Juliette BENEDETTI, Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, ESPACE UMR 7300, France
Karine EMSELLEM, Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, ESPACE UMR 7300, France
Stéphane BOUISSOU, Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, ESPACE UMR 7300, France
Since the 2005 Totnes case, many cities are getting involved in socioecological transitions (Smith, 2011). As an answer to the challenges and evolutions of food systems (such as agricultural land loss or GHG emissions increase), cities have a role to play both as food consumer and producer (Barles, 2018). In France, territorial food projects (PATs) aims to reterritorialize production to meet local demand. PATs are diverse in their conceptions, progress, approaches and applications: there is therefore a lack of framework for comparison and theoretical reflection, on which we propose to reflect here.
Firstly, we develop a grid to read and compare the PATs. According to us, four elements are necessary to build a relevant PAT (Benedetti, 2021): i) a systemic diagnosis, ii) the spatial dimension of the system's elements, iii) the temporal dimension to anticipate territorial futures and iv) the participative dimension to include local actors as co-builders. Based on three PATs chosen for their demographic, geographical and methodological diversity, our study offers a detailed analysis of these projects.
Secondly, it is important to include our analysis in a theoretical and conceptual approach to territorial transitions. Born on the dimensions previously stated, the geoprospective field offers an answer to food reterritorialization issues by defining transitory patterns, through scenarios built from modelling and participation (Emsellem et al. 2012 ; Garbolino et al. 2020). Therefore, quantitative tools manipulate complexity, spatial dimension, trends and uncertainties while local actors play a keyrole in developing acceptable scenarios.
Our work opens up perspectives on the development of geoprospective scenarios reflecting different reterritorialization strategies. In particular, we suggest that short circuits can be an input to define transition trajectories while optimizing variables such as freight transport distances or the accessibility of short-circuit sales points.
Mots clés : food system|geoprospective|methodology
A103017JB