The report "Integrated approaches for sustainable urban-rural development" published by the German Federal Environment Agency at the end of 2019 summarizes the results of the three-year research project "Rural Urban Nexus – Global Land Use and Urbanization" (RUN). The findings of the project, that was led by Ecologic Institute, show that there is already a wide range of strategic approaches, instruments and institutional forms for better collaboration between cities and their surrounding areas. Rather than establishing new instruments, administrations and policy makers should make greater use of existing possibilities – especially informal instruments of regional planning – and to integrate sustainable urban and peri-urban development into existing policies. In particular, the development of regional food strategies can be an important entry point and catalyst for achieving sustainable urban rural development.

"More organic, more regional food, fit for the future – Transition of food systems through urban-rural cooperation" was the motto of this year's STADTLANDBIO Congress. Stephanie Wunder presented the policy recommendations of the research project "Rural Urban Nexus". She focused on the relevance of secure access to land for regional food producers.

The workshop "Regional Food Systems and Sustainable Land Use in the Rural Urban Nexus" on 11 April 2018 discussed the potential that food systems can play to improve rural urban linkages. The workshop aimed to discuss the available insights at international level about success factors of regional food policies and if these are also relevant in the German context. To do so, the workshop brought together local policy makers, federal policy makers as well as participants from research and civil society. Stephanie Wunder, Senior Fellow at the Ecologic Institute and project leader of the Rural Urban Nexus project, presented success factors known from international examples and studies that promote rural urban linkages through regional food systems.