Sustainailble food, spatial planning and agro-urban public space in the bioregional city

Although the recent settlement dynamics show urbanisation as a still ongoing process (OECD 2007), qualitative analyses point out resistance phenomena in rural areas (Barberis 2009) and the emergence of an intermediate ‘urban-rural’ territory in which a large part of the population lives (ESPON 2011). In the urban bioregion (Magnaghi 2014) such intermediate territory gets a new iden-tity through the relationship and spatial design of the primary physical components of the ecosystem services, beginning with polyvalent ecological networks (Malcevschi 2010). Such networks may be-come the backbone of a ‘rururban public space’ defined in relation to flooding risks for river areas, soft mobility, historical buildings, proximity farming, agro-forestry areas. This paper illustrates the case study, currently in progress, of the project for the Riverside agricultural park of Arno’s Left side, involving three municipalities in the Florentine plain through the support of Regione Toscana for the participatory processes (Regional Law no. 46/2013), and aimed at signing a ‘river contract’ for the construction of a riverside agricultural park. Its final goal is to define a strategic integrated scenario project aimed at encouraging and supporting multi-functionality for agricultural areas through a manifold system (measures of the new CAP, management of hydro-geological risks, tourism, etc.) apt to grant the farmers an active role in the restoration of territorial public space at the bioregional level.