Que vuelvan los bárbaros

En los próximos días se desarrollará en Salzburgo un interesante congreso en torno a la necesidad de la generación de desarrollo económico en ciudades de carácter post industrial:

The recent world-wide economic crisis created in large part because of this has made us keenly aware of the over-reliance on the global financial sector and need to diversify our economies and to address the needs of the “other city” –the pockets of poverty and exclusion that exist within every city.

Despite the significant deindustrialization process of the last decades, manufacturing still plays an important role in the urban economy, mainly as “silent partner” to other sectors, such as the creative, cultural and health care industries. This form of urban manufacturing is no longer characterized by the smoke-stack industries of the past, but by a mix of small- and medium-sized firms that are related to local demand and the city’s financial, artistic and service industries.

At the same time, the emergence in the last few years of green industries provides unexploited job and business opportunities, and has the potential to foster sustainable growth for the local economy and improve urban living conditions, as well as reduce negative impacts on the environment. New urban manufacturing and green industries can provide important employment opportunities, particularly jobs for people with different cultural backgrounds and qualifications, thus serving as “gateways” to social and cultural integration.

A third opportunity to bring production back to the city is the rise of the urban agriculture movement fueled in part by a renewed awareness of nature and the need for greater food security, which in many North American and European cities is already conducted in backyards, rooftops and community gardens. Urban agriculture can combine the production of healthy food with job creation and spaces for community-building and social cohesion.

El debate sobre la revitalización de las ciudades a partir de la agricultura urbana está casi ausente en América Latina (aunque los Articultores están haciendo un trabajo muy interesante).