Integrating social preferences analysis for multifunctional peri-urban farming in planning. An application by multi-criteria analysis techniques and stakeholders

Abstract

[EN] Cities and civil society organizations arround the World (Barcelona, Milan, Paris, Madrid, London, Boston) work together to enhance the collaboration and to create a coordinated urban policy on sustainable food systems to deliver healthy and accessible food to all, and peri-urban areas are considered priorities as opportunity to actions related to it. In this article, we pay attention on the debate arround urban growth strategies versus conservation-preservation of farmland in peri urban areas. We use the multifunctionality approaches to analyze the agricultural systems and propose multi-criteria analysis techniques in the development of territorial planning processes by stakeholders and applying contemporary tools and techniques. Our study is focused on the Huerta de Valencia, a peri-urban agricultural system around the city of Valencia (Spain). This is an agricultural system of great wealth and variety of resources, recognized by the European Environment Agency. The differences in perceptions between stakeholder grups result in different future vision for this agricultural system, with implications in the process to design rural development measures and agro-environmental to breach this gap.