Verso la rivitalizzazione dei mercati contadini di Marsiglia. Quando i cittadini si battono per una città più verde

Abstract

Feeding the city of Marseille has turned into a huge challenge as global food networks increase the fragile relations between urban residents and the surrounding rural territories. This contribution deals with the current situation of Marseille which is presented in matters of environmental challenges such as global warming and urbanization while these latter aspects enhance the necessity to reconsider the main food provisioning system. Supported by a three-year-long ethnographic study conducted on the Cours Julien farmers’ market, located in the city centre of Marseille, the paper also questions how citizens may succeed to revive local farmers’ markets on the urban scene and encourage bottom-up ecologization. Then, in a last part, standing on the fact that the farmers’ market hosts a French version of Community-supported agriculture (AMAP), links with the development of alternative food networks and short-chain production are analyzed as well as the help they can provide to redefine human-nature relations in our fast urbanizing society.