Urban and peri-urban agriculture as a strategy for creating more sustainable and resilient urban food systems and facing socio-environmental emergencies

Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) is one of the most interesting phenomena of land management and transformation in recent decades. Thanks to its multiple functions, it can become an effective strategy to create more sustainable and resilient cities and food systems as well as to cope with global emergencies such as climate change, ecological degradation, food insecurity and economic crises. This paper analyzes the various functions of urban and peri-urban agriculture, the ways in which these functions connect and feed each other, the obstacles to its large-scale implementation, and the important role that it may have in the transition to an alternative economic and social paradigm.