Papers by Giacomo Pettenati
Why we need a critical perspective on landscape as heritage. In Pettenati G., ed. Landscape as Heritage: international critical perspectives. Earthscan-Routledge, 2023
Rivista Geografica Italiana, 2021
In the last decades, the relationship between food and nature has experienced two intertwined pro... more In the last decades, the relationship between food and nature has experienced two intertwined processes: the de-naturalization of agri-food industry, that apparently has ‘freed’ food from natural processes and the ri-naturalization, linked to the quality turn, that recently transformed agrifood systems and food consumption. This article focuses on the relationships between food and nature, basing on the analysis of the processes that are recently taking place in Valposchiavo (Switzerland), where local agri-food chains sustainability is the core of local development and territorial marketing strategies. The analysis uses the theoretical and methodological framework of food political ecology,
which helps to unveil and critically analyse the complexity and the political dimension of such processes.
Bollettino della Società Geografica Italiana, 2017
Food is becoming more and more an urban issue. This paper aims
to explore the complex relationshi... more Food is becoming more and more an urban issue. This paper aims
to explore the complex relationships between food systems and urban areas, trying to define the potential role of geography in studying these relationships and supporting urban food policies. The first part of the contribution explores the characteristics and the scales of food systems in urban areas, posing questions about the existence of «local food systems» and about their relationships with global food networks and flows. The following paragraphs are focused on cities as spaces of action for food policies, defining the field of urban food polices and urban food strategies, in an international perspective.
The last part of the paper reflects on the role of the geographical approach in contributing to the debate on urban food systems and in supporting food policies.
Bollettino della Società Geografica Italiana, 2017
Landscape, both as visible features of places and as set of cultural and
identity values, should ... more Landscape, both as visible features of places and as set of cultural and
identity values, should be considered as a crucial element of food systems. The aim of this paper is to explore the presence of this concept in the debate about food systems and urban food planning. In the first part of the paper, three main perspectives on food landscapes are presented: food systems as producers of landscape, foodscapes as frameworks for any food-related action and food landscapes as heritage. The second part explores urban food landscapes, focusing on landscapes of urban agriculture, on the role of consumers as co-producers of landscape and on urban foodscapes as resources for new urban images strategies of urban development. In the third part, the presence of landscape is investigated as field of action in existing Urban Food Strategies/Policies, showing its underrepresentation.
The conclusions discuss the potential role of landscape in urban food policies both as the object of specific strategies or actions and as a useful conceptual framework, able to connect the players of the food system, in sharing a vision for its future evolution.
Rivista Geografica Italiana, 2016
Il contributo si pone l’obiettivo di analizzare criticamente la realtà dei
paesaggi italiani rico... more Il contributo si pone l’obiettivo di analizzare criticamente la realtà dei
paesaggi italiani riconosciuti come Patrimonio dell’Umanità UNESCO, indagando i processi di territorializzazione ad essi collegati. Nello specifico si mettono in evidenza gli effetti del riconoscimento UNESCO in termini di costituzione di nuove reti di attori, trasformazione delle regole di tutela e gestione del paesaggio, affermazione di rappresentazioni del territorio legate alla patrimonializzazione del paesaggio. L’ipotesi di partenza è che l’istituzione di un sito debba essere considerata come un progetto di territorio, guidato da reti di attori
che, mobilitando il patrimonio come risorsa e sfruttando la portata globale della WHL, intendono affermare le proprie strategie e i propri obiettivi. La ricerca utilizza un approccio teorico-metodologico innovativo nel campo degli studi sul patrimonio culturale, integrando
i concetti di territorio, territorialità e territorializzazione, con una prospettiva topologica e relazionale riguardo ai rapporti tra luoghi e tra scale.
