Creative Cities of Gastronomy: Towards relationship between city and countryside

The central theme of this work revolves around some initiatives carried out by the UNESCO Creative Cities of Gastronomy and is framed within the debate about the relationships between city and countryside with a twofold aim: i. to discuss if and how much gastronomic initiatives can really induce the development of the agricultural and rural systems or if the center of gravity has moved towards the city, so posing new challenges to the rural systems; ii. to bring attention on the need for new directions and more balanced connections between the urban and rural spaces. The UNESCO Creative Cities Network of Gastronomy is considered for its international scope and institutional nature through a desk analysis approach. In addition, a pilot survey to the Italian Creative City of Alba helps to confirm insights and add ideas to the desk analysis. By positioning the urban and rural spaces in the framework of the creative gastronomy, the existence of imbalances and obstacles emerged. The potential of creative territories of gastronomy moves through the recognition of the