Peri-urban farmland conservation and development of alternative food networks: Insights from a case-study area in metropolitan Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain)
Highlights
► Peri-urban farmlands protection and alternative food networks are examined together. ► A specific case-study is analysed in the metropolitan area of Barcelona. ► Effective peri-urban farmland conservation is not simply achieved by zoning. ► Effective peri-urban farmland conservation requires strategic guidance. ► There is limited scope for alternative food networks without peri-urban farmlands.
Introduction
Globally, there are now more people living in cities than there are rural dwellers. One of the consequences of this is the disconnection between places that focus on producing food (rural areas, see Bell et al., 2010) and places that consume most of the food produced, that is, urban areas (Knight and Riggs, 2010). Furthermore, as urban populations increase, a reduction in farmland is inevitable, particularly as urban settings tend to be based on prime agricultural soils (Bryant and Johnston, 1992). This urban encroachment has been reported in different parts of the world, including China (Lichtenberg and Ding, 2008), the European Union (EU) (EEA, 2006), the United States (US) (Alig et al., 2004) and Australia (Houston, 2005), and all these studies forecast continued farmland contraction at the expense of urban expansion. Worldwide, cities face two irrevocable challenges: their disconnection from food production areas and the destruction of farmland. This paper will consider policy responses to avert indiscriminate peri-urban farmland loss while ‘reconnecting’ urban farmlands with consumers, using a case-study example from the Barcelona peri-urban area.
An increasing interest in food quality, food trustworthiness and an appreciation of food socio-cultural traditions and especially the ‘reconnection’ of urban areas to nearby food production are all contributing factors to the growing literature around the so-called ‘alternative food networks’ (AFNs) (Wiskerke, 2009, Renting et al., 2003). ‘Reconnection’, an oft-quoted concept in AFNs research (Morgan, 2010, Sánchez-Hernández, 2009, Fonte, 2008, Ilbery et al., 2005, Watts et al., 2005, Winter, 2003), is an aspiration of places known as ‘urban food deserts’, where links between the city and its nearby farmlands are replaced by industrial-scale production for export and mass consumption (Fonte, 2008, Breitbach, 2007, McKenzie and Stehlik, 2005).
Previous studies analysing cities’ heterogeneous food links with the surrounding land have been undertaken in Vancouver (Canada) (Condon et al., 2010), São Paulo (Brazil) (Blanc, 2009), Rome (Italy) (Sonnino, 2009), Seattle (US) (Jarosz, 2008), and Lyon (France) (Dufour et al., 2007). This literature, however, pays limited attention to the conservation of farmland in the cities’ countryside. Dufour et al. (2007) analysed how Coteaux du Lyonnais provided Lyon with fresh food and this connection was reinforced through a branding promotion of Coteaux's products, but their research did not consider land-use decision-making or the mechanisms by which land-use was secured for the purposes of food production. Condon et al. (2010) explained spatial planning and food management in metropolitan Vancouver, but they failed to link the concepts and did not examine the zoning mechanisms by which farmland could be preserved. Another example is Jarosz (2008), who explored the provision of food in Seattle and the contribution made by proximate farmers to urban markets but did so without scrutinising land-use planning. Jarosz (2008, p. 238) observed that “protection of farmland is key to local food systems” but did not develop the point further. Follett (2009) and Condon et al. (2010) also concluded in their papers that farmland is essential for AFNs development, but they did not mention how this might be achieved. In this paper, we aim to fill these knowledge gaps.
The aim of this paper is to bridge the gap between two critical issues of relevance for peri-urban areas: farmland preservation and AFNs development, using a case-study from a farmland precinct near Barcelona, the Baix Llobregat Agricultural Park (BLAP, Parc Agrari del Baix Llobregat, PABL in Catalan), as an illustrative example of the integration of planning, farmland protection and AFNs management. Farmland protection in peri-urban areas is not a new issue, as will be discussed below. The AFNs agenda has gained momentum, driven by increasing attention to access to healthy food, food security, food safety and the reduction in obesity rates (Pothukuchi, 2009, Donald, 2009, Cummins and Macintyre, 2006) which has motivated renewed attention to planning. The American Planning Association policy guidelines on food planning (APA, 2007), emphasise the protection of prime peri-urban farmlands and the introduction of food policies which aim to curb the creation of food ‘monocultures’ by big retailers. Some practical applications of planning approaches have been developed as design explorations (Weller, 2009, Viljoen, 2005), but overall, there is a general lack of examples of farmland preservation and AFNs development in the literature. The case-study here analysed will identify specific implementation measures and will be of use to planners and policy-makers in a world dominated by urban centres which are rapidly reducing the supply of highly productive agricultural land. The focus of this paper is AFNs and planning, particularly within a European context where state intervention in land-use planning is common.
