Milan's agricultural districts: food landscape laboratories?

The standardization of metropolitan landscapes generated by mechanization and agricultural simplification in the past sixty years has broken the link between landscape and food. Reconnecting with the diversity of landscapes allows, as the Milanese example shows, to reconcile product quality, the principle of proximity and food safety. Thirteen years after the establishment of the first agricultural districts promoted by the Lombardy region, this contribution highlights the results in terms of short supply chains, collective catering, environmental services and in particular initiatives for the recovery, enhancement and communication of the landscape as an heritage. We investigated five districts: Dam (Milan agricultural district), Dinamo (3-waters district), Davo (river Olona district), Rice and Frogs rice district and Dama (Martesana channel district). How have they transformed the landscape? How has an intangible network of supply chain had visible effects? What are the visible effects? The districts, through the catalysing action of individual farmer initiatives, have offered greater visibility and recognition to the educational and cultural role of agriculture vis-à-vis the city, promoting a model of healthy and sustainable development. The coordinated and aggregating action of the districts was and is in this sense fundamental to overcome the often individualistic way in which farms work. The districts have been able to carry out various actions to ensure the management and improvement of the landscape from an environmental point of view, such as hedges and trees planting, canal banks re-naturalisation and lamination basins management, collaborating with municipalities and park authorities. They have promoted numerous cultural initiatives, committing themselves to cooperatively managing the built rural heritage, such as mills, and keeping the intangible heritage alive through the recovery of 'agricultural' traditions, such as the rice-harvesting festival, as well as promoting gastronomic events, such as the Rice and Frogs festival. In this sense, the branding of local identity linked to the landscape is the way to recognise the quality of the landscape itself, focusing not only on the uniqueness of the productions (DNA-certified rice), but on the management of a landscape with a high environmental quality and a strong social role. The Milan agrarian landscape, although apparently much altered, conserve many permanencies of historical landscape structures: some traditional agricultural practices have been recovered as they provide a high environmental quality (especially in terms of biodiversity and water management) and offer job to social categories in difficulty (re-employment, physical and mental disabilities, rehabilitation of former drug addicts and prisoners)

La trasmissione della conoscenza del paesaggio agrario: esperienze multimediali dinamiche

La relazione storica tra città e campagna si esplicita nella sua eredità rurale, ovvero nelle sue permanenze tangibili e intangibili. Nella ricerca di nuovi equilibri e modalità del vivere all’interno della città contemporanea, come si esplicita il ruolo dell’eredità rurale per la qualità di vita dei luoghi? La riflessione muove da un’indagine sulle modalità di trasmissione del patrimonio storico attraverso le iniziative di agricoltura urbana a Milano, per poi riflettere su un metodo di analisi del paesaggio attuale e storico attuato in alcune iniziative intraprese nel territorio milanese e soffermarsi sull’efficacia degli strumenti di comunicazione adottati.The historical relationship between city and countryside is explicitly rural in its legacy, or in its tangible and intangible persistences. In the search for new balances and ways of living within the contemporary city, how does the role of rural heritage explicate for the quality of life of places? The reflection begins with an investigation into the ways of transmitting historical heritage through urban agriculture initiatives in Milan, then reflects on a method for the analysis of the current and historical landscape implemented in some initiatives undertaken in the Milan area and focus on the effectiveness of the adopted communication tools

Governance changes in peri-urban farmland protection following decentralisation: A comparison between Montpellier (France) and Rome (Italy)

Many countries have implemented laws and planning instruments to preserve farmland on the urban fringe. This paper aims at a better understanding of the governance changes in peri-urban farmland protection following decentralisation processes in France and Italy. We compare the implementation of farmland protection instruments in the two city regions of Montpellier and Rome. From a governance perspective, we highlight the practical issues of effectiveness and social acceptability arising from power devolution, different forms of governance, and the potential conflicts when planning control shifts to lower-than-regional bodies. Our analysis is based on qualitative methods. Primary data were collected through document analysis, participant observation and in-depth interviews aimed at understanding local stakeholdersâ\u80\u99 practices and points of view on access to farmland, housing and building rights. We find that around Rome and Montpellier, decentralisation has produced multiple decision-making authorities and increased the complexity of procedures. Despite more regulatory constraints in agricultural areas, farmland conversion has persisted. However, decentralisation processes have also changed ways of governing and favoured local alternative initiatives for farmland protection and farming development on the urban fringe. New modes of governance involve public local authorities, farmersâ\u80\u99 representative bodies (Montpellier) and civil society organisations (Rome). In both cities, they have a positive but limited impact on the effectiveness of farmland protection instruments. Their social acceptability varies, depending on who is really included in the participation process

