Back to the land

Forms of neoruralism as a strategy of resistance and exercise of food sovereignty

Abstract

Urban horticulture is a practice that in recent times has acquired growing importance and space in various parts of the world. My article explores the reasons behind this growth, and the paths and meanings that this practice has taken in specific contexts. It analyzes urban horticulture as a form of protest and resistance, and as an instrument for the reappropriation of spaces and relations. The case study I examine is the city of Naples, a place that in recent years has been marked by stories of soil expropriation, degradation, and exhaustion. Nowadays, however, the city has also become a setting in which collective movements aim to revitalize the area and make it a felix land once again.