In the context of the concept of social municipalism, the study examines urban restaurants as one of the innovative practices of local governments to reduce social inequalities. Social municipalism involves social policies aimed at raising the living standards of disadvantaged groups, rather than just providing infrastructure services. In this context, urban restaurants, which have become widespread in Turkey since 2022, stand out as a practice that aims to provide access to affordable and healthy meals, especially for low-income individuals. Through the example of Denizli City Restaurant, the study examines the place of city restaurants within the social municipalism approach and their social impacts. It is determined that city restaurants go beyond just providing a meal service and serve functions such as social solidarity, sharing and social integration. Within the scope of the study, data were collected through literature review and face-to-face interviews, which are qualitative research methods. The participants consisted of the founding actors of the urban restaurant, regular visitors to the urban restaurant, employees of the urban restaurant, and neighborhood shopkeepers.

The results show that urban restaurants contribute to social welfare as a concrete example of social municipalism, but their sustainability is directly related to municipal budget management and public participation. The discussion section discusses whether this practice should be considered as social municipalism or communitarian municipalism. The study shows that city restaurants, as a modern social municipal activity, do not address inequalities in the city in a radical transformation of socialist municipalism. The study enables the introduction of the city restaurant practice into the literature and allows for comparative analysis in future studies.