Circular Economy and Peri-Urban Agriculture: A Systemic Approach to Promote Food Production for Vulnerable Population

In recent years, motivated by the need to accommodate the migratory flows of new residents, large cities have been the subject of an intense phenomenon of urban sprawl, and Milan is one of these. According to the ISTAT data, in 2023, the population reached 1.35 million inhabitants, with a density of 7.47729 inhabitants in a square kilometer, in 2011, it was equal to 6.83715. Population growth implies the need for more resources and the production of greater quantities of waste. These two themes are crucial for the activation of circular economy scenarios, and, in the specific case of Milan, a study was conducted to contribute to the achieving of the SDGs (Goal 2 “Zero hunger,” Goal 11 “Sustainable cities and communities,” and Goal 12 “Responsible consumption and production”). Starting from these themes, this chapter focuses on the activities related to the design and prototyping of structures to support urban agriculture on impervious surfaces, starting from local resources. These activities are part of a research project called Bioloop, winner of the Polisocial Award 2023 of the Politecnico di Milano. The project takes place at Cascina Nosedo off-campus, located in the southern peripheral area of Milan, characterized by the city’s peri-urban agricultural area. The proposed structures are designed using the contribution provided by some operational tools developed in the Bioloop project, in particular: the Local Atlas of Material and Energy Flows (LA) and the Open-source Project Hub (OSPH), the first one is a local atlas of resources, and the other is a collection of best practices and devices designed during the research (including those presented in this text). The paper presents the methodology adopted, the design proposals, the ongoing activities on prototyping and performance assessment, particularly focusing on food outcomes to support local self-production, and some preliminary assessments regarding CO2 absorption as a climate change mitigation strategy. The project result is the development of a method that leads to the design of different prototypes useful for urban agriculture. The diffusion and construction of cultivation structures will activate local circular economy scenarios and promote socially inclusive scenarios.