Cultural Heritage Preservation and Resilience in Urban Agriculture Through the Lens of Social Justice: A Case Study in Milan

Rural heritage preservation policies can have an impact on social equity issues. In periurban agricultural areas of Milan, high costs of maintenance of the rural heritage brought the main public landowners (municipality and hospital) to implement new agreements and transfer those costs to their tenant farmers. Why some farmers had positive reactions, while others risked abandoning their land and activities? What elements allow or prevent the farmers to cope with these changes? A qualitative study was conducted to understand the different farmers’ strategies, analysing the dynamics of social justice integrated into the new agreements. The different reactions of the farmers depend on elements that involve both personal and contextual characteristics (family, social networks, attitudes) and the strategy adopted by the landowner (decision-making process and agreement conditions).