The role of different typologies of urban agriculture for the nourishment of the metropolis : the case study of Milan

In highly urbanized contexts a strategy for improving food provision and a sustainable use of resources is needed. In order to ensure this, specific interventions should be supported by a background analysis, deepening the potentialities of the local system in responding to urban food demand. The paper proposes a methodology to describe and assess these capacities in a metropolitan agro-food system from a multidimensional perspective, through an approach combining productive and economic aspects, and describing simultaneously the conformity of productions to food demand, and their contribution to the economic balance of the territory. The methodological approach introduced has been applied to Milan Metropolitan Region.