Routledge Handbook of food as a commons (eds. J.L. Vivero-Pol, T. Ferrando, O. De Schutter, U. Mattei), 2019
Semestrale di Studi e Ricerche di Geografia, 2017
Parole chiave: crowdmapping, Voluntereed Geographic Information, partecipazione 1. Introduzione N... more Parole chiave: crowdmapping, Voluntereed Geographic Information, partecipazione 1. Introduzione Nel 2007 Michael Goodchild introduce il termine Voluntereed Geographic Information (VGI) system, categorizzando quei sistemi e quelle pratiche uti-lizzati per la raccolta di dati georiferiti, attraverso cui le informazioni vengo-no raccolte direttamente dagli utenti su base volontaria, portando questi ul-timi a essere considerati come veri e propri human sensors. Da allora il termine VGI è diventato rappresentativo di un fenomeno che si diffonde sempre più nel mondo delle geographic Information and Communication Technology (geoICT), in particolare sul web, rispondendo pienamente al paradigma del web 2.0, dove l'interattività assume un ruolo fondamentale nelle scelte di sviluppo delle piattaforme informatiche. La vo-lontà e la possibilità di inserire informazioni geografiche da parte degli utenti comporta diverse sfide e pone nuove domande di ricerca, che richie-dono un approccio sempre più interdisciplinare (Borruso, 2013; Morgante e Borruso, 2014; Capineri, 2016). La raccolta e diffusione di informazione geografica attraverso la cartogra-fia contemporanea cambiano, nella misura in cui il cartografo, nell'era del geoweb 2.0, non deve più essere "esperto" nella costruzione di una carta di-gitale, bensì propenso a interagire con piattaforme web sempre più user friendly e disposto a co-produrre la conoscenza con gli utenti stessi. Tale passaggio, inquadrato nell'ambito della Cartografia Critica (Crampton et al., 2005; Casti, 2013), assume i connotati di una trasformazione sostanziale del significato stesso della carta, che diventa espressione di un processo colletti-vo di raccolta delle informazioni. * Torino, Università di, Italia. Questo contributo è frutto di un'elaborazione comune da par-te degli autori. Tuttavia, al fine dell'attribuzione delle parti, si precisa che il paragrafo 1 e 4 so-no da attribuire a Guido Boella (Dipartimento di Informatica) ed Egidio Dansero (Dipartimento Culture, Politica e Società); il paragrafo 2 ad Alessia Calafiore (Dipartimento di Informatica); il paragrafo 3 a Giacomo Pettenati (Dipartimento Culture, Politica e Società).
Pettenati G., Dansero E., Calafiore A. (2019), “Researching and Enabling Youth Geographies in the Digital and Material City: The Teencarto Project”, in Voghera A. e La Riccia L. (a cura di), Spatial Planning in the Big Data Revolution, Hershey, IGI Global, pp. 221-247, 2019
This contribution presents the methodologies and the results of an action-research project called... more This contribution presents the methodologies and the results of an action-research project called Teencarto carried out by the University of Turin and the City of Turin.
The project involved more than 600 teenagers from 16 high schools, in a massive process of community mapping aiming at producing a representation of their urban geography. Data collected has been analyzed to make evident the way teenagers use the city as well as how they imagine a better city. The mapping process is based on First Life, a map-based social network, which aims at reconnecting digital and
real spaces, using cartographic representations and crowdsourcing. The teenagers’ geographies emerging from this large-scale mapping activity reveal the crucial role of four types of “piazza” (Italian word for square) as meeting points: real squares, green squares, commercial hybrid squares, and nightlife squares.
The inclusion of a property in the World Heritage List is related to various expectations (of var... more The inclusion of a property in the World Heritage List is related to various expectations (of various subjects: heritage managers, local communities, visitors, etc.) about its effects. Many studies about World Heritage focus on these effects on local economies and societies, notably for what concerns the international fame of the property, the growth of tourism, a better protection of heritage, the empowerment of local communities and so on. Most of them, however, admit the difficulty to isolate the " Unesco effect " from the whole of territorial dynamics. This paper aims at providing a different approach to the study of what happens at the local scale, when the global rules and discourse of World Heritage are implemented. From this perspective, this process can be read as one of ri-territorialization of the local, which begins with the formation a specific coalition of territorial actors and continues with the production of new representations of heritage, new rules, new policies and new territorialities. The paper presents the first results of the tentative to study with this approach the nomination of the vineyard landscapes of Piedmont to the World Heritage List.
Talking about food systems, though, mostly means talking about cities.
The city probably is the... more Talking about food systems, though, mostly means talking about cities.
