Urban strategies and practices for agriculture and food. Six Mediterranean case studies
Résumé
The Mediterranean region is one of the areas in the world most exposed to urban growth and increasing food insecurity. The population should continue to increase (from 446 million in 2000 to 570 million in 2025) and remains concentrated in cities and on coastlines, strongly depending on food imports. In this context, some cities in the Mediterranean begin to develop food and agricultural strategies that aim to renew and strengthen the links with the local agricultural production: these strategies involve short supply chains and alternative food networks, urban agriculture and gardening, farmland preservation, local procurement for schools meals or farm-to-school initiatives. Milan, Barcelona or Lisbon for example create and develop ambitious and creative policies that address food and agriculture issues. Do these examples tend to reveal a transition era towards agricultural and food strategies in the Mediterranean? Why do these cities come to worry about food and agriculture issues and take action on them? What food and agricultural practices are conceived, adopted and implemented through these innovative urban strategies?