Bringing urban food supply closer to food consumption : opportunities for five European metropolitan regions

Agro-food systems in urban and metropolitan regions are complex structures that simultaneously have to respond to domestic supply, compete on global markets and ensure to consumers a direct relationship with both food producers and production sites. In this regard, the strengthen of the local dimension, through the enhancement of proximity agriculture, is a strategic goal to foster both local resources and improve regional socio-economic viability. The paper adopts a territorial approach to analyse agro-food systems in five European metropolitan regions. The proposed methodology aims at deepening the actual capacities of urban and peri-urban agriculture in adequately meet urban food demand, its role in the economic dimension of the primary sector, the opportunities for exploiting the local component, as well as at providing preliminary results to be taken into account in order to shape proper regulations in their respective agro-food sector.