The city probably is the place where the evolution of the food geographies is seen clearly. The post-Fordist city, based on the service industry, became the place of consumption, where the other phases of the food chain almost disappeared. Most urban dwellers ignore where their food comes from, how it is produced and where their food waste will go and will be processed. Until a decade ago, the food system had a very low visibility between urban policy makers and residents (Pothukuchi and Kaufman, 2000), however it has always been a key factor in the city metabolic flows.
One of the most common and clear descriptions of what transformed food chains in the last few decades is that the agro-industrial globalized food system progressively de-territorialized food production, which became part of international commodities networks (Morgan et al. 2006). This new food geography even has its spatial organization, its territoriality and its landscape, but it broke the traditional relationship between local food production and local food consumption. We still have “local food systems”, but they are no longer “systems of (mainly) local food”.
Besides the globalization and de-territorialization of the food system, however, practices of local food chains endured, sometimes due to the strength of the traditional way of life on a local scale, sometimes to the explicit strategies of resistence, by those who considers food production and food consumption as crucial parts of a political view, based on environment protection, communities empowerment and spatial justice.
More generally, in the last few years new geographies of food (Gatrell et al 2011) often concerning the re-territorialization of food systems are widely seen, as both the result of spontaneous practices and as the objective of food strategies, aiming at facing the emerging uncertainty, injustice and unsustainability of a system where food is only considered as a global commodity (Morgan et al 2006); as well as the consequence of a shift in consumers’ attention to the quality of food (Ilbery and Kneafsey, 1998).
Besides this new geographies of food, several cities, mostly in those countries where the negative effects of a deterritorialized food system are more evident and object of awarenes (i.e. North America and Northern Europe), started to developed strategic plans of food policies at the urban and city-region (metropolitan) scale.
Referring to the background of academic, cultural and political debate presented above, the proposed contribution aims at presenting the (still ongoing) work of an interdisciplinary group or research (including geographers, planners, IT experts, etc.) towards the development of a methodology of analysis of urban food systems based on an Atlas of Food. The research path started from the following assumptions:
- the awareness of the lack of knowledge about food systems of most cities (with the exception of North America and Northern Europe), notably at the urban and metropolitan scale, since food is still considered a mostly "rural" topic.
- the lack of a methodology, aiming at setting a framework for the territorial analysis of urban food systems, which would be capable not only to look for a predicted knowledge, but to let also unexpected topics, questions and issues emerge
- the idea that the co-production of knowledge, through the tools of participatory cartography, neogeography, or crowdmapping – based on ICTs - could represent a fundamental part of knowledge based, participated and shared food policies.
- the need to develop a cooperation between cities working on food system analysis and planning, in the North and in the South of the world, not only in order to transfer knowledge and methodologies, but mostly because local food systems are embedded in a global food systems, whose main nodes are cities
- the crucial role of mapping, and notably of participatory mapping, in the study of local food systems.
The general objective of the research was to develop and implement an interdisciplinary methodology of food system analysis and assessment, at the metropolitan scale, through traditional charts, participatory mapping and innovative social networks for field action, leading to an innovative interactive Atlas of Urban Food. In detail, the project aimed at setting a methodology for the development of an Atlas of Food, hosted by a digital platform, divided into two main sections:
- a collection of static maps, representing data about the food system coming from official archives (e.g. census) or from users (through a public call), following the guerrilla carthography methodology, used by the American community of activists and researcher – based at Berkeley University - in order to publish the book "Food: an eAtlas" (http://guerrillacartography.net/home.htm). These static maps will be open to updates and corrections, following the suggestions of users.
- a platform for users-generated dynamic maps, based on crowdmapping and the integration with social networks. The aim of this section is both to give answers, about data and information which cannot be top-down produced and, mostly, to raise questions, making hidden topics, connections and information about food emerge.
