Abstract
In Europe, the dynamics of urban development has been a significant driver of high consumption of land and agricultural resources, producing complex landscapes with a highly heterogeneous mix of urban and non-urban uses. Within the mosaic of these non-urbanized areas, cultivated land and farmlands are ecosystems able to supply all three major categories of ecosystem services: provisioning, regulating and cultural services. Apart from the most tangible services (food and fiber), other relevant services are provided by agriculture, such as the maintenance of soil fertility, water regulation, carbon sequestration and cultural services (rural viewscapes, cultural heritage). In this scenario of landscape transformations, new forms of urban agriculture (NFUA) are emerging worldwide as practices that aim at meeting local demand for food, protecting farmlands from urban development and offering cultural opportunities for people living in urban and metropolitan areas. In this chapter, some exemplar and recent examples of different types of NFUA (urban farms, community-supported agriculture, allotment gardens and agricultural parks) implemented in Italy are presented, as representative and concrete attempts to plan new sustainable planning scenarios for contemporary metropolitan landscapes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arvaia (2018) Arvaia. Cittadini coltivatori biologici (Arvaia. Organic farming citizens). www.arvaia.it. Accessed 15 June 2018
Aubry C, Kebir L (2013) Shortening food supply chains: a means for maintaining agriculture close to urban areas? The case of the French metropolitan area of Paris. Food Policy 41:85–93
Aubry C, Ramamonjiso J, Dabat MH, Rakotoariso J, Rakotondraib J, Rabehariso L (2012) Urban agriculture and land use in cities: an approach with the multi-functionality and sustainability concepts in the case of Antananarivo (Madagascar). Land Use Policy 29:429–439
Benis K, Ferrão P (2017) Potential mitigation of the environmental impacts of food systems through urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA)–A life cycle assessment approach. J Clean Prod 140:784–795
Bougherara D, Grolleau G, Mzoughi N (2009) Buy local, pollute less: what drives households to join a community supported farm? Ecol Econ 68:1488–1495
City of Catania (2017) Bando per l’assegnazione degli orti urbani quartiere di librino –viale s. Teodoro (Call for assignment of urban vegetable gardens in the neighborhood of Librino—avenue s. Teodoro). https://www.comune.catania.it/informazioni/avvisi/avvisi-2017/allegati-2017/bando-orti-urbani-librino/bando-assegnazione-lotti-librino-parco-librino.pdf. Accessed 15 June 2018
City of Rome (2015) Bando per l’assegnazione degli orti Urbani (Call for applications for urban gardens). https://www.comune.roma.it/PCR/resources/cms/documents/Delib_N_38_17.07.2015.pdf. Accessed 15 June 2018
Clark JK, Munroe DK (2013) The relational geography of peri-urban farmer adaptation. J Rural Commun Dev 8(3):15–28
Deelstra T, Boyd D, van den Biggelaar M (2001) Multifunctional land use—An opportunity for promoting urban agriculture in Europe. Urban Agric 4:33–35
Ghaida TA, Spinnler HE, Soyeux Y, Hamieh T, Medawar S (2014) Risk-based food safety and quality governance at the international law, EU, USA, Canada and France: effective system for Lebanon as for the WTO accession. Food Control 44:267–282
Goldstein B, Hauschild M, Fernández J, Birkved M (2016) Urban versus conventional agriculture, taxonomy of resource profiles: a review. Agron Sustain Dev 36:9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-015-0348-4
Heimlich RE (1989) Metropolitan agriculture: farming in the city’s shadow. J Am Plann Assoc 55:457–466
Kasanko M, Barredo JI, Lavalle C, McCormick N, Demicheli L, Sagris V, Brezger A (2006) Are European cities becoming dispersed? A comparative analysis of 15 European urban areas. Landscape Urban Plan 77:111–130
La Rosa D, Privitera R (2013) Characterization of non-urbanized areas for land-use planning of agricultural and green infrastructure in urban context. Landscape Urban Plann 109:94–106
