Preserving Farmland on the Urban Fringe: A Literature Review on Land Policies in Developed Countries

Abstract

<jats:p>This paper reviews the recent literature dealing with farmland protection (FP) policies in developed countries from a planning perspective, with a specific focus on the Mediterranean region. It provides coverage of French language papers that may have been omitted in previous reviews. While the Mediterranean is often pointed out as a region with acute challenges related to food security and a lack of effective planning policies, the literature underlines that issues related to FP policies are similar across the world. Hence, this review may bring valuable insights for more sustainable management of farmland on the urban fringe. It maps several interesting areas of research concerning the often implicit and disparate rationales of FP policies as well as the barriers and potential avenues for improvement for FP. It highlights that FP cannot rely merely on transferring policy tools that have proven successful elsewhere. It also reveals that land policies do not always take into account the specific needs of farming systems, as they often focus on land rather than on agriculture. Further research is thus needed to reveal the interaction over time between the use of certain FP tools and the unique local features of urban fringe agriculture. This review may be of interest to students and scholars, but also to practitioners, policy makers and local groups looking for innovative, more flexible or locally suited farmland protection programs.</jats:p>

Expansion and Specialization of Agricultural Systems in Western Mediterranean Areas: A Global Analysis Based on the Two Last Census Data

“…These results are in agreement with most of the recent literature about Mediterranean agricultural dynamics, both at a global and local scale [1,28,29]. In fact, the progressive decrease on cultivated surface could be the results of abandonment of most marginal areas [30,31] or the urbanization of the cultivated regions, such as the fertile coastal areas [32] and the most populated peri-urban ones [33].…”

Role of Spatial Planning in the Restitution and Development of Urban Agriculture

“…The use of the example of France was intentional. Urban strategic planning in France, its position and role, are regarded in Europe as a modelalso with respect to the issue of farmland preservation (Perrin et al, 2020). Francethrough its experts and professionals in the field grouped e.g., in the Federation of Urban Planning Agencies, which is independent from municipal authoritieshas made a significant contribution to the shaping of EU urban policy.…”

Saving the ground beneath our feet: Establishing priorities and criteria for governing soil use and protection

“…high natural value (HNV) [ 104 ], but this is not the same thing as protecting land for its intrinsic SES value. The last resort for farmland preservation, if it occurs at all, is usually some form of spatial or territorial planning, but the primary motive for such planning regulation is typically urban expansion driven by population and commercial pressure, rather than rural protection [ 105 , 106 ]. There is a distinct lack of robust legal instruments to prohibit or restrict agricultural land take and the approach taken varies considerably between and within countries, producing policies that are frequently complex and sometimes ambiguous or conflicting [ 40 , 106 – 113 ].…”

“…The last resort for farmland preservation, if it occurs at all, is usually some form of spatial or territorial planning, but the primary motive for such planning regulation is typically urban expansion driven by population and commercial pressure, rather than rural protection [105,106]. There is a distinct lack of robust legal instruments to prohibit or restrict agricultural land take and the approach taken varies considerably between and within countries, producing policies that are frequently complex and sometimes ambiguous or conflicting [40,[106][107][108][109][110][111][112][113]. Added to this is the prevalence of 'informal' governance of planning regulations in many low-and middle-income countries [111,114,115].…”