The remainder of this article is organised as follows. In the next section the peri-urban agriculture debates are presented, with a specific focus on farmland conservation. A background section contextualises the study and in particular explains the role and value of AFNs. The following two sections outline the case-study, first presenting the region and explaining the adopted case-study methodology, and then the implementation and development of the BLAP. The empirical research and theoretical implications are discussed and the paper concludes with planning recommendations.
Section snippets
Peri-urban farmlands: from characterisation to preservation
Since the beginning of academic interest in peri-urban agriculture, there has been concern about the reduction in farmland due to urbanisation. As early as 1940, Wehrwein (1942) noted farmland contraction caused by urban sprawl in New Jersey and New York. The same was reported by Wills (1945) in Sydney and foreseen by Deffontaines (1949) in Barcelona. The essential and distinguishing feature underpinning peri-urban or fringe farmland is its proximity to cities and, consequently, remote,
The emergence of alternative food networks (AFNs)
The literature regarding AFNs is a complex body of theoretical developments and there are debates whether AFNs are in fact alternative (Venn et al., 2006, Goodman, 2004, Robinson, 2004) or even networks (Bell, 2008). The perspective adopted here is that AFNs offer an alternative to the dominant industrial, conventional and bulk systems of food production, distribution and consumption. However, it is accepted that this is a contested term and that alternative and conventional food networks may
Case-study area
The BLAP is a consortium constituted in 1998 and formed by several public bodies including the Catalan Government, the Barcelona Provincial Council, the Baix Llobregat District Council and fourteen municipalities and a private farmers’ union; a complex inter-agency arrangement.
The municipal level is empowered with urban and rural planning and control and is responsible for the delineation of urban growth boundaries. However, municipalities in the BLAP area do not manage their own municipal
Epistemology and methodology
This research is analytically embedded in an inductive approach, the aim being to generate description, analysis and theoretical outputs through detailed empirical observations within a specific case-study area. The case-study is as an area where external and internal actors or stakeholders at several scales produce the space (Di Méo and Buléon, 2005, Harvey, 1996, Marsden et al., 1993, Santos, 1988). These actors are constantly interacting and competing, generating conflicting raison-d’êtres
Baix Llobregat Agricultural Park (BLAP) development themes
All interviewees considered the history of the region to be very important for understanding the BLAP. It came about as a consequence of a long-term claim by the Unió de Pagesos (UP, created in 1974), the principal farmers’ union in Catalonia. At the conclusion of Franco's dictatorship, the 1976 Metropolitan Plan was passed and farmers considered this an inacceptable reduction in farmland which compromised their farms. This lead, in 1977, to the Save the Plain! (Salvem el Pla!) campaign,
Discussion: the Baix Llobregat Agricultural Park (BLAP) in conservation farmland and alternative food networks (AFNs) contexts
As noted earlier, this paper aims to highlight the critical relationship between farmland preservation and AFNs development in peri-urban areas. It has been suggested that farmland protection on the city fringes will lead to AFNs development (Condon et al., 2010), but based on the evidence from this case-study, such a statement seems naïve. The BLAP was not an imposed land protection device, but rather a farmer initiative to preserve their livelihood, the value of which was ultimately
Conclusions
This research has shown that effective farmland conservation is not achieved by simply using zoning restrictions. Different tools therefore need to be considered (Bengston et al., 2004) and it is sometimes necessary to duplicate planning procedures to achieve farmland protection. The fringe is an environment vulnerable to powerful spatial, economic and social forces and persistent and innovative efforts are essential if there is to be real commitment to preserve farmlands. It is important to
Acknowledgements
This paper has been prepared as part of the projects CSO2009-12225-C05-03 and CSO2010-16298, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. The writing of the manuscript has been possible thanks to a grant awarded by the Galician Government to Dr Paül (resolved by the Galician Ministry of Economy and Industry October 25th, 2010) for a sabbatical in 2010 at Curtin University (Australia), partially funded by the European Social Fund. Fig. 2 was drawn by Crísthian Pin. We would also
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