Federica Monaco

Urban-rural relationships in feeding metropolis : a case study in Ljubljana metropolitan area

Metropolitan areas are characterized by the coexistence of a urban core insisting on natural resources of surrounding rural areas, strictly linked to the former. Inevitably, increasing urbanization and its consequences affect the model of urban development, which then needs to deal with the challenge of sustainability, also aiming to reduce pressures on resources and on supplying capacities of rural agricultural systems in providing food to urban zones, traditionally lacking. It then becomes important to deepen the possibility for the dense core to be supplied through proximity agriculture, able to recreate and improve synergic connections between urban and rural spheres. The paper aims to study the relationships among them for feeding the metropolis, adopting a methodology for the spatial definition of urban centre in metropolitan area and the assessment of its food balance, in order to identify the potentialities of local and proximity agriculture and provide a first evaluation for the possibility to match urban development and production potential. Identified tools are applied to Ljubljana metropolitan area.

Irrigation Water Resource in a Rice-Growing Area: Economic Evaluation under Different Pricing Conditions

Water scarcity is an increasing phenomenon affecting all sectors of economic interest. This problem is stressing agriculture as well, and in particular primary activities that use huge amounts of the resource to maintain their productions at sufficiently high levels. A way to contrast scarcity is the improvement of the efficiency of water allocation and the reduction of its losses, through the adoption of political instruments and pricing aimed to a more aware use of the resource itself. In this context, the Water Framework Directive, in order to assign an appropriate cost to irrigation water, urges member states to introduce the concept of full cost, and to apply a volumetric supply fee promoting the rationalization of the resource, thus playing a role in addressing emerging and future problems of water scarcity. However, several studies have already demonstrated through modeling approaches that these interventions could strongly affect farms’ choices and performances, resulting in consequences that would have repercussions on the whole agricultural system. The study aims to evaluate economic performances of farms in a typical rice-cultivated area in Lombardy, Northern Italy, under different supply tariff levels. A simple programming model has been used to run a scenario analysis. Structural features of farms, their productive inputs and performances are reported in current conditions, under different pricing and progressively increasing fee levels, in order to evaluate their effects on farms’ economic performances and operative strategies. The obtained results allow for a first identification of critical points in the water management of the area and hypothesize interventions for a better resource allocation, as a useful instrument for supporting future policies on water resources.

The Cores of Metropolitan Areas: Evidence from Five European Contexts

Numerosi sono gli studi che a vario livello ed in diversi ambiti affrontano la tematica dei contesti metropolitani, fornendo approcci differenti per la loro definizione. Ciononostante, concordano nel considerare l’area metropolitana come insieme di aree meno dense che gravitano su un contesto maggiormente urbanizzato. Mentre gran parte degli studi ne affrontano la delimitazione spaziale focalizzandosi sull’analisi congiunta di piu variabili, l’articolo intende fornire un approccio metodologico basato sulla densita di popolazione, al fine di individuare all’interno dell’area metropolitana il nucleo denso nel quale si concentra la domanda di beni e servizi. La metodologia illustrata fa riferimento ad un’analisi di correlazione spaziale basata sull’approccio lisa, di cui viene fornita un’applicazione in cinque diverse realta europee: Berlino, Lubiana, Londra, Milano, Rotterdam. I risultati evidenziano la bonta del modello e le potenzialita di applicazione in qualsivoglia contesto

Innovation in Territorial Governance: The Case of Agricultural Districts in Lombardy Region

In recent years globalization and the economic crisis have been pressing the agricultural sector, driving farmers to adopt new tools in order to deal with the challenges put in place by a globalized market and by the actions of agricultural policies. In this sense, the Italian legislation allows them joining in organized superstructures which, referring to the concept of industrial district, involve different members of a specific production sector in a territorial context,. in a network of relationships and a higher vertical and horizontal integration. Under these drivers, agricultural rural districts, agro-food quality districts and supply chain districts are been constituted. They represent concrete examples of a new form of territorial governance that may play a role in the development and enhancement of the local area and its agro-food production. Three districts belonging to different categories operating and recognized by Lombardy region have been taken such as case studies and a set of qualitative criteria and indicators is proposed, in order to provide a framework of their characteristics and a preliminary comparison among them.

Bringing urban food supply closer to food consumption: opportunities for five European metropolitan regions

Agro-food systems in urban and metropolitan regions are complex structures that simultaneously have to respond to domestic supply, compete on global markets and ensure to consumers a direct relationship with both food producers and production sites. In this regard, the strengthen of the local dimension, through the enhancement of proximity agriculture, is a strategic goal to foster both local resources and improve regional socio- economic viability. The paper adopts a territorial approach to analyse agro-food systems in five European metropolitan regions. The proposed methodology aims at deepening the actual capacities of urban and peri-urban agriculture in adequately meet urban food demand, its role in the economic dimension of the primary sector, the opportunities for exploiting the local component, as well as at providing preliminary results to be taken into account in order to shape proper regulations in their respective agro-food sector.