Food production in proximity peri-urban spaces. Phenomena, processes and socio-territorial expressions in the formation of agri-food systems

Peri-urbanization constitutes one of the most dynamic territorial expressions in contemporary society. New forms have emerged as a result of the predominant role played by urban centers, which express transformations and emerging phenomena in their peripheries and in the surrounding rural environmen...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Avila-Sanchez, Hector
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:México
Institución:UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE MÉXICO
Repositorio:Investigaciones Geográficas
Idioma:español
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/60806
Acceso en línea:https://www.investigacionesgeograficas.unam.mx/index.php/rig/article/view/60806
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:metropolización
multifuncionalidad
ciudad-región
hubs alimentarios
circuitos cortos
parques agrarios
metropolization
multifunctionality
city-region
alternative food models
food hubs
short circuits
agricultural parks
Descripción
Sumario:Peri-urbanization constitutes one of the most dynamic territorial expressions in contemporary society. New forms have emerged as a result of the predominant role played by urban centers, which express transformations and emerging phenomena in their peripheries and in the surrounding rural environment. Various territorial dynamics are taking place in these areas as a result of the reconfiguration of food production spaces in the peri-urban environments that are part of metropolitan systems. Differentiated facets of the institutionalization of sustainable food in urban and peri-urban environments are manifested in the transition towards sustainable food and in which different territorial modalities are expressed. Here, decisive processes in contemporary territorial structuring acquire relevance, linked to new sustainable and sanitary food trends, such as proximity, the consolidation of short consumption circuits and the establishment of new territorial forms such as city-region food systems and agricultural parks, in a context of restructuring and reorganization of peri-urban spaces, as an integral part of metropolitan systems. The figure of the agricultural park constitutes a territorial innovation in the face of growing metropolization, which threatens and disarticulates the dynamics of periurban agricultural spaces. Mainly in Europe, it constitutes a modality through which agricultural spaces are organized and managed in metropolitan hierarchical spheres. Emphasis is placed on the social character and collective actions that sustain agricultural practices, as part of urban sustainability. The transcendental roles of social actors, citizen and producer organizations, as well as participating institutions, in the configuration of peri-urban territorial governance, based on the foundations of solidarity economy and social justice, are pointed out. The dissemination acquired in these processes, the modalities based on a broad cooperativist support (food hubs, cooperative supermarkets, shared workshops), linked to the management of food production and consumption, are highlighted. The idea of peri-urban proximity agriculture is highlighted as a valuable contribution to food supply through alternative production and consumption systems. Although conventional food production still predominates in the food supply of urban centers, the challenge is to strengthen the existing modalities of urban and peri-urban agriculture, as healthy food options and as a safeguard for local and peasant agrarian economies. Their consideration within the public policies of Rural Development is limited, so it is essential to strengthen the support of local and metropolitan governments. In terms of the permanent redefinition of the multifunctional character experienced by contemporary rural spaces, especially those linked to the dynamics of metropolitan systems, it is necessary to study in depth other transformations and differentiated expressions in these areas of urban-rural interaction (land use, new forms of population, neo-rurality and socio-territorial differentiations), due to the links they establish among themselves, in the permanent transformation of peri-urban spaces.