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Reterritorialization, Proximity, and Urban Food Planning: Research Perspectives on AFNs

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Alternative Food Networks

Abstract

From a geographical perspective, AFNs produce and sustain new relationships between places, like rural and urban areas, that are reconnected by relationships between producers and consumers. Dansero and Pettenati explore Piedmont’s AFNs from three perspectives. First, they analyze the spatial distribution of AFNs in the region, finding that they are mostly urban in nature. Second, they interpret them as potential practices of reterritorialization of food systems, opposing the general deterritorialization affecting such systems at all scales. Understanding this reterritorialization means moving beyond the idea of a simple relocalization of food networks, exploring the many dimensions of the connections between food, people, and places. Third, they use proximity as a theoretical lens for analyzing AFNs, focusing on its spatial, relational, and cognitive dimensions.

While this chapter presents the results of a joint effort by both authors, sections “Introduction” and “Theoretical Framework” were drafted by Egidio Dansero and the remaining sections by Giacomo Pettenati.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For a deeper understanding of the role of GASs as Alternative Food Networks in Italy, see Grasseni (2013).

  2. 2.

    This is the case of two networks based in the Susa valley (west of Turin). The first is “Genuino Valsusino”, a network of commercial and non-commercial producers linked to the national grassroots network Genuino Clandestino and to the local movement opposing the Turin-Lyon high-speed railway line. The second is “Etinomia”, a network of self-defined ethical businesses, cooperating for sustainable and fair local development.

  3. 3.

    Italian national law 205/2017 established the “distretti del cibo” (food districts), that is, groups of local authorities and businesses that cooperate to promote local development, social cohesion and inclusion, food security, environmental sustainability, landscape protection, and so on through agro-food activities. One of the possible food district models is based on local productive systems relying heavily on direct sales of agro-food products through solidarity economy networks (e.g., GASs , etc.), thus confirming AFNs’ potential for promoting and sustaining new models of territorial development that are potentially more sustainable.

  4. 4.

    The most important case is that of GAS Torino, which gathers together most of the Turin-based groups.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cultures, Politics and Society, University of Torino, Torino, Italy

    Egidio Dansero & Giacomo Pettenati

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  1. Egidio Dansero
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  2. Giacomo Pettenati
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Correspondence to Giacomo Pettenati .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics and Statistics “Cognetti de Martiis”, University of Torino, Torino, Italy

    Alessandro Corsi

  2. Department of Cultures, Politics and Society, University of Torino, Torino, Italy

    Filippo Barbera

  3. Department of Cultures, Politics and Society, University of Torino, Torino, Italy

    Egidio Dansero

  4. Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, University of Torino, Grugliasco (TO), Italy

    Cristiana Peano

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Dansero, E., Pettenati, G. (2018). Reterritorialization, Proximity, and Urban Food Planning: Research Perspectives on AFNs. In: Corsi, A., Barbera, F., Dansero, E., Peano, C. (eds) Alternative Food Networks. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90409-2_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90409-2_14

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