Le pacte agriurbain de la vallée ombrienne et les districts agricoles et culturels de Milan

Dans les zones périurbaines, les paysages agricoles possèdent des caractéristiques différentes, selon leur niveau d’imbrication avec les paysages urbains et leur structure de l’espace et de fonctionnement du système agricole. Afin de guider l’évolution visant à orienter le développement dans une perspective d’intégration spatiale et fonctionnelle, la gestion de ces espaces devient de plus en plus importante. En Europe, certaines expériences de gestion sont en train de se développer : parcs agricoles, projets agriurbains, districts agricoles, pactes agriurbains, pactes entre ville et campagne. Le succès de ces expériences, qui utilisent souvent une nouvelle signification de la « ruralité », est fondé sur une forte participation et cohésion entre les acteurs grâce à des pratiques de coconstruction de l’espace. Le propos de cet article est de présenter deux expériences de coconstruction des territoires agriurbains : le district agricole et culturel de Milan (Lombardie) et le pacte agriurbain de la vallée ombrienne (Ombrie), en analysant la construction du modèle, les échelles d’intervention, les acteurs socio-économiques impliqués et en considérant le rôle joué par les politiques mises en œuvre pour gérer ces espaces.In peri-urban areas, the level of integration with the urban areas, the spatial organisation of the city and surroundings and the functions of agricultural system determine specific features of agricultural landscapes. The management of these areas is becoming increasingly important in order to guide the evolution orienteering the development in a perspective of spatial and functional - integration. In Europe, some experiences of territorial planning as agricultural parks, agriurbain projects, agricultural districts, agriurbain pacts, pacts between city and countryside, are been developing. The success of these experiences, which often are expression of a new meaning of "rurality" are based on a strong participation and cohesion between the stakeholders thanks to practices of co-construction of space. The purpose of this paper is to present two experiments of co-construction of agriurbain territories : the agricultural and cultural district of Milan (Lombardia) and the agriurbain pact of Umbrian Valley (Umbria), analysing the construction of the model, the intervention scales, the socio-economic actors involved and considering the role of policies implemented to manage these areas

Past, Present and Future of Hay-making Structures in Europe

Hay-making structures are part of the agricultural landscape of meadows and pastures. Hay meadows are still used and found all over Europe, but their distribution patterns as well as their characteristics and regional features depend on geographical area, climate, culture, and intensity of agriculture. Intensively used hay meadows are the most dominant, using heavy machinery to store hay mostly as rounded or square bales. Traditional hay-making structures represent structures or constructions, used to quickly dry freshly cut fodder and to protect it from humidity. The 'ancient' forms of traditional hay-making structures are becoming a relic, due to mechanisation and the use of new technologies. Both the need for drying hay and the traditional methods for doing so were similar across Europe. Our study of hay-making structures focuses on their current state, their development and history, current use and cultural values in various European countries. Regarding the construction and use of hay-making structures, we have distinguished three different types, which correlate to natural and regional conditions: (1) temporary hay racks of various shapes; (2) hay barracks, a special type of shelters for storing hay and (3) different types of permanent construction and buildings for drying and storing hay. Hay-making structures have been mostly preserved in connection with traditional agricultural landscapes, and particularly in the more remote regions or where associated with strong cultural identity

Ancient Knowledge of Irrigation for a Sustainable City: Insight on Milan Water Meadows

Historic irrigation systems are a significant environmental and cultural resource for contemporary society and can effectively respond to the problems contemporary cities have with climate changes, such as droughts and floods. Milan’s run-flow irrigation system, and particularly its flagship water meadows, have been under great admiration by scholars from all over the world since the eighteenth century. Today the traditional irrigation system is in crisis and the water meadows are in sharp decline. Protection is entrusted by the regional parks around Milan, which implement passive to pro-active protection. Some scientific research and empirical evidence show that the combination of these ancient techniques can ensure minimum water quantity in case of drought and water absorption in case of excess rain. Their benefits could potentially expand to large areas, as was the previous meadows extension, and could also be profitable for sustainable peri-urban areas

Ile de France. Il triangle vert

Di fronte alla domanda sociale in materia di agricoltura e alle esigenze ambientali in materia di minor consumo di suolo, il progetto di paesaggio si configura come una responsabilità e un’opportunità per i paesaggisti, non solo di disegnare nuovi paesaggi di qualità, ma anche di coordinare progetti di territorio agri-urbani che sappiano far dialogare la molteplicità degli attori del territorio per il riconoscimento dell’identità agricola dei luoghi di vita. È il caso del ”Le triangle Vert des Villes Maraichères du Hurepoix”, costituito da 5 comuni della Cintura Verde di Parigi