Policy: Policy Action Plan

Vision statement

Marseille policy lab aims to facilitate access to land for the implementation of Agri-ecological projects in cities, and influence the local policy frame to make it more secure for agri-ecological projects. The lab’s ambition is to generate a real dynamic around these topics, by mobilising policy makers, civil society and inhabitants in order to identify arable land, develop tools for its preservation and foster a variety of long lasting projects.
To do this, the policy lab works simultaneously on various axes:

1. Identification of available land, which can be mobilised and/or has potential in the city, via macro-analyses and citizen expertise;
2. Valuation of the land, through information sharing and support programmes
3. Preservation, through research and reflection on existing and future legal tools
4. Participation in multi strakeholder dynamics to influence policy makers
5. Policy cocreation through horizontal meetings with technical agents and stakeholders
6. Work with the City of Marseille towards the renewal of the Capri farm experiment project

 

This vision is in line with several objectives of the MUFPP. In particulier, it contributes to action 23, whose goal is to protect and enable secure access and
tenure to land for sustainable food production in urban and peri-urban areas.
Other actions linked to the policy lab’s vision are:

• N° 3: Identify, map and evaluate local initiatives
• N° 5: Develop or improve multi sectoral information systems
• N° 18: Promote networks and support grassroots activities
• N° 20: Promote urban and peri-urban food production
• N° 22: Apply an ecosystem approach to guide holistic and integrated land use planning and management

Context assessment

Main issues of the CRFS
With regards to the policy lab, and more particularly concerning the access to land in the urban area, it can be noted that access to land is the first obstacle
to setting up a farm in the city, due to scarcity, land pressure, speculation, etc. In response to this, public authorities have different possible policy levers :

• Improve knowledge of the territory, and therefore of available and potentially available land, via shared, collaborative and evolving tools
• Ensure the protection of land in the city, as land is a common good to be protected and is becoming increasingly scarce
• Facilitate the cultivation of this land, by making it available to private actors or under public management

However, it must be noted that these levers are still insufficiently used, due to the often too compartmentalised functioning of local authorities, the
multiplicity of actors and tools, and the lack of federation/animation between them. In addition, there is a lack of processes capable of bringing together high
level expertise and ground level knowledge.

Existing policies

Voluntary but still scattered public policies, which still lack overall management and therefore cohesion. Main actors are the city of Marseille, Aix-Marseille-
Provence metropolis, the department Bouches-du-Rhone and the PACA region. Amongst the existing measures or those under construction, it is possible to cite :

• Projet alimentaire territorial (PAT = territorial food project) of the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis and the Pays d’Arles agglomeration (PETR)
• Metropolitan plan for the development of urban agriculture
• Regional plan for planning, sustainable development and territorial equality (SRADDET PACA)
• The Marseille Provence Territorial Coherence Scheme (STCoT)
• Marseille Provence Local development plan (PLUi)

 

Policy gaps

Despite the multitude of actors and the development of several policies in recent years tackling the issue of urban food production, and thereby addressing
the topic of land preservation, there are still important gaps in the political landscape of the Marseille CRFS.
Marseille policy lab will try to address some of these gaps, notably:

• Lacking knowledge and visibility regarding the existing food system and its actors
• Complex networking between actors
• Difficult guiding of policies concerning the food system
• Lacking visibility on arable land that could be preserved
• Difficult land access for project developers: high prices, scarcity, complex provision
• Land planning strategies developed without a fine knowledge of the territory and its actors
• Local authorities communicate support for urban agriculture but it does not materialize into enough operational and/or financial support

 

CITAG and Marseille policy lab in the political landscape

The policy lab is situated at an intermediate position between the civil society and political authorities. More precisely, CITAG implements field projects whose experience is analysed, capitalised on and passed on to other players, institutions, associations and individuals.

CITAG has setup political strategy meetings with the City, Metropolis, Department and Region to address the structural policy gaps identified.

In addition, CITAG is working hand in hand with Marseille City toward the cocreation and renewal of the Capri farm experiment project as an
autonomous one, with the participation of local stakeholders.

 

Marseille policy lab

Resources, strengths and weaknesses

• Resources: mobilisation of a dense and well-identified network of associations and citizens, operational relays within local authorities
• Strengths: knowledge of the field (expertise through the implementation of field projects and through the analytical hindsight achieved, mastery of tools, network of field actors, position of advice, training and animation of the network of institutional actors), mastery of urban planning tools and cartographic tools
• Weaknesses: scalability, complexity of the tool and its handling, accessibility to different audiences

 

Stakeholders

• ADDAP 13
• Centre social St-Joseph Servières
• Bureau des Guides
• AGAM
• Ville de Marseille
• Métropole AMP
• Terre de Liens
• Germ’
• Cap au Nord Entreprendre
• Collectif Sols Vivants
• Neo Eco
• SAFER

 

SMART goals

The overall goal of the Marseille policy lab is to foster urban and CRFS transformation by enabling more agri-ecological projects to be implementend in the city, and be sustainable in time. In order to do so, the policy lab aims to produce an information system capable of observing and analysing the evolution of local experiences in the
field of agri-food justice. This information system should be participative, combining macro and sensible approaches, as well as easily and regularly updated.
The information generated will be disseminated to the general public via the Cité de agriculture’s website. This will include a map and a thematic dossier
summarising the content of the meetings, combining sociological and photographic approaches. The policy lab is also, in parallel, working on other means of foster agri-ecological projects and innovative ways of working with local authorities and citizens in order to identify available land in an easier and faster way.

