Vera Teresa Foti

The Integration of Agriculture in the Politics of Social Regeneration of Degraded Urban Areas

Starting out from the admonitions of the encyclical letter by pope Francis, this contribution aims to define the value of social agriculture as an instrument of integrated development of the territory able to foster, just for its own peculiarities, the creation of dense systems of relationships among the various stakeholders that operate in synergy for the local development of the territory and the creation, therefore, of shared capital. The analysis, through the first results of a case study involving various social agricultural enterprises that operate in the metropolitan area of Catania, has enables the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the relationships that are generated between the various subjects that interact at the territorial level (network), using the methodology of Social Network Analysis (SNA).

The Social Relationships’ Effectiveness of "Agrisocial" Farms: A Model of Sustainable Local Development

In accordance with the multifunctional farms model, social farming activities are useful instruments to maintain sustainable competitive advantages in certain areas, as these made-to-order services are able to satisfy the needs declared and/or hidden of local communities. The authors claim that social farming activities can be a model of sustainable development for local communities through the construction of an effective relationships network that is able to involve the interested actors within the complex process of social services delivery. The Social Network Analysis has been used to measure the relationships created by the agrisocial farms belonging to a periurban area. The results show effectiveness of relationships network and an good level of cross sector collaboration among local actors. This relationships network is able to contributes also to local development.