The Spatiotemporal Links between Urban and Rural Regions through the Sale and Consumption of Agri-Food Products

The asymmetries between rural and urban areas have continued to increase over the last decades, contributing to an imbalance of economic, social, and territorial dimensions between regions. Urban stores specialized in the commercialization of rural provenance agri-food products can have a role in the promotion of interrelations between the countryside and the cities and contribute to publicizing and promoting rural regions among the urban populations and tourists. Thus, this work aims to understand and characterize the growth of these stores in two of the main urban and tourist centers of Oporto and Lisbon. For this purpose, we developed an analytical framework with the support of a spatial analysis using geographic information systems (GIS) to understand their organization as well as the spatiotemporal evolution and distribution. We also investigated the geographical patterns of the supply chains of marketed agri-food products and the spatial relationships between agri-food products from their production to their commercialization and consumption. The results revealed that most of the agri-food products originate in the inland rural regions of the country with a clear geographical connection between the analyzed stores and specific territories. Moreover, we verify an increased interest and consumption of agri-food products and a spontaneous increase in this type of store. Overall, these stores, in addition to selling agri-food products, are also promoters of rural territories in an urban environment.