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Agricultural Areas Under Metropolitan Threats: Lessons for Perth from Barcelona

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Demographic Change in Australia's Rural Landscapes

Part of the book series: Landscape Series ((LAEC,volume 12))

Abstract

A common reason for rural demographic change is peri-urban or peri-metropolitan in-migration. This pattern inevitably causes the loss of farmland on the edge of the city. Agricultural land reduction in this spatial context has received attention from a large body of international literature. The focus of this chapter is the strategic value, in productive terms, that fringe farmland represents as a foodbowl for the metropolis. The central aim of this work is to review recent arguments being claimed for the necessity to manage agricultural areas located in or near to metropolitan areas, applying some of the ideas developed in a European setting to an Australian case study. Innovative schemes are presented, considering productive possibilities in peri-urban contexts and recent planning and management tools to ensure their longevity. A peri-urban agricultural-based case study located in the metropolitan area of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) is analysed. This case, Baix Llobregat Agrarian Park (BLAP ), is an internationally recognised example of peri-urban agricultural space planning and management dedicated to the preservation and conservation of agricultural land. The lessons from BLAP could be applied elsewhere and in this chapter we consider the possibilities for the strategic preservation of a highly productive locality on the fringes of Perth , Western Australia’s capital city.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Latin American and Caribbean FAO Regional Office webpage at: http://www.rlc.fao.org/es/agricultura/aup/. Accessed 25 July 2009. Complete information on urban and peri-urban agriculture is available (only in Spanish and Portuguese versions).

  2. 2.

    Research suggests that in peri-urban agrarian areas there are more organic producers than in other areas (Beauchesne and Bryant 1999). This is directly related with the innovative and highly competitive character of peri-urban farming.

  3. 3.

    In Spain there is an emerging network of peri-urban farmers selling their products by means of the Internet. Apparently their e-commerce is having a positive impact on peri-urban farming as it gives direct and increasing revenues to farmers with very low transport costs and direct contact with purchasers (leading to trust between the transactors). Farmers usually work together in order to reduce travel costs (Data obtained during the BLAP case study development).

  4. 4.

    Food miles are an interpretative concept related to carbon footprints, measuring the distance food travels from where food is grown to where it is ultimately purchased or consumed by the end user (Haslam McKenzie and Stehlik 2005).

  5. 5.

    See http://www.purple-eu.org/. Accessed 30 Jan 2009.

  6. 6.

    The EU has defined two essential legal concepts for assessing value in agriculture since 1992: Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). It is not easy to achieve these labels and a long-term process must be followed in order to obtain them. BLAP is successful in promoting new commodities to fulfil the fixed requirements and obtain those qualifications. Pota blava chicken was the first and now the process is being followed for the Prat artichoke (Fig. 6.3b).

  7. 7.

    See (only in Catalan version) http://www.elcampacasa.com/. Accessed 30 Jan 2009.

Abbreviations

ABS:

Australian Bureau of Statistics

BLAP:

Baix Llobregat Agrarian Park

CAP:

Common Agrarian Policy (European Union)

EESC:

European Economic and Social Committee

ESDP :

European Spatial Development Perspective

EC:

European Communities

EU:

European Union

FAO:

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

GIS:

Geographic Information System

OECD:

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

PDO:

Protected Designation of Origin

PGI:

Protected Geographical Indication

PURPLE:

The Peri-urban Regions Platform of Europe

SOFI:

The State of Food Insecurity in the World annual report (FAO)

SSC :

Short supply chains

WAPC:

Western Australian Planning Commission

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Acknowledgments

Sincere thanks are due to public officers of the Shire of Chittering , the Western Australian Department of Agriculture and Food, and the Baix Llobregat Agrarian Park , for their assistance. This manuscript benefited from the review comments of Assoc Professor Gary Luck and two anonymous reviewers, who provided insightful feedback and suggestions. This chapter has been prepared as part of the research project ‘Basic agricultural landscape units of Spain: identification, delimitation, characterisation and valuation’ (CSO2009-12225-C05-03), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and supervised by Dr Joan Tort.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Xeografía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain

    Valerià Paül

  2. Housing and Urban Research Institute of Western Australia, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, WA, Australia

    Fiona Haslam McKenzie

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  1. Valerià Paül
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  2. Fiona Haslam McKenzie
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Correspondence to Valerià Paül .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inst. Land, Water & Society (ILWS), Charles Sturt University, Albury, 2640, New South Wales, Australia

    Gary W. Luck

  2. Inst. Land, Water & Society (ILWS), Charles Sturt University, Albury, New South Wales, Australia

    Rosemary Black

  3. Inst. Land, Water & Society (ILWS), Charles Sturt University, Albury, New South Wales, Australia

    Digby Race

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Paül, V., McKenzie, F.H. (2010). Agricultural Areas Under Metropolitan Threats: Lessons for Perth from Barcelona . In: Luck, G., Black, R., Race, D. (eds) Demographic Change in Australia's Rural Landscapes. Landscape Series, vol 12. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9654-8_6

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