City-traditional agriculture dialogues: The ‘Huerta de Murcia’ case study

Almudena Cánovas-Molina, Antonio Cánovas Soler and Eduardo García-Frapolli

Land Use Policy, 2021, vol. 111, issue C

Abstract: Peri-urban agriculture (PUA) plays a fundamental role in securing sustainable cities by providing food, cultural and environmental services. The ‘Huerta de Murcia’ in south-eastern Spain, is one of the most singular examples of PUA. With more than one thousand years of history, this traditional irrigated agroecosystem faces important threats, mainly the transformation of its land into built spaces. In order to contribute to its understanding and to the identification of main ways to guarantee its continuity, a combination of literature review, in-situ observations and surveys was performed to be then integrated into a sustainability assessment framework. Sixteen indicators ascribed to production, resilience, adaptability, and equity in the Huerta were considered. The main strengths of the Huerta were production related, associated cultural identity, water governance and agrodiversity, while main flaws were related with urban sprawl and poor territorial governance. For the continuity of the Huerta de Murcia, the definition of non-developable land for all the Huerta is urgently needed together with the promotion of short supply chains, and the development of a strategic plan where the most desired future for the Huerta was agreed among all stakeholders.

Keywords: Smallholder agriculture; Peri-urban agriculture; Multifunctional agriculture; Multicriteria assessment framework; Cultural heritage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:111:y:2021:i:c:s0264837721005032

DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105780

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