Weak food relocation: Disconnection between territorial agents and spatial planning

Abstract

Interest in local food networks and the reconnection between production and consumption has been growing since the mid 1980s. The goal of relocation has come to permeate urban agendas, and research, proposals and recommendations have increased which posit the importance of territorial planning and the spatial plans to relocate food systems. However, neither the agricultural sector nor the agents that effectively manage territories perceive the spatial and management component as a relevant factor. The ArimNET DIVERCROP project analyzed the Vega Baja del Jarama zone near the Madrid metropolitan area. Participatory methodologies were used to work with agents from the agrarian and research sectors, and from local institutions, as well as with social economy entities and social movements. The results of the research show that these agents have the desire and will to restore horticultural and livestock production and link it to local markets, but the role of urban and territorial planning plans, at different scales, remains outside their imagination. They do not identify the spatial plans as elements that have a bearing on achieving their objectives, beyond traditionally defensive strategies against plans for the expansion of artificial soils, infrastructures and extractive activities.