Fondo in Santa Coloma de Gramenet– have become living laboratories for experimentation with community participation to establish open and free initiatives that cover the entire food chain, from production to consumption and resource recovery. The initiatives, which were designed through participatory research processes with systemic approaches between 2023 and 2024, began implementation in 2025 in collaboration with a network of more than 20 local and regional entities.

Initiatives in Sant Cosme

• Monthly food and nutrition workshops with the support of ABD and the Benviure Communality.
• Community garden "The green corner of the neighborhood" at the El Prat School Institute, open to the public and managed with agroecological principles, with the support of the Contorno Urbano Foundation.
• Support for the Neighborhood Kitchen, powered by Gats, which offers healthy and affordable meals at a reduced price.
• Creation of a consumer group with ABD and the El Prat Store to offer baskets of fresh and locally sourced products at an affordable price.

Initiatives in Fondo

• Community learning and community cooking workshops to share knowledge, plan, and prepare healthy meals from different cultures, with the support of community leaders, Sobres Mestres and the CIBA.
• Community agroecology activities in local agricultural spaces, with the support of Conreu Sereny.
• Consumer groups providing access to fresh, healthy, local and affordable products.
• Strategies to redistribute food surpluses, with the support of Unió Segones Oportunitats and Nutrició Sense Fronteres.
• Support for food entrepreneurship with Fablab Barcelona in the context of the European Foster project.

In addition, a participatory monitoring and evaluation process is underway with the support of IRTA and within the framework of the European FOSTER project. Participatory sessions will also be held to rethink urban food policies and explore innovative business models that promote the sustainability and equity of the initiatives. This policy innovation process will also be carried out in collaboration with the European projects FOSTER and CLEVERFOOD.

European projects transforming the food system

These initiatives are part of FoodCLIC, a project funded by the European Union (2022–2027) that works in metropolitan regions of eight European countries to transform local food systems in areas where people in vulnerable situations live. The aim is to achieve a model guided by sustainability, justice and health principles, connecting people, policies and territories. In the metropolitan area of Barcelona, the project is promoted by the AMB and the IrsiCaixa Living Lab for Health, with the collaboration of city councils and local entities. It is also supported by the European projects CLEVERFOOD and FOSTER, which promote social innovation, participatory governance and the transition to healthier, more sustainable and inclusive food models.

IrsiCaixa promotes health beyond biomedical research

Although IrsiCaixa's main activity is research into infectious diseases and the immune system, we understand health as a global concept, also influenced by the lifestyles and environments in which we live. For this reason, through the Living Lab for Health, we promote projects such as the Alison Community, that work to transform food systems and facilitate access to healthy, sustainable and affordable food. This commitment to combining biomedical research with social and community innovation allows us to move towards a more holistic approach to health promotion, tailored to contemporary challenges.