Suchergebnisse

During the last few years, the definition of sustainability and the translation of its general principles into practical and operative tasks have come into the foreground of scientific research and political agendas throughout the world. The understanding and the evaluation of the environmental, social and economic performances of complex agricultural food systems is probably the real challenge, and the design of more sustainable alternatives has been recognized as necessary for a correct territorial management. This study's primary goal is the proposition of an interpretive structure "Sustainable Agri-Food Evaluation Methodology" (SAEMETH), able to guide the evaluation of the sustainability of the various organizational forms of the small-scale agri-food supply chain. As a case study, the methodology was applied to 10 small-scale agri-food systems. The application of SAEMETH, as a monitoring tool based on qualitative indicators that are user-friendly and strongly communicative, demonstrates that it is possible to carry out sustainability evaluations of the small-scale agri-food systems through a long-term approach that is participatory, interdisciplinary and multi-institutional and that integrates a solid theoretical base with an operative framework tested in the field. SAEMETH can, in this way, generate a cyclical process that increases the probability of success in the design of sustainable alternatives and the implementation of projects and initiatives at the local/regional scale.

Urban gardens take on different forms and meanings, which vary depending on the socio-economic context where they located/used and how it evolves over time. This makes a garden comparable to a micro-social ecosystem, different from other gardens and ever changing. As with every social-ecosystem resulting from a territorialisation process, there is a certain degree of social inertia that makes it difficult for outsiders with new motivations and demanding new spaces to enter into the "garden ecosystem". Drawing on existing literature and fieldwork in two urban communal gardens in Turin, the paper is mainly concerned with the spatiotemporal dimension of urban gardening, with a special focus on governance aspects. In particular, the article offers insights about the involvement of the governance process in the dynamics of urban allotment gardens and looks at the impact of regulations. Despite being areas with a limited extension, the complex nature of the structural coupling of the relationship among gardeners and the assigned allotment, makes it clear that urban garden management is far from being unproblematic. The attempt to govern and manage the phenomenon by the local government and promoting associations often represents a real challenge in terms of adaptability and response to a phenomenon in constant evolution and fully inserted in the urban transition. This is a process characterized, on the one hand, by internal, conservative resistance and, on the other hand, by pressures asking for social change and innovation from the outside. In an era of urban agriculture renaissance, both aspects are relevant factors to keep in mind to face the rising demand from new people for cultivating urban spaces. These aspects have not been sufficiently considered in the governance practices or in the reflections of the scientific community.

A sustainable future for the community is one of the objectives established by the European Union Agenda 2030. Furthermore, sustainable consumption has been identified as one of the possible trajectories for sustainable development. It is for this reason that food production, distribution and consumption ways cannot be overlooked for sustainability achievement, as well as the consumer's related perception. In this research the Best–Worst scaling methodology was adopted to explore the priorities declared by a sample of 801 consumers among 12 different sustainability definitions selected from the scientific literature. The choice experiment was carried out through face-to-face interviews during two food and wine events closely related to the sustainability theme in the food sector. The respondents considered as sustainability priority definition the "preservation of natural resources", followed by "decent working conditions" and "accessibility for everyone to healthy and safe food". Moreover, 5 consumer's clusters were identified according to the priorities assigned to the different sustainability definitions, as well as to individuals socio-demographic characteristics. The description of the priorities assigned by the clusters to the different sustainability definitions have also been described as guidelines for consumer attitudes towards the different sustainability dimensions (environmental, social, economic and governance).