In addition, concerning the urban land dimension, the policy labs’ goals are:

1. Generating knowledge of the state of play via the development of a mapping tool as a support for the identification of unsealed land in Marseille.
2. Working towards the installation of 2 new agri-ecological projects by the end of the Cities project, on land newly identified
3. Progressive fine-tuning of the tool via its application to a given territory: identification and visit of 3 to 5 sites in the 15th district that could possibly be used for urban farming activities, if not preserved for its ecological services
4. Developing advocacy for an ambitious agricultural urban planning: prefiguration of a working group for land preservation in Marseille. Reflection group on the creation/mobilisation of new urban planning tools to serve urban agriculture, or the application of tools hitherto reserved for the peri- urban or rural environment (e.g.: ZAP).
5. Through the example of the autonomization of Capri, document the policy gaps and obstacles agri-ecological projects meet in our local context, and the strengths of such projects when thought in a Living Lab quadruple helix wap

 

Action plan

 

Timeframe

Description of the action

SMART goal addressed

CRFS actors

November - December 2022	Macro cartographic processing (city or metropolitan scale). Cold data: urban planning zoning, protected areas, existing farms and gardens, etc. Cartographic queries: search for non- urbanised areas with agricultural potential via various GIS queries.	Generating knowledge of the state of play via the development of a mapping tool as a support for the identification of unsealed land in Marseille	Ville de Marseille Métropole Aix-Marseille Provence AGAM Crige PACA
December 2022 - April 2023	Identification of key sites (structuring spaces) in the 15th arrondissement. Technical and sensitive analysis, mobilisation of citizens for a shared diagnosis.	Progressive fine-tuning of the tool via its application to a given territory : identification and visit of 3 to 5 sites in the 15th district that could possibly be used for urban farming activities, if not preserved for its ecological services	ADDAP 13 Centre social St-Joseph Servières Association Dunes Association des Femmes de Bassens Bureau des Guides Germ’ Cap au Nord Entreprendre
February 2023	First cartographic visualisations combining macro (City/Metropolis) and micro (field analyses) approaches.	1 - Generating knowledge of the state of play via the development of a mapping tool as a support for the identification of unsealed land in Marseille 2 - Progressive fine-tuning of the tool via its application to a given territory : identification and visit of 3 to 5 sites in the 15th district that could possibly be used for urban farming activities, if not preserved for its ecological services	None
Mars 2023	Publication of a thematic dossier reporting on the exploratory interviews dealing with land justice and food justice.	Generating knowledge of the state of play via the development of a mapping tool as a support for the identification of unsealed land in Marseille	ADDAP 13 Centre social St-Joseph Servières Association Dunes Association des Femmes de Bassens Bureau des Guides Germ’ Actors of food justice to be identified in the 15th district of Marseille Webmaster
June 2023	Mapping of key sites in the 15th district	Progressive fine-tuning of the tool via its application to a given territory : identification and visit of 3 to 5 sites in the 15th district that could possibly be used for urban farming activities, if not preserved for its ecological services	Webmaster
September - december 2023	Transmission of first resultats to local authorities for refinement and possible replication of the method to other territories. Solicitation of identified public and private landowners to envisage an operational translation (provision of land), via the establishment of links with pre-identified project initiators.	Generating knowledge of the state of play via the development of a mapping tool as a support for the identification of unsealed land in Marseille Progressive fine-tuning of the tool via its application to a given territory : identification and visit of 3 to 5 sites in the 15th district that could possibly be used for urban farming activities, if not preserved for its ecological services	Ville de Marseille Métropole Aix-Marseille Provence Private landowners Project initiators Potential stakeholders  Conseil départemental Bouches-du-Rhône SAFER Terre de Liens FNE 13
September 2023 - June 2024	Monitoring, research and foresight on existing tools and those to be created for the preservation and provision of identified land. The many tools created and used in rural and peri-urban areas (ZAP = protected agricultural area, PAEN = Perimeter for the Protection of Natural and Agricultural Peripheral Areas, rural leases, environmental obligations, etc.) could be rethought for application in urban areas. Valuation of the actions taken by the policy lab, in order to : Enable the preservation of land in urban areas Facilitate the provision of sites identified in the 15th arrondissement Enable the project to be spread to other areas	1- Generating knowledge of the state of play via the development of a mapping tool as a support for the identification of unsealed land in Marseille 2 - Progressive fine-tuning of the tool via its application to a given territory : identification and visit of 3 to 5 sites in the 15th district that could possibly be used for urban farming activities, if not preserved for its ecological services 3 - Developing advocacy for an ambitious agricultural urban planning : prefiguration of a working group for land preservation in Marseille. Reflection group on the creation/mobilisation of new urban planning tools to serve urban agriculture, or the application of tools hitherto reserved for the peri-urban or rural environment (e.g.: ZAP).	Ville de Marseille Métropole Aix-Marseille Provence Conseil départemental Bouches-du- Rhône SAFER Terre de Liens FNE 13 Germ’

December 2024

An analytical cartography on agri-food justice issues (not a directory), accessible online on the Cité de l'agriculture website. A dashboard allowing an original visualisation of the cartographic data analyses, accessible online on the Cité de l'agriculture website.

Webmaster and/or data visualisation expert

 

Evaluation plan

KPIs 

• Number of structures identified
• Number of sites identified
• Number of meetings with structures
• Number of site visits
• Number of produced maps
• Production of data on the CRFS

 

Monitoring methods :

• Meeting minutes and reports of site visits
• Project dashboard

 

Communication and dissemination :

• Production of maps, stats and thematic dossiers available via CITAG’s internet page
• 48h de l’agriculture urbaine (yearly festival on urban agriculture)
• Journées européennes des agricultures urbaines (European Urban Agriculture Days)
• Regional Urban Agriculture Meeting
• Exposition Terres Communes