Action research to define a management model and strategic development program for the Parco Agricolo della Piana in Tuscany

Titolo Study aimed at defining a management model and strategic development program for the Parco Agricolo della Piana

Location Municipalities of  Firenze, Prato, Sesto Fiorentino, Campi Bisenzio, Calenzano, Signa, Carmignano, Poggio a Caiano.

Duration 2024-2025

Partner Dipartimento di Architettura (DIDA) Università di Firenze

Funding Regione Toscana

 

Context

The Parco Agricolo della Piana covers approximately 8,000 hectares of agricultural land of agro-environmental interest between Florence and Prato, in one of Italy’s most urbanized and infrastructured areas. In recent decades, land consumption, ecological fragmentation, industrial pressure, and logistics have reduced and fragmented the agricultural matrix, making the economic and environmental stability of peri-urban farms more fragile.

At the same time, the area retains a strong agricultural, landscape, and historical heritage: historic farm systems, valuable crops (olives, vines, orchards), Medici villas, rural villages, historic hydraulic networks, multifunctional and organic farms that protect the area and supply short supply chains and local markets. The Piana Agricultural Park was created precisely to bring together soil protection, agriculture, the environment, landscape, and local development in a multifunctional way.

 

General Objective

The overall objective of the project was to define a Development Program and a governance model for the Parco Agricolo della Piana, capable of:

  • consolidating the Park as a strategic agro-ecological infrastructure for the Florence–Prato metropolitan area;
  • support agricultural multifunctionality and innovation in the local agri-food system (regenerative agriculture, short supply chains, Food Hub, shared logistics);
  • strengthen environmental and landscape protection, ecological reconnectivity, and sustainable management of natural resources;
  • enhance the historical and rural heritage and the social, tourist, and educational functions of the Park;
  • propose a governance structure shared between the Region, municipalities, the agricultural world, and civil society, capable of making the Park an operational tool for territorial policy.

 

Our contribution

ARCO coordinated PHASE 2 of the project, dedicated to defining the Development Program and governance model for the Piana Agricultural Park. Starting from the territorial analyses and living labs carried out in the previous phase, the research group systematized the results and translated them into a number of strategic lines of action for the medium term, concerning soil and environmental protection, strengthening short supply chains, enhancing the rural landscape, and the social and educational functions of agriculture.

In order to build a shared framework, ARCO conducted semi-structured interviews with administrators and technicians from the eight municipalities within the park’s boundaries, with the aim of gathering information on needs, priorities, and visions for the future of the area. At the same time, ARCO conducted a comparative survey of European and national experiences of agricultural parks, combined with the results of the eight interviews with municipal administrators and technicians, to analyze organizational models and management tools.

Based on this work, a portfolio of 10 pilot projects was co-designed (including the park brand, Food Hub, community oil mill/mill, agroforestry interventions, cycle paths and slow mobility routes, actions for ecological reconnection and training), complete with objectives, actions, timelines and possible funding channels.

A further result was the formulation of three different governance proposals, which will be discussed in order to define the future management entity of the Piana Agricultural Park.

 

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