La Rosa D, Barbarossa L, Privitera R, Martinico F (2014) Agriculture and the city: a method for sustainable planning of new forms of agriculture in urban contexts. Land Use Policy 41:290–303
La Rosa D, Geneletti D, Spyra M, Albert C, Furst C (2018) Sustainable planning for peri-urban landscapes. In: Perera AH et al (eds) Ecosystem services from forest landscapes: broad scale considerations. Springer International Publisher, Cham, pp 89–126. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74515-2_5
Lange A, Piorr A, Siebert R, Zasada I (2013) Spatial differentiation of farm diversification: how rural attractiveness and vicinity to cities determine farm households’ response to the CAP. Land Use Policy 31:136–144
Lovell S (2010) Multifunctional urban agriculture for sustainable land use planning in the United States. Sustainability 2:2499–2522
Migliorini P, Scaltriti B (2012) Evaluation of sustainability of the farms in the Agricultural Park of South Milan and their production chain. New Medit 11(4):53–56
Opitz I, Berges R, Piorr A, Krikser T (2016) Contributing to food security in urban areas: differences between urban agriculture and peri-urban agriculture in the Global North. Agric Human Values 33(2):341–358
Parco Agricolo Sud Milano (2007) Discovering the Parco Agricolo Sud Milano. http://www.cittametropolitana.mi.it/export/sites/default/parco_agricolo_sud_milano/pubblicazioni/.content/allegati/guide/GUIDA_PARCO_SUD.pdf. Accessed 15 June 2018
Pileri P, Maggi M (2010) Sustainable planning? First results in land uptakes in rural, natural and protected areas: the Lombardia case study (Italy). J Land Use Sci 5(2):105–122. https://doi.org/10.1080/1747423X.2010.481078
Pölling B, Mergenthaler M, Lorleberg W (2016) Professional urban agriculture and its characteristic business models in Metropolis Ruhr, Germany. Land Use Policy 58:366–379
Provè C, Dessein J, de Krom M (2016) Taking context into account in urban agriculture governance: case studies of Warsaw (Poland) and Ghent (Belgium). Land Use Policy 56:16–26
Pulighe G, Lupia F (2016) Mapping spatial patterns of urban agriculture in Rome (Italy) using Google Earth and web-mapping services. Land Use Policy 59:49–58
Recasens X, Alfranca O, Maldonado L (2016) The adaptation of urban farms to cities: the case of the Alella wine region within the Barcelona Metropolitan Region. Land Use Policy 56:158–168
Rubino A (2007) The allotment gardens of the Ile de France: a tool for social development. J Mediterranean Ecol 8:67–75
Sorace A (2001) Value to wildlife of urban-agricultural parks: a case study from Rome urban area. Environ Manage 4:547–560
Swinton S, Lupi MF, Proberstson GP, Hamilton SK (2007) Ecosystem services and agriculture: cultivating agricultural ecosystems for diverse benefits. Ecol Econ 64:245–252
van En R (1995) Eating for your community: towards agriculture supported community. Context 42(Fall):29–31
Wästfelt A, Zhang Q (2016) Reclaiming localisation for revitalising agriculture: a case study of peri-urban agricultural change in Gothenburg, Sweden. J Rural Stud 47:172–185
Yang Z, Hao P, Liu W, Cai J (2016) Peri-urban agricultural development in Beijing: varied forms, innovative practices and policy implications. Habitat Int 56:222–234
Zappata Romana (2018) Zappata Romana. www.zappataromana.net. Accessed 30 June 2018
Zasada I (2011) Multifunctional peri-urban agriculture—a review of societal demands and the provision of goods and services by farming. Land Use Policy 28:639–648
Zezza A, Tasciotti L (2010) Urban agriculture, poverty, and food security: empirical evidence from a sample of developing countries. Food Policy 35:265–273
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
La Rosa, D. (2023). New Forms of Urban Agriculture in Metropolitan Areas: Examples from Italy. In: Breuste, J., Artmann, M., Ioja, C., Qureshi, S. (eds) Making Green Cities. Cities and Nature. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73089-5_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73089-5_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-73088-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-73089-5
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)