Alternative Food Networks (AFN) can be variously defined and can assume very different forms, acc... more Alternative Food Networks (AFN) can be variously defined and can assume very different forms, according to the degree and the focus of their "alternativeness", which can be identified in issues like the relationships between actors, the connections between places, the processes of production, and so on. However, what characterizes most of the practices which can be defined as AFN is the definition of a new relationship between places of consumption (mostly cities) and places of production (mostly productive rural areas), based on the relocalization of a part of the food system, which can be explicitly stated as aim of the AFN, or just observed as the product of practices of short food supply chain. The aim of this contribution is to explore the role of AFNs in reconnecting cities and rural areas-as well as producers and consumers – starting from the results of an empirical study developed in two rural areas (Collina Torinese and Roero) surrounding the city of Turin. This specific study is part of a wider interdisciplinary research (AFNIA – Alternative Food Networks an Interdisciplinary Research) aiming at the analysis and the interpretation of the role and the characteristics of Alternative Food Networks in Piedmont, integrating geographical, economic, sociological and environmental perspectives. The starting point of this part of the research is the analysis of the localization of more than 600 producers involved in different typologies of AFNs in Turin (farmers' market, solidarity purchasing groups, other forms of direct sale). Crossing the data about the localization of these producers with the rate of direct sale among local producers, it was possible to identify some areas which seems to be particularly involved in "feeding the city" through AFNs. The two analyzed in the research are the Collina Torinese and the Roero, two hilly rural regions, the first contiguous to the urban area of Turin and the second about 40 km southeast from the city. The research presented in this contribution investigates in depth, with an eminently qualitative methodology based on interviews, how AFNs develop in these territories, mostly from the producers side, analyzing local projects and policies aiming at supporting short food supply chains; the motivations of producers in participating at AFNs; the territorial effects of the involvement of a considerable number of farmers in this networks. The objective is to understand whether the reconnections between the city – as space of consumption – and this rural areas – as spaces of production – can be considered as more or less explicitly pursued step toward the partial ri-territorialization of the food system.
The proposed contribution presents the theoretical background, the aims and the design of a resea... more The proposed contribution presents the theoretical background, the aims and the design of a research-action which is being implemented by an interdisciplinary group or research based in Turin (Italy), including geographers, planners, IT experts, agronomists, designers. The core of the project is the development of a methodology of analysis of urban food systems based on the realization of a multimedia, interactive, participated Atlas of Food, centered on the city of Turin. The general objective of the project is to develop and implement an interdisciplinary methodology of food system analysis and assessment, at the metropolitan scale, through traditional charts and maps, participatory mapping and a strict relationship with social networks, for field action. The Atlas, which aims at being considered as a box for the collection and the production of knowledge about food in Turin, is divided into three main sections: a) a review of already existing maps and representations about the food system (a map of maps), which are critically reviewed and organized, in order to produce a catalogue of the different existing representations; b) a collection of static maps, specifically produced for the atlas, representing data about the food system coming both from official archives (e.g. census) and from users and actors of the food system. The static maps will be open to updates and corrections, following the suggestions of users; c) a platform for users-generated, dynamic, interactive maps, based on crowdmapping and the integration with social networks.
Valle M.. Spazio Transfrontaliero Marittime Mercantour. p. 67-72, Torino:Celid, ISBN: 9788867890033, 2013
Il termine paesaggio è caratterizzato da un'ambiguità sostanziale, in quanto utilizzato per indic... more Il termine paesaggio è caratterizzato da un'ambiguità sostanziale, in quanto utilizzato per indicare tanto la realtà, quanto la sua rappresentazione da parte di un osservatore (Berque, 1995). Se è ormai diffusa nel dibattito internazionale una visione che assimila questo concetto non alla espressione diretta del territorio, bensì al frutto della mediazione dello sguardo , è tuttavia vero che le forme visibili della superficie terrestre -sintetizzate nel paesaggio attraverso lo sguardo -costituiscano la manifestazione osservabile delle caratteristiche di un territorio, "il cui carattere deriva dall'azione di fattori naturali e/o umani e dalle loro interrelazioni" (Convenzione Europea del Paesaggio, 2000).
