IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i12p7509-d843292.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of the COVID-19 Outbreak on the Use and Perceptions of Metropolitan Agricultural Parks—Evidence from Milan and Naples of Urban and Environmental Resilience

Author

Listed:
  • Vincenzo Rusciano

    (Department of Economic and Legal Studies, University of Naples Parthenope, 80133 Naples, Italy)

  • Andrea Gatto

    (College of Business and Public Management, Wenzhou-Kean University, Wenzhou 325060, China
    Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Central Avenue, Chatham Maritime, Chatham ME4 4TB, UK
    Centre for Studies on Europe, Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC), Baku AZ 1001, Azerbaijan)

Abstract

This article describes the multi-function of the metropolitan agricultural parks (MAPs) in Milan (Parco Agricolo Sud Milano) and Naples (Parco De Filippo) and their resilience within the last COVID-19 lockdown period. These parks play an important role in the urban regeneration and social inclusion processes in their relative metropolitan areas. Nevertheless, the restrictions imposed to limit COVID-19 contagions have imposed their closure or severely limited their activities, with evident consequences for the local population’s well-being. This study’s novelty is twofold: it is the first study examining the resilience and sustainability impact of MAPs during COVID-19; additionally, it is the first survey making use of Milan and Naples practices. The work uses primary and secondary data and mixed methods. Exploiting a document analysis and the elaboration of a semi-structured interview with the directors, the article lists the multiple functions of the parks and underlines their multidimensional governance vocations for fostering sustainable development—environmental, economic and social functions. The study also reveals that, during the lockdown, the parks’ activities were strongly reduced or restructured. Recreational and educational activities were lifted in Parco Agricolo Sud in Milan whilst local farms restructured their food supply and fostered their network and linkages with the urban distribution channels. MAP in Naples had to stop its activities and reorganize into a smart-working system. Lastly, our study found that economic and farm network activities were resumed with greater urgency in Milan, whereas in Naples the recovery of the social practices has taken on greater importance.

