The lack of productive urban land, the food insecurity, the uncontrolled urban growth, the lack of stable local food markets, the land use conflicts in the urban areas and a general lack of knowledge about the food production, fuel the debate about city and food in time of changes (Morgan & Sonnino, 2010). In the evolution of the urban rural relationship we can consider agricultural production not as the antithesis of the city, but of an integrated urban activity that contribute to the resilience of cities (Barthel & Isendhal, 2013). Besides scholars and institution seem move towards a new paradigm for a territorial agri-food system planning to improve the local management of food systems that are both local and global (FAO, 2011, Sonnino, 2013). The paper explores the changes in rural urban linkages of Rome’s province, focusing on its the development of the metropolitan area in the framework of a food sustainable planning and in landscape resilience. In this frame the case of Rome is interesting due to several reasons. First, Rome is the largest city in Italy, in terms of surface area and population, and was the largest agricultural municipality in Europe until 1992, when the municipality of Fiumicino separated itself from Rome. The special features of the case of Rome also concern the extent and size of the settlement developments characterizing the area: two thirds of the urbanized surface areas have been built up in the last fifty years, occupying mostly agricultural land (Bianchi & Zanchini 2011, Cavallo et al., 2013). The local food network behind agriculture in the city, within a number of integrated social agrarian cooperative, who represented an alternative food production system and landmark for many initiatives carried out by the civil society, associations, cooperatives, volunteer and school sectors. We focus on assessing the role that local flows of agri-food system can play in the frame of metropolitan food demand and consuming, try to explore how much land in Rome could be productively used for agriculture and how much could realistically be grown. These issues are important steps toward increasing knowledge and establishing a baseline for evaluating the potential role of Roman local food shed, even in terms of its impact on agro-ecosystems and landscape. Starting from the relationship between food and city, we are mapping rural urban linkages and changes in Rome’s foodscape (Morgan & Sonnino, 2010), identifying a number of representative conditions - typologies - in the area of whole province of Rome. We can identify a set of recurring elements, whether criticality rather than opportunities, that holds together the relationships between urban space and the role played by agricultural activities in rural and periurban contexts.
The local agrifood systems in face of changes in urban rural relationship: the foodscape of Rome
Cavallo A;
2014-01-01
Abstract
The lack of productive urban land, the food insecurity, the uncontrolled urban growth, the lack of stable local food markets, the land use conflicts in the urban areas and a general lack of knowledge about the food production, fuel the debate about city and food in time of changes (Morgan & Sonnino, 2010). In the evolution of the urban rural relationship we can consider agricultural production not as the antithesis of the city, but of an integrated urban activity that contribute to the resilience of cities (Barthel & Isendhal, 2013). Besides scholars and institution seem move towards a new paradigm for a territorial agri-food system planning to improve the local management of food systems that are both local and global (FAO, 2011, Sonnino, 2013). The paper explores the changes in rural urban linkages of Rome’s province, focusing on its the development of the metropolitan area in the framework of a food sustainable planning and in landscape resilience. In this frame the case of Rome is interesting due to several reasons. First, Rome is the largest city in Italy, in terms of surface area and population, and was the largest agricultural municipality in Europe until 1992, when the municipality of Fiumicino separated itself from Rome. The special features of the case of Rome also concern the extent and size of the settlement developments characterizing the area: two thirds of the urbanized surface areas have been built up in the last fifty years, occupying mostly agricultural land (Bianchi & Zanchini 2011, Cavallo et al., 2013). The local food network behind agriculture in the city, within a number of integrated social agrarian cooperative, who represented an alternative food production system and landmark for many initiatives carried out by the civil society, associations, cooperatives, volunteer and school sectors. We focus on assessing the role that local flows of agri-food system can play in the frame of metropolitan food demand and consuming, try to explore how much land in Rome could be productively used for agriculture and how much could realistically be grown. These issues are important steps toward increasing knowledge and establishing a baseline for evaluating the potential role of Roman local food shed, even in terms of its impact on agro-ecosystems and landscape. Starting from the relationship between food and city, we are mapping rural urban linkages and changes in Rome’s foodscape (Morgan & Sonnino, 2010), identifying a number of representative conditions - typologies - in the area of whole province of Rome. We can identify a set of recurring elements, whether criticality rather than opportunities, that holds together the relationships between urban space and the role played by agricultural activities in rural and periurban contexts.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