G. Donadelli e A. Di Somma. Le nuove geografie. Sguardi e prospettive per descrivere il cambiamento. p. 39-48, Roma:VALMAR, ISBN: 9788897987000, 2013
(a cura di): La Riccia L., Guerra S., Pettenati G., Studiare il territorio. Esperienze di ricerca nel dottorato in pianificazione territoriale del Politecnico di Torino. MILANO:FrancoAngeli, 2014
(a cura di): Corrado F., Dematteis G., Di Gioia A., Nuovi montanari. Abitare le Alpi nel XXI secolo. p. 87-99, Milano:Franco Angeli, 2014
(a cura di): Corrado F., Dematteis G., Di Gioia A., Nuovi montanari. Abitare le Alpi nel XXI secolo. p. 87-99, Milano:Franco Angeli, 2014
stata incisa nelle Alpi Cozie cuneesi, in senso longitudinale ovest-est, dalle acque del fiume om... more stata incisa nelle Alpi Cozie cuneesi, in senso longitudinale ovest-est, dalle acque del fiume omonimo che nasce dal Col Maurin, affluente di sinistra del Po. La valle si sviluppa per circa 60 chilometri, dallo sbocco nella pianura padana, dove sorgono le piccole città di Busca e Dronero , fino allo spartiacque italo-francese dei monti Chambeyron (3389 m) e Sautron (3166 m.), che la separa dalle valli francesi dell'Ubaye e dell'Ubayette.La sezione bassa della valle è caratterizzata da una morfologia particolarmente angusta, tanto da chiudersi in alcuni punti in strette gole nelle quali solo da pochi secoli si è riuscito a ricavare lo spazio per una strada carrozzabile. Fino a tutto il XVII secolo, la strada di fondovalle si interrompeva in corrispondenza di San Damiano Macra e l'alta valle era collegata quasi esclusivamente con il versante francese, attraverso le mulattiere che portavano al Colle del Maurin e al Col de Sautron, entrambi intorno ai 2600 m. Il paesaggio dell'alta valle presenta invece maggiori spazi, grazie all'apertura di ampie conche verdeggianti in particolare in corrispondenza dei bacini di origine glaciale di Acceglio e Chiappera. Il versante settentrionale della valle è separato dalla contigua Val Varaita dai massicci del Chersogno e di Elva, in corrispondenza di quest'ultimo, le due valli sono collegate da una strada carrozzabile estiva che valica il Colle di Sampeyre (2284 m). Il versante sud confina invece con la Valle Grana, nel tratto inferiore, e con la Valle della Stura di Demonte nella sezione superiore; le tre valli sono messe in comunicazione da diversi valichi aperti solo d'estate(Colle del Mulo, Col Valcavera, Passo della Gardetta, Colle di Esischie), che penetrano l'impervia serie di cime che fungono da spartiacque.
(a cura di): Cassatella C, Bagliani F, Paesaggio: cura, gestione, sostenibilità-Landscape: tidiness, management, sustainability. Torino:Celid, ISBN: 8867890026, 2014
Heritage List is related to various expectations (of various subjects: heritage managers, local c... more Heritage List is related to various expectations (of various subjects: heritage managers, local communities, visitors, etc.) about its effects. Many studies about World Heritage focus on these effects on local economies and societies, notably for what concerns the international fame of the property, the growth of tourism, a better protection of heritage, the empowerment of local communities and so on. Most of them, however, admit the difficulty to isolate the "Unesco effect" from the whole of territorial dynamics. This paper aims at providing a different approach to the study of what happens at the local scale, when the global rules and discourse of World Heritage are implemented. From this perspective, this process can be read as one of ri-territorialization of the local, which begins with the formation a specific coalition of territorial actors and continues with the production of new representations of heritage, new rules, new policies and new territorialities. The paper presents the first results of the tentative to study with this approach the nomination of the vineyard landscapes of Piedmont to the World Heritage List.
Revue de Geographie Alpine, 2013
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Papers by Giacomo Pettenati
which helps to unveil and critically analyse the complexity and the political dimension of such processes.
to explore the complex relationships between food systems and urban areas, trying to define the potential role of geography in studying these relationships and supporting urban food policies. The first part of the contribution explores the characteristics and the scales of food systems in urban areas, posing questions about the existence of «local food systems» and about their relationships with global food networks and flows. The following paragraphs are focused on cities as spaces of action for food policies, defining the field of urban food polices and urban food strategies, in an international perspective.
