Agro-urban Public Space in the European Bioregional City: The Case of the Left Riverside Agricultural Park in Florence

Global contradictions related to disparities in access and quality of food (e.g. food security and safety) find in periurban areas a privileged context for discussion and change. In the ‘urban bioregion’, intermediate territories get new identities through a physical and relational re-design of ecosystem services, beginning with polyvalent ecological networks - mainly dealing with food and its short supply chain - which may become the backbone of a ‘rururban public space’ defined in relation to multifunctional roles like flood risks prevention, soft mobility, historical buildings, proximity farming, agro-forestry. The paper illustrates the case study of the project for the Riverside agricultural park in the Left side of Arno, involving three municipalities in the Florence plain through the support of Regione Toscana for the participatory processes, and aimed at stipulating a ‘river contract’ for the formation of an agricultural park. Set on a double level of governance, this process has been able to co-design and generate agreements among the public, the private and the third sector as a warranty for the implementation and co-governance of a socially defined, bioregional strategic scenario.