AGRI-CULTURA URBANA : Sharing hubs of transition in Cortijo de Cuarto in Seville, Spain.

The modern dichotomy between the urban and the rural is increasingly affected by the superimposition of urbanisation processes on the rural landscape, usually contributing to the disappearance of the agricultural heritage. Thanks to a high degree of awareness towards the necessity of natural capitals in human life, today the interdependence between man and nature is progressively becoming of fundamental importance. Contemporary issues related to urban overgrowth, food supply and depletion of material resources increase the necessity for urban planning processes in rural areas to apply principles of integration with the existing context. It becomes the role of contemporary urban planners to carefully manage the natural capital and develop urban sustainable strategies to fulfill human needs in the respect of the eco-system.Particularly, this thesis investigates the controversial relationship between the urban and the rural in the case study of Cortijo de Cuarto in Seville, rural area in the southern suburb of the Spanish city currently subjected to traditional urbanisation processes of urban sprawling.The focus will be to highlight the potentiality of this land as agricultural heritage and propose a development strategy based on three hubs of transition from the urban to the rural landscape, looking at the features of the local context toward the preservation and valorisation of its identity. Therefore, AgriI-Cultura Urbana stands out as an urban development program that looks at agriculture as a landscape experience from a social, economic and environmental point of view, enhancing a culture of integration between local agricultural activities and urbanisation programs, taking into consideration the benefits of both citizens and the environment