The last part of the paper reflects on the role of the geographical approach in contributing to the debate on urban food systems and in supporting food policies.
identity values, should be considered as a crucial element of food systems. The aim of this paper is to explore the presence of this concept in the debate about food systems and urban food planning. In the first part of the paper, three main perspectives on food landscapes are presented: food systems as producers of landscape, foodscapes as frameworks for any food-related action and food landscapes as heritage. The second part explores urban food landscapes, focusing on landscapes of urban agriculture, on the role of consumers as co-producers of landscape and on urban foodscapes as resources for new urban images strategies of urban development. In the third part, the presence of landscape is investigated as field of action in existing Urban Food Strategies/Policies, showing its underrepresentation.
The conclusions discuss the potential role of landscape in urban food policies both as the object of specific strategies or actions and as a useful conceptual framework, able to connect the players of the food system, in sharing a vision for its future evolution.
paesaggi italiani riconosciuti come Patrimonio dell’Umanità UNESCO, indagando i processi di territorializzazione ad essi collegati. Nello specifico si mettono in evidenza gli effetti del riconoscimento UNESCO in termini di costituzione di nuove reti di attori, trasformazione delle regole di tutela e gestione del paesaggio, affermazione di rappresentazioni del territorio legate alla patrimonializzazione del paesaggio. L’ipotesi di partenza è che l’istituzione di un sito debba essere considerata come un progetto di territorio, guidato da reti di attori
che, mobilitando il patrimonio come risorsa e sfruttando la portata globale della WHL, intendono affermare le proprie strategie e i propri obiettivi. La ricerca utilizza un approccio teorico-metodologico innovativo nel campo degli studi sul patrimonio culturale, integrando
i concetti di territorio, territorialità e territorializzazione, con una prospettiva topologica e relazionale riguardo ai rapporti tra luoghi e tra scale.
The project involved more than 600 teenagers from 16 high schools, in a massive process of community mapping aiming at producing a representation of their urban geography. Data collected has been analyzed to make evident the way teenagers use the city as well as how they imagine a better city. The mapping process is based on First Life, a map-based social network, which aims at reconnecting digital and
real spaces, using cartographic representations and crowdsourcing. The teenagers’ geographies emerging from this large-scale mapping activity reveal the crucial role of four types of “piazza” (Italian word for square) as meeting points: real squares, green squares, commercial hybrid squares, and nightlife squares.
The city probably is the place where the evolution of the food geographies is seen clearly. The post-Fordist city, based on the service industry, became the place of consumption, where the other phases of the food chain almost disappeared. Most urban dwellers ignore where their food comes from, how it is produced and where their food waste will go and will be processed. Until a decade ago, the food system had a very low visibility between urban policy makers and residents (Pothukuchi and Kaufman, 2000), however it has always been a key factor in the city metabolic flows.
One of the most common and clear descriptions of what transformed food chains in the last few decades is that the agro-industrial globalized food system progressively de-territorialized food production, which became part of international commodities networks (Morgan et al. 2006). This new food geography even has its spatial organization, its territoriality and its landscape, but it broke the traditional relationship between local food production and local food consumption. We still have “local food systems”, but they are no longer “systems of (mainly) local food”.
Besides the globalization and de-territorialization of the food system, however, practices of local food chains endured, sometimes due to the strength of the traditional way of life on a local scale, sometimes to the explicit strategies of resistence, by those who considers food production and food consumption as crucial parts of a political view, based on environment protection, communities empowerment and spatial justice.
More generally, in the last few years new geographies of food (Gatrell et al 2011) often concerning the re-territorialization of food systems are widely seen, as both the result of spontaneous practices and as the objective of food strategies, aiming at facing the emerging uncertainty, injustice and unsustainability of a system where food is only considered as a global commodity (Morgan et al 2006); as well as the consequence of a shift in consumers’ attention to the quality of food (Ilbery and Kneafsey, 1998).
Besides this new geographies of food, several cities, mostly in those countries where the negative effects of a deterritorialized food system are more evident and object of awarenes (i.e. North America and Northern Europe), started to developed strategic plans of food policies at the urban and city-region (metropolitan) scale.
Referring to the background of academic, cultural and political debate presented above, the proposed contribution aims at presenting the (still ongoing) work of an interdisciplinary group or research (including geographers, planners, IT experts, etc.) towards the development of a methodology of analysis of urban food systems based on an Atlas of Food. The research path started from the following assumptions:
- the awareness of the lack of knowledge about food systems of most cities (with the exception of North America and Northern Europe), notably at the urban and metropolitan scale, since food is still considered a mostly "rural" topic.
