Springer Toward Sustainable Relations Between Agriculture and the City (Urban Agriculture)

Product Description This book gives an overview of frameworks, methods, and case studies useful for the analysis of the relations between agriculture and the city, in Europe and the Mediterranean. Its originality lies in the analysis of urban food systems sustainability from an actors’ perspective. All the chapters consider the key role of actors in the definition of innovations and pathways, which enhance sustainability, seen as an ongoing process. Part 1 presents systemic approaches of agricultural-urban interactions at the city-region scale in France, Egypt, Italy and Morocco. Part 2 deals with methods and tools for urban planning and local development, utilized to design and assess sustainable food systems. The Part 3 inventories the recent changes in urban agriculture and the new forms of governance which are emerging in European cities (Athens, Berlin, Lisbon, Montpellier, Paris and Zurich).  These results are useful for students, academics and activists involved in local policies and projects. From the Back Cover This book gives an overview of frameworks, methods, and case studies for the analysis of the relations between agriculture and the city, in Europe and the Mediterranean. One of its general objectives is to show, through a diversity of case studies, how local actors (private actors, civil society and public decision - makers) deal with and interact over agriculture, food and urban development. It also aims to show how actors innovate through new activities, organizations, institutions and territories. Another key objective is finally to provide frameworks and methodological approaches for what could be called “agri-urban studies”. The three parts of the book provide a set of approaches of the sustainability of urban food systems from an actors’ perspective. Part 1 presents systemic approaches of agricultural-urban interactions at the city-region scale in France, Egypt, Italy and Morocco. Local food issues, agriculture-urban relations, short food chains and urban livestock are taken as examples to develop systemic approaches, mobilizing both integrative and dual processes linking agriculture and the city. Part 2 deals with methods and tools for urban planning and local development, in order to design and assess sustainable food systems. At the city-region scale, chapters illustrate how actors can set relevant boundaries of a sustainable foodshed, design tools including local food supply In urban planning, and evaluate contributions of local projects to sustainability. Part 3 identifies and recounts the recent changes in urban agriculture and the new forms of governance which are emerging in European cities (Athens, Berlin, Lisboa, Montpellier, Paris and Zurich).  Referring to urban agriculture, chapters show how sustainable pathways can be fostered by a wide range of multiscale grassroots initiatives (farms, collective gardens, buildings, urban green areas …) embedded in transitioning trends of sustainable development.  About the Author Christophe-Toussaint Soulard is a senior researcher at INRA (The French Institute for Agricultural Research). Head of the research team “Agricity” of the Innovation research unit in Montpellier, France, he conducts research on sustainable agriculture and urban food systems. Holding a PhD in geography (Paris Sorbonne University, 1999), he leads research and action-research projects, and supervises doctoral theses in France, with comparisons in the Mediterranean (Lebanon, Portugal, Tunisia) and with the United States (Portland).  Coline Perrin is a researcher at INRA (The French Institute for Agricultural Research). Member of the research team “Agricity” of the UMR Innovation in Montpellier, France, she conducts researches on farmland farmland management on the urban fringe planning. PhD in geography (Aix-Marseille and Firenze Florence Universities, 2009), she leads the research project JASMINN dealing with farmland protection, urban planning and spatial justice on the ur