METROPOLITAN AGRICULTURE, SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC DYNAMICS AND THE FOOD-CITY RELATIONSHIP IN SOUTHERN EUROPE

Peri-urban agriculture is a pivotal issue in the debate on sustainable management of land in metropolitan regions worldwide. Multiple socioeconomic and environmental solutions introduced by new models of peri-urban agriculture are playing an important role in planning and management of fringe land. The recent development of peri-urban agriculture in Southern European cities was supposed to reflect latent, crisis-driven processes of 'coming back to land': new land has been extensively cultivated, and new relations have been created between farmers, communities and territories within peri-urban areas. This study describes some relevant experiences of peri-urban farming in 6 metropolitan regions (Lisbon, Barcelona, Marseille, Rome, Athens, Istanbul) representative of different socioeconomic contexts in Southern Europe, outlining strengths and weaknesses in the use of fringe land for cropping, and evidencing relevant implications for urban sustainability

Suburban Fertility and Metropolitan Cycles: Insights from European Cities

[EN] Being largely diversified along the urban-rural gradient, fertility gaps have demonstrated to fuel metropolitan expansion, contributing to natural population growth and social change. In this direction, population dynamics and economic transformations have continuously shaped urban cycles in Europe. Assuming suburban fertility to be a relevant engine of metropolitan growth, the present study investigates and discusses the intrinsic relationship between fertility transitions and urban expansion, focusing on European metropolitan regions. An average crude birth rate referring to the last decade (2013-2018) was estimated from official statistics at 671 Functional Urban Areas (FUAs, Eurostat Urban Audit definition) of 30 European countries, distinguishing 'central cities' from 'suburban' locations. Local contexts with a higher crude birth rate as compared with neighboring settlements were identified analyzing differential fertility levels in urban and suburban locations. By providing an indirect, comparative verification of the 'suburban fertility hypothesis' in European cities, the results of this study demonstrate how suburbanization has been basically associated to younger and larger families-and thus higher fertility levels-only in Eastern and Southern Europe. Birth rates that were higher in suburbs than in central cities were observed in 70% of Eastern European cities and 55% of Mediterranean cities. The reverse pattern was observed in Western (20%), Northern (25%) and Central (30%) Europe, suggesting that urban cycles in the European continent are not completely phased: most of Western, Central, and Northern European cities are experiencing re-urbanization after a long suburbanization wave. Demographic indicators are demonstrated to comprehensively delineate settlement patterns and socioeconomic trends along urban-suburban-rural gradients, giving insights on the differential metropolitan cycles between (and within) countries.Rodrigo-Comino, J.; Egidi, G.; Sateriano, A.; Poponi, S.; Mosconi, EM.; Giménez Morera, A. (2021). Suburban Fertility and Metropolitan Cycles: Insights from European Cities. Sustainability. 13(4):1-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042181S11413