Toward Sustainable Relations Between Agriculture and the City

This book gives an overview of frameworks, methods, and case studies useful for the analysis of the relations between agriculture and the city, in Europe and the Mediterranean. Its originality lies in the analysis of urban food systems sustainability from an actors' perspective. All the chapters consider the key role of actors in the definition of innovations and pathways, which enhance sustainability, seen as an ongoing process. Part 1 presents systemic approaches of agricultural-urban interactions at the city-region scale in France, Egypt, Italy and Morocco. Part 2 deals with methods and tools for urban planning and local development, utilized to design and assess sustainable food systems. The Part 3 inventories the recent changes in urban agriculture and the new forms of governance which are emerging in European cities (Athens, Berlin, Lisbon, Montpellier, Paris and Zurich).  These results are useful for students, academics and activists involved in local policies and projects.

Christophe-Toussaint Soulard is a senior researcher at INRA (The French Institute for Agricultural Research). Head of the research team 'Agricity' of the Innovation research unit in Montpellier, France, he conducts research on sustainable agriculture and urban food systems. Holding a PhD in geography (Paris Sorbonne University, 1999), he leads research and action-research projects, and supervises doctoral theses in France, with comparisons in the Mediterranean (Lebanon, Portugal, Tunisia) and with the United States (Portland). 

Coline Perrin is a researcher at INRA (The French Institute for Agricultural Research). Member of the research team 'Agricity' of the UMR Innovation in Montpellier, France, she conducts researches on farmland farmland management on the urban fringe planning. PhD in geography (Aix-Marseille and Firenze Florence Universities, 2009), she leads the research project JASMINN dealing with farmland protection, urban planning and spatial justice on the urban fringe, in France, Italy and other Mediterranean countries. 

Elodie Valette is researcher at CIRAD (The French Agricultural Research and International Cooperation Institute). She is member of the joint research unit Art-Dev in Montpellier, France. She has a PhD in geography (Paris Diderot University, 2003) and leads research projects dealing with agriculture, governance and urban planning, in Africa and Maghreb.