- the lack of a methodology, aiming at setting a framework for the territorial analysis of urban food systems, which would be capable not only to look for a predicted knowledge, but to let also unexpected topics, questions and issues emerge
- the idea that the co-production of knowledge, through the tools of participatory cartography, neogeography, or crowdmapping – based on ICTs - could represent a fundamental part of knowledge based, participated and shared food policies.
- the need to develop a cooperation between cities working on food system analysis and planning, in the North and in the South of the world, not only in order to transfer knowledge and methodologies, but mostly because local food systems are embedded in a global food systems, whose main nodes are cities
- the crucial role of mapping, and notably of participatory mapping, in the study of local food systems.
The general objective of the research was to develop and implement an interdisciplinary methodology of food system analysis and assessment, at the metropolitan scale, through traditional charts, participatory mapping and innovative social networks for field action, leading to an innovative interactive Atlas of Urban Food. In detail, the project aimed at setting a methodology for the development of an Atlas of Food, hosted by a digital platform, divided into two main sections:
- a collection of static maps, representing data about the food system coming from official archives (e.g. census) or from users (through a public call), following the guerrilla carthography methodology, used by the American community of activists and researcher – based at Berkeley University - in order to publish the book "Food: an eAtlas" (http://guerrillacartography.net/home.htm). These static maps will be open to updates and corrections, following the suggestions of users.
- a platform for users-generated dynamic maps, based on crowdmapping and the integration with social networks. The aim of this section is both to give answers, about data and information which cannot be top-down produced and, mostly, to raise questions, making hidden topics, connections and information about food emerge.
which helps to unveil and critically analyse the complexity and the political dimension of such processes.
to explore the complex relationships between food systems and urban areas, trying to define the potential role of geography in studying these relationships and supporting urban food policies. The first part of the contribution explores the characteristics and the scales of food systems in urban areas, posing questions about the existence of «local food systems» and about their relationships with global food networks and flows. The following paragraphs are focused on cities as spaces of action for food policies, defining the field of urban food polices and urban food strategies, in an international perspective.
The last part of the paper reflects on the role of the geographical approach in contributing to the debate on urban food systems and in supporting food policies.
identity values, should be considered as a crucial element of food systems. The aim of this paper is to explore the presence of this concept in the debate about food systems and urban food planning. In the first part of the paper, three main perspectives on food landscapes are presented: food systems as producers of landscape, foodscapes as frameworks for any food-related action and food landscapes as heritage. The second part explores urban food landscapes, focusing on landscapes of urban agriculture, on the role of consumers as co-producers of landscape and on urban foodscapes as resources for new urban images strategies of urban development. In the third part, the presence of landscape is investigated as field of action in existing Urban Food Strategies/Policies, showing its underrepresentation.
The conclusions discuss the potential role of landscape in urban food policies both as the object of specific strategies or actions and as a useful conceptual framework, able to connect the players of the food system, in sharing a vision for its future evolution.
paesaggi italiani riconosciuti come Patrimonio dell’Umanità UNESCO, indagando i processi di territorializzazione ad essi collegati. Nello specifico si mettono in evidenza gli effetti del riconoscimento UNESCO in termini di costituzione di nuove reti di attori, trasformazione delle regole di tutela e gestione del paesaggio, affermazione di rappresentazioni del territorio legate alla patrimonializzazione del paesaggio. L’ipotesi di partenza è che l’istituzione di un sito debba essere considerata come un progetto di territorio, guidato da reti di attori
che, mobilitando il patrimonio come risorsa e sfruttando la portata globale della WHL, intendono affermare le proprie strategie e i propri obiettivi. La ricerca utilizza un approccio teorico-metodologico innovativo nel campo degli studi sul patrimonio culturale, integrando
i concetti di territorio, territorialità e territorializzazione, con una prospettiva topologica e relazionale riguardo ai rapporti tra luoghi e tra scale.