Suggested Citation

  • Vincenzo Rusciano & Andrea Gatto, 2022. "Effects of the COVID-19 Outbreak on the Use and Perceptions of Metropolitan Agricultural Parks—Evidence from Milan and Naples of Urban and Environmental Resilience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-19, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:12:p:7509-:d:843292
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/12/7509/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/12/7509/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vincenzo Rusciano & Gennaro Civero & Debora Scarpato, 2020. "Social and Ecological High Influential Factors in Community Gardens Innovation: An Empirical Survey in Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-16, June.
    2. Jing Xie & Shixian Luo & Katsunori Furuya & Dajiang Sun, 2020. "Urban Parks as Green Buffers During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-17, August.
    3. Luisa Spagnoli & Luigi Mundula, 2021. "Between Urban and Rural: Is Agricultural Parks a Governance Tool for Developing Tourism in the Periurban Areas? Reflections on Two Italian Cases," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-22, July.
    4. Walter Leal Filho & Abdul-Lateef Balogun & Dinesh Surroop & Amanda Lange Salvia & Kapil Narula & Chunlan Li & Julian David Hunt & Andrea Gatto & Ayyoob Sharifi & Haibo Feng & Stella Tsani & Hossein Az, 2022. "Realising the Potential of Renewable Energy as a Tool for Energy Security in Small Island Developing States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-21, April.
    5. Joungyoon Chun & Choong-Ki Kim & Wanmo Kang & Hyemin Park & Gieun Kim & Woo-Kyun Lee, 2019. "Sustainable Management of Carbon Sequestration Service in Areas with High Development Pressure: Considering Land Use Changes and Carbon Costs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-20, September.
    6. Alessio Russo & Giuseppe T. Cirella, 2020. "Edible Green Infrastructure for Urban Regeneration and Food Security: Case Studies from the Campania Region," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-14, August.
    7. Yuta Uchiyama & Ryo Kohsaka, 2020. "Access and Use of Green Areas during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Green Infrastructure Management in the “New Normal”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-9, November.
    8. Ugolini, Francesca & Massetti, Luciano & Pearlmutter, David & Sanesi, Giovanni, 2021. "Usage of urban green space and related feelings of deprivation during the COVID-19 lockdown: Lessons learned from an Italian case study," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    9. Thomas Beery, 2020. "Exploring Access to Nature Play in Urban Parks: Resilience, Sustainability, and Early Childhood," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-18, June.
    10. Sylvia Croese & Cayley Green & Gareth Morgan, 2020. "Localizing the Sustainable Development Goals Through the Lens of Urban Resilience: Lessons and Learnings from 100 Resilient Cities and Cape Town," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-16, January.
    11. Manganelli, Simone & Piras, Francesco & Agnoletti, Mauro, 2020. "Covid-19 and rural landscape: the case of Italy," Working Paper Series 2478, European Central Bank.
    12. Fisher, Brendan & Turner, R. Kerry & Morling, Paul, 2009. "Defining and classifying ecosystem services for decision making," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 643-653, January.
    13. Nathan Morrow & Nancy B. Mock & Andrea Gatto & Julia LeMense & Margaret Hudson, 2022. "Protective Pathways: Connecting Environmental and Human Security at Local and Landscape Level with NLP and Geospatial Analysis of a Novel Database of 1500 Project Evaluations," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-23, January.
    14. Gómez-Baggethun, Erik & Barton, David N., 2013. "Classifying and valuing ecosystem services for urban planning," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 235-245.
    15. Wang, Qian & Lan, Zili, 2019. "Park green spaces, public health and social inequalities: Understanding the interrelationships for policy implications," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 66-74.
    16. Cattivelli, Valentina, 2021. "Planning peri-urban areas at regional level: The experience of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna (Italy)," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elkhan Richard Sadik-Zada & Andrea Gatto, 2023. "Grow First, Clean Up Later ? Dropping Old Paradigms and Opening Up New Horizons of Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-6, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mohammad Reza Khalilnezhad & Francesca Ugolini & Luciano Massetti, 2021. "Attitudes and Behaviors toward the Use of Public and Private Green Space during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Iran," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-22, October.
    2. Jonas Smit Andersen & Sara Maria Lerer & Antje Backhaus & Marina Bergen Jensen & Hjalte Jomo Danielsen Sørup, 2017. "Characteristic Rain Events: A Methodology for Improving the Amenity Value of Stormwater Control Measures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-18, October.
    3. Heink, Ulrich & Jax, Kurt, 2019. "Going Upstream — How the Purpose of a Conceptual Framework for Ecosystem Services Determines Its Structure," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 264-271.
    4. Hérivaux, Cécile & Grémont, Marine, 2019. "Valuing a diversity of ecosystem services: The way forward to protect strategic groundwater resources for the future?," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 184-193.
    5. Mouratidis, Kostas, 2021. "How COVID-19 reshaped quality of life in cities: A synthesis and implications for urban planning," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    6. Kubiszewski, Ida & Concollato, Luke & Costanza, Robert & Stern, David I., 2023. "Changes in authorship, networks, and research topics in ecosystem services," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    7. Suchocka, Marzena & Heciak, Jakub & Błaszczyk, Magdalena & Adamczyk, Joanna & Gaworski, Marek & Gawłowska, Agnieszka & Mojski, Jacek & Kalaji, Hazem M. & Kais, Karolina & Kosno-Jończy, Joanna & Heciak, 2023. "Comparison of Ecosystem Services and Replacement Value calculations performed for urban trees," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    8. Kolosz, B.W. & Athanasiadis, I.N. & Cadisch, G. & Dawson, T.P. & Giupponi, C. & Honzák, M. & Martinez-Lopez, J. & Marvuglia, A. & Mojtahed, V. & Ogutu, K.B.Z. & Van Delden, H. & Villa, F. & Balbi, S., 2018. "Conceptual advancement of socio-ecological modelling of ecosystem services for re-evaluating Brownfield land," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 33(PA), pages 29-39.
    9. Nápoles-Vértiz, Sonia & Caro-Borrero, Angela, 2024. "Conceptual diversity and application of ecosystem services and disservices: A systematic review," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    10. da Silva, Romero Gomes Pereira & Lima, Cláudia Lins & Saito, Carlos Hiroo, 2023. "Urban green spaces and social vulnerability in Brazilian metropolitan regions: Towards environmental justice," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    11. Zahra Kalantari & Sara Khoshkar & Helena Falk & Vladimir Cvetkovic & Ulla Mörtberg, 2017. "Accessibility of Water-Related Cultural Ecosystem Services through Public Transport—A Model for Planning Support in the Stockholm Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-16, February.
    12. Marina Bravi & Marta Bottero & Federico Dell’Anna, 2024. "An Application of the Life Satisfaction Approach (LSA) to Value the Land Consumption and Ecosystem Services," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 2988-3013, March.
    13. Kieslich, Marcus & Salles, Jean-Michel, 2021. "Implementation context and science-policy interfaces: Implications for the economic valuation of ecosystem services," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    14. Nazmul Haque, Md. & Sharifi, Ayyoob, 2024. "Justice in access to urban ecosystem services: A critical review of the literature," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    15. Jung A Lee & Jinhyung Chon & Changwoo Ahn, 2014. "Planning Landscape Corridors in Ecological Infrastructure Using Least-Cost Path Methods Based on the Value of Ecosystem Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(11), pages 1-22, October.
    16. Foudi, Sébastien & Spadaro, Joseph V. & Chiabai, Aline & Polanco-Martínez, Josué M. & Neumann, Marc B., 2017. "The climatic dependencies of urban ecosystem services from green roofs: Threshold effects and non-linearity," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 223-233.
    17. McDonough, Kelsey & Hutchinson, Stacy & Moore, Trisha & Hutchinson, J.M. Shawn, 2017. "Analysis of publication trends in ecosystem services research," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 82-88.
    18. Paudel, Uttam & Pant, Krishna Prasad, 2023. "Understanding vitality of public space: A review with an example of capital city Kathmandu in Nepal," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    19. Francesca Vignoli & Claudia de Luca & Simona Tondelli, 2021. "A Spatial Ecosystem Services Assessment to Support Decision and Policy Making: The Case of the City of Bologna," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-19, March.
    20. Lam, Sharon T. & Conway, Tenley M., 2018. "Ecosystem services in urban land use planning policies: A case study of Ontario municipalities," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 641-651.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:12:p:7509-:d:843292. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.