Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Umbria e delle Marche ''Togo Rosati''

Authors    Ciappelloni R

Abstract   The editorial is dedicated to the communication between cities, countryside, as it was outlined in Aleksandr Vasil'evic Chajanov's short story: "Journey of my brother Alexej in the country of peasant utopia", written in the period of Russian civil war. This short story talks about a visionary Moscow urban-agrarian organization of the future (1984). Innovative solutions are hypothesized to harmonize food production and farm settlements within inhabited centers. This problem has essentially been ignored in the agronomic and economic debate of our country. Despite this, several models for the inclusion of food production in cities have taken shape in the scientific literature, as in the case of so called urban agriculture, urban farming, urban gardening, with experiences mainly localized in developing countries The Covid-19 pandemic emergency has highlighted how land management must be more advanced not only in terms of health, but also ecological and productive aspects, especially if an approach based on the One Health is to be applied. However, it is necessary to be able to "figure" a new production framework, and the Chajanov's fantastic tale is a tool among others, to simulate imaginary applications in a realistic context. In the imagination of this author, thanks to an ecologically qualified urban planning technology, the peasants are able not only to spread their values, but even to create a new reticular economic organizational model of rurality. So agriculture was able to impose itself on industry. In this way the meaning of urban life has been profoundly altered, the houses are immersed in an endless alternation of trees, parks and crops. Cities become a structured place for meetings, leisure and business as a social hub in a widespread countryside. This incredible reversal of roles may be feasible by referring to the circular economy and the new landscape engineering. All this to counteract dynamics of extreme degradation of which the pandemic, which we are experiencing at the time of writing this editorial, is a direct consequence.

Publish Date  2020

Volume    123

ISSN        1592-1581

URL          https://www.spvet.it/archivio/numero-123/edi123.html

Journal    Sanità Pubblica Veterinaria