| Many countries are facing processes of urban sprawl and counterurbanization. One implication of these processes is that traditional divisions and distinctions between urban and rural are disappearing. The notion of metropolitan landscape (i.e. the spatial interweaving of densely populated urban centres and green open spaces) is used to conceptualise the emergence of this new spatial setting. The emergence of metropolitan regions has a range of implications for the agricultural and rural sector in these regions: it can create all sorts of constraints for agricultural and rural development, but also new opportunities may arise. This project focuses on the role of agricultural and rural activities, products and services in metropolitan and peri-urban regions and examines if and how agriculture and the rural can fulfil newly emerging urban needs and the growing demand for public goods (health care, leisure, education, nature & landscape, food quality, etc.) and the ways in which multifunctional agriculture contributes to sustainable regional development (with specific attention for quality of life issues). |
