Campania Region: Multifaceted Urban Agriculture – Case Studies

In the 50’s the Campania agricultural activity lived a recession together with a growing process of urbanization, both for social and cultural reasons. Recently, there has been a comeback of the urban farming, related to several factors. Since 2001, in Pontecagnano municipality the local Legambiente group manages 6 hectares, creating a public green space and a community garden tha have been a great success among citizens. After that, the project was extended to the whole region (Mille orti per la Campania Project). The urban farming is even reaching the function of a powerful instrument in the hands of the citizens against the organized crime (Pol.i.s. Foundation, and Libera Terra Network). In the last years, several examples of urban farming arose from the local citizenship often coming out of informal contexts and/or associations, managing private lands and small green plots escaped from the urbanization.