Abstract

FEITO, María Carolina. Problems and challenges of peri-urban Buenos Aires. Estudios Socioterritoriales [online]. 2018, vol.24. ISSN 1853-4392.

The peri-urban concept refers to urban-rural transicional zones, vulnerable areas that are affected by tensions overland use. At these locations, Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture, which provide market garden crops to city consumers, takes place. This type of agriculture is associated with complex situations related to land tenure, water disposal and human resources availability. It is linked to family farming, in which domestic and productive units are integrated. Presently work describes how this type of agriculture has been developed in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires, with the aim of providing tools for a comprenhensive approach to public policies that have supported the cultivation around and inside the city. At first, we look back at the history of production systems and their specific problems, focus in on the fundamental roles of this agriculture in urban border territories, and we analyze different public policies aimed at preserving these peri-urban productions. We also address both external and internal processes that are affecting these areas, as well as the dynamics that are causing territorial tensions and social conflicts. This work conclude indicating that peri-urban is an strategic territory for the development of proximity food supply systems. We enphazize how the urban expansion of the city produces serious threats to agricultural production, focusing on the needs to incorporate critical problems of these areas in to the public policy agenda, through the design and implementation of targeted policies, considering different patterns of technical assistance, rural extension and land-use planning.

Keywords : Periurban; Family farming; Public policies; Productive systems.

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