The project involved more than 600 teenagers from 16 high schools, in a massive process of community mapping aiming at producing a representation of their urban geography. Data collected has been analyzed to make evident the way teenagers use the city as well as how they imagine a better city. The mapping process is based on First Life, a map-based social network, which aims at reconnecting digital and
real spaces, using cartographic representations and crowdsourcing. The teenagers’ geographies emerging from this large-scale mapping activity reveal the crucial role of four types of “piazza” (Italian word for square) as meeting points: real squares, green squares, commercial hybrid squares, and nightlife squares.
The city probably is the place where the evolution of the food geographies is seen clearly. The post-Fordist city, based on the service industry, became the place of consumption, where the other phases of the food chain almost disappeared. Most urban dwellers ignore where their food comes from, how it is produced and where their food waste will go and will be processed. Until a decade ago, the food system had a very low visibility between urban policy makers and residents (Pothukuchi and Kaufman, 2000), however it has always been a key factor in the city metabolic flows.
One of the most common and clear descriptions of what transformed food chains in the last few decades is that the agro-industrial globalized food system progressively de-territorialized food production, which became part of international commodities networks (Morgan et al. 2006). This new food geography even has its spatial organization, its territoriality and its landscape, but it broke the traditional relationship between local food production and local food consumption. We still have “local food systems”, but they are no longer “systems of (mainly) local food”.
Besides the globalization and de-territorialization of the food system, however, practices of local food chains endured, sometimes due to the strength of the traditional way of life on a local scale, sometimes to the explicit strategies of resistence, by those who considers food production and food consumption as crucial parts of a political view, based on environment protection, communities empowerment and spatial justice.
More generally, in the last few years new geographies of food (Gatrell et al 2011) often concerning the re-territorialization of food systems are widely seen, as both the result of spontaneous practices and as the objective of food strategies, aiming at facing the emerging uncertainty, injustice and unsustainability of a system where food is only considered as a global commodity (Morgan et al 2006); as well as the consequence of a shift in consumers’ attention to the quality of food (Ilbery and Kneafsey, 1998).
Besides this new geographies of food, several cities, mostly in those countries where the negative effects of a deterritorialized food system are more evident and object of awarenes (i.e. North America and Northern Europe), started to developed strategic plans of food policies at the urban and city-region (metropolitan) scale.
Referring to the background of academic, cultural and political debate presented above, the proposed contribution aims at presenting the (still ongoing) work of an interdisciplinary group or research (including geographers, planners, IT experts, etc.) towards the development of a methodology of analysis of urban food systems based on an Atlas of Food. The research path started from the following assumptions:
- the awareness of the lack of knowledge about food systems of most cities (with the exception of North America and Northern Europe), notably at the urban and metropolitan scale, since food is still considered a mostly "rural" topic.
- the lack of a methodology, aiming at setting a framework for the territorial analysis of urban food systems, which would be capable not only to look for a predicted knowledge, but to let also unexpected topics, questions and issues emerge
- the idea that the co-production of knowledge, through the tools of participatory cartography, neogeography, or crowdmapping – based on ICTs - could represent a fundamental part of knowledge based, participated and shared food policies.
- the need to develop a cooperation between cities working on food system analysis and planning, in the North and in the South of the world, not only in order to transfer knowledge and methodologies, but mostly because local food systems are embedded in a global food systems, whose main nodes are cities
- the crucial role of mapping, and notably of participatory mapping, in the study of local food systems.
The general objective of the research was to develop and implement an interdisciplinary methodology of food system analysis and assessment, at the metropolitan scale, through traditional charts, participatory mapping and innovative social networks for field action, leading to an innovative interactive Atlas of Urban Food. In detail, the project aimed at setting a methodology for the development of an Atlas of Food, hosted by a digital platform, divided into two main sections:
- a collection of static maps, representing data about the food system coming from official archives (e.g. census) or from users (through a public call), following the guerrilla carthography methodology, used by the American community of activists and researcher – based at Berkeley University - in order to publish the book "Food: an eAtlas" (http://guerrillacartography.net/home.htm). These static maps will be open to updates and corrections, following the suggestions of users.
- a platform for users-generated dynamic maps, based on crowdmapping and the integration with social networks. The aim of this section is both to give answers, about data and information which cannot be top-down produced and, mostly, to raise questions, making hidden topics, connections and information about food emerge.