MATER FEEDS URBES

Strengthen the city-countryside connection by synergizing metropolitan agriculture with collective catering and the rural landscape with the dimension of urban life

The project
In the panorama of the Lombardy Region, the South Milan Agricultural Park is a case in itself: it is agriculture that characterizes almost the entire landscape and the naturalistic components are less relevant than the other parks. City and countryside have always had complex relationships, creating mutual dependencies based on the exchange of value. In the Milan area this balance was the basis of the success of the entire territory, with an economy based on agriculture. Then the city expanded, disconnecting from its rural surroundings and taking over the countryside, which became depopulated.

The Municipality of Milan, during and as a legacy of Expo, adopted a food policy defined as "Food Policy" in 2015. This policy was generated through an analysis of the Milanese food system (production, transformation, logistics, distribution, consumption, waste) based on a public consultation process with the different components of the city, in a metropolitan sense: universities and research centers, foundations, institutions and investee companies, social actors, innovators and start-ups, private sector.

The project intends to increase the competitiveness of the city-countryside relationship in the Milan metropolitan area, through the strengthening of territorial cohesion between Milan and its countryside. Urban-rural interdependence can only be enhanced through integrated governance of processes, that is, through an inclusive approach between institutions with organized forms of agricultural production that implement effective coordination between different actors, policies and planning mechanisms. The objective is to consolidate the added value of Milanese agricultural forms deriving from their proximity to the city.

The project intends to act through an integrated governance of the processes, consolidating an innovative organizational and institutional approach, implemented through effective coordination between different actors, policies and planning mechanisms, which already today represent a space for discussion and mutual alignment between the different local actors . This will of the partnership will allow the progress of the project to be monitored according to an inclusive approach shared between many actors, in a broader framework:

  • Food Policy of the city of Milan (Food Policy), an action to support the government of the city of Milan launched in 2014 by the Municipality of Milan and the Cariplo Foundation which acts to make the Milanese Food System more sustainable, understanding this system with a circular approach and holistic (production, transformation, logistics, distribution, consumption, waste)
  • Framework Agreement for Territorial Development (AQST) “Milano Metropoli Rurale”, an inter-institutional action launched in 2012 between the Municipality, Metropolitan City, Region, Land Reclamation Consortia and Agricultural Districts which is configured as a public-private partnership that acts in the city-city relationship countryside with a strong ramification throughout the agricultural production system.

Partnership:

  • Milanese agricultural district
  • Adda Martesana Agricultural District
  • City of Milan
  • Milan Catering
  • University of Milan, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences
  • Southern Milan Agricultural Park
  • Cariplo Foundation
  • Ca Granda Development Foundation
  • Slow Food Milan
     

  • A - CITY'open to the countryside. Increase supplies of local, sustainable and healthy food in school canteens in the city of Milan and in innovative commercial places. 
  • B - CAMPAIGN open to the city. Increase the sustainability of metropolitan production, converting and consolidating horticultural supply chains to connect to urban supplies, and strengthening the rural matrix by increasing the landscape values ​​of biodiversity and water.
  • C - PLACEThe bridge. Increase awareness of the rural-urban relationship by creating and connecting places of commerce and leisure, in the city and in the countryside, which act as a bridge between the two components of the rural metropolis.
  • D - SKILLS innovative. Development, consolidation and dissemination of innovative design and production skills through the principles of the circular economy among the actors of the city (innovators, designers, creatives) and of the countryside (farmers, agricultural districts)

  1.  A1 - Development of short supply chains for institutional catering, connection between local producers and Milano Ristorazione supplies through the development of experimental agreements (art.15 Legislative Decree 228/2001), partner: Milano Ristorazione, Municipality of Milan, Districts, Agricultural Companies, Universities.
  2.  A2 - Development of short supply chains for urban trade, connection between local producers and supplies from large-scale retail trade (availability of Esselunga), FoodHubs and Farmers' Markets through supply contracts, partners: Districts, Agricultural Companies.
  3.  A3 - Diversification in agricultural production, creation of plants and structures for the production of vegetables, durum wheat, small fruits for trade in cities; the Districts will build demonstration plants for organic production, the universities will support the transition.
  4.  A4 - Increase in biodiversity and improvement of the water network, connection of landscape fragmentation with hedges and rows and arrangement of fountain heads.
  5.  A5 - Knowledge of the territory and its products, arrangement of buildings to be used as agritourism for the reception, accommodation and hospitality of urban tourists in the countryside.
  6. A6 - Recovery of the building heritage of the area and the memory of the places, arrangement of identifying places and preparation of panels relating to local productions in the park points and land markets.
  7. A7 - Knowledge and innovation, training on production, planning and managerial skills for farmers through the traveling chairs activated by the universities
  8. A8 - Integrated governance, inclusion of the relationship between city and countryside among the themes on which to start an institutional discussion in the Metropolitan Food Council.
     

New local supply chains among the supplies of Milan Catering, GDO, FoodHub and agricultural markets of the City of Milan.
Conversion of agricultural production from monoculture to legumes, with organic quality products to be connected to the city's supplies. Improvement of the rural landscape through new hedges and rows, as well as hydraulic redevelopments for the heads of the fountains.
Improvements to agritourism facilities in the countryside. Creation of agricultural markets and info points where local products can be offered.
Improvement of the planning and management capacity of the supply chains by local actors (districts, agricultural companies, designers). Inclusion of community agriculture in the debate of the Metropolitan Food Council.

Updated: 25/08/2022