Rethinking urban-rural relations for a sustainable future: case studies of informal food value chains in Central Italy

Programma di finanziamento: PRIN 2017

Ente finanziatore: MUR

Responsabile scientifico: Carlo Pongetti

Ruolo UniMC: coordinatore

Durata: 36 mesi

The project will analyse often-overlooked informal food value chains related to the production, distribution and consumption of food in the macro-region of Central Italy composed of Tuscany, Umbria and Marche. These regions experienced a transition from a sharecropping agriculture to a small-industry system and to a territorial pattern of so-called "urbanised countryside"; an emblematic pattern which kept alive significant relations between towns and the countryside, between industrial and tertiary work and agricultural practice.

Based on anthropological and geographical approaches, with the involvement of a historical dimension mainly referred to the second half of the twentieth century, the project will highlight the interweaving between the formal or market economies and the strategies of institutional enhancement, on the one hand, and, on the other, the informal and daily practice of self-production, sharing, cooperation and gift circuits. These latter practices have characterize today - central Italy, generating a unique pattern of urban and rural relations. The hybrid contemporary food system that includes informal food value chains is yet little analysed and constitutes a central pillar for a sustainable future.