Localizing urban food strategies. Farming cities and performing rurality

The The 7th Aesop Sustainable Food Planning Conference was held in Torino, the city where Slow Food holds the Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre and where the first Eataly store was born. The choice of Turin was also related to the objective to tie the conference to the 2015 Expo “Feeding the planet”, held in Milan, as well as to the event “Feeding the city” and the UNDP “Thirld World Forum of Local Economic Development”, both held in Turin. In this sense 'Localizing urban food strategie wants' firstly to connect the SFP issues in place and in time within each specific local context. Moreover, by targeting planners, agronomists, designers, geographers, administrators, activist etc. engaged in the urban food debate, 'Farming cities and performing rurality' aims at representing a platform for the development of fruitful perspectives over policies and practices for SFP. On the one hand, 'Farming cities' refers to the development of innovative roles for agricultural production in and around the city, approaching in a structural manner the way agricultural issues are dealt (or should be dealt) within contemporary urban policies. On the other hand, 'Performing rurality' considers urban food strategies as a tool to define a cooperating relationship between the urban and the rural, reversing in terms of equality the traditional ideological subordination of the countryside to the city. The activities of the Conferencehave been articulated around the following tracks: (i) Spatial planning and urban design, (ii) Governance and private entrepreneurship, (iii) Relevant experiences and practices, (iv) Training and jobs, (v) Flows and networks.