What is an Agricultural Park? Observations from the Spanish Experience

Territorialised Agrifood Systems and Sustainability: Methodological Approach on the Spanish State Scale

“…Even so, despite its role being trivial in economic terms and in the generation of employment, the surface area occupied by farming continues to be considerable (52% of the total area, which demonstrates that agriculture remains a use with a high presence in Spanish urban agglomerations). In conjunction with the presence of a critical mass of citizens interested in agrifood's sustainability and the heritage and identity values of cropland [83], this contributes to the creation of agricultural parks and other governance systems [28]. Proximity and governance are the defining features of the metropolitan model, in which agriculture plays a landscape and recreational role (integrating the public free-space networks); a lack of order and unsustainability are the main stumbling blocks.…”

“…Studies on alternative networks in city-region agrifood systems are linked to this focus [22][23][24], which is also related to the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact. Prioritised spatial areas are the agrifood systems of the city region and its agricultural parks [25][26][27][28].…”

“…'Governance' is confirmed by the involvement and actions of the various agents (institutional, socio-economic, and civic) and their transfer to programmes [24]. It is analysed using (i) the list of local action groups that have managed European Union LEADER projects [55]; (ii) the territorial distribution of agricultural parks [28], and (iii) the localisation of FAO Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) [56].…”