Italy was the first European country to be hit hard by COVID-19 and the first to enact lockdown and mobility restrictions. These were in place from 10 March until 4 May, when the Phase Two began and the most restrictive measures were loosened.

Italy had some of the most stringent lockdown restrictions in Europe, which were especially felt by urban dwellers. City parks and green spaces were closed and people were not allowed to move farther than 200 meters from home. Even stretching one’s legs in the park was unattainable, and the idea of moving to the countryside was beginning to make its way into many people’s mind.

In Tuscany – the home of our Living Lab – the virus’s direct impact was limited, compared to regions in Northern Italy, especially Lombardy. But the aftermath of this pandemic does not leave room for hope that the worst is over.

The Tuscan region relies heavily on tourism (48.5 million nights spent in 2019, increasing by +0.7% compared to 2018) and the 2020 data are bleak. Scenario-based forecasts made by the Regional Institute for Economic Planning of Tuscany (IRPET) show tourism activities decreasing by -38% in the best-case scenario and -67% in the worst-case scenario.

The pandemic has exposed vulnerability in our economies, work systems, healthcare, and lifestyles, while simultaneously highlighting the essentials of our lives, like community, public services, and food.

On the community side, several initiatives were established in the last months throughout Italy to respond to the many needs from the COVID-19 crisis. For instance, food parcels were distributed by volunteers to the most vulnerable groups – from the elderly coping with social isolation to those who lost their jobs – and charities have been collecting spare laptops for children who are otherwise unable to keep up with their school lessons remotely.

In Lucca and Capannori, the recently created Food Policy Council worked to reopen the four farmers’ markets during the lockdown, to provide a market outlet for local farmers to diversify the food supply sources available to residents, and also help to alleviate the long supermarket queues.

Now that we are slowly getting back to “normal”, some of these initiatives will stay in place, while other emergency-led initiatives will be possibly dropped.

But what have we learned from COVID-19? And how could we build on lessons learnt to make better long-term choices?

Being part of the ROBUST project has given us – as both researchers and civil servants – the opportunity to look at these events and responses through the distinctive lens of rural-urban relationships. We were able to work from home and our daily activities were not as disrupted as other less fortunate ones. Collaborative work in the Living Lab had to be rearranged, but everything that was happening convinced us even more that ROBUST’s work is not only timely, but necessary. 

We decided to hold the face-to-face regional workshop originally planned in March as three online workshops that focussed on access to land from the perspective of the Intermunicipal Food Policy and Regional Land Bank. A plausible future vision for the Lucca Plain in 2040 was shared with the participants – from Food Policy councillors to farmers’ associations, land use planners, researchers and land owners. They were asked to provide their insights into possible actions that would help fill the gap between the vision and the state of the art, meanwhile depicted by way of available data on land use and agriculture in the Lucca Plain. 

There are two interconnected concepts resonating with our Living Lab activities and purposes that have clearly shown their relevance during the crisis, and will hopefully shape our future action plans as envisaged in the workshops. 

The first is proximity. In general, most of the COVID-19-related initiatives have shown how important proximity relationships have become at times of crisis. This should make us all reflect upon what could be still recovered. This is certainly true for rediscovered neighbourhood relationships, as well as the value of the grocery shop down on the street. Activities and practices particularly related to food supply and consumption have gained centre stage public relevance, as well as the availability of public spaces to host them.

As the local Food Policy has been calling for, reorganising the local food system around the needs of people and the territory might provide a good starting point to work towards long-term sustainability, and local authorities play a crucial role in this process. 

The other concept is resilience. We understand that a core value for a resilient food system is its diversity: diversity of supply chains, producers, and food – particularly the places our food comes from, including our own city-region.

Data from our Living Lab show that the Lucca Plain includes about 35% abandoned land, and only about one-third of agricultural land is managed by professional farmers. Moreover, most farms are affected by high fragmentation, which increase costs and difficulties for farming activities. This is especially true for young people, who already facing the major obstacles of access to land, while most of this – namely: 500 ha in the past 15 years – is lost to abandonment. 

Our LL aims to develop a local food policy and a territorial plan to mitigate urban sprawl, steer synergies between the city and the countryside, and valorise cultural heritage, landscape and territory.

Isn’t it the most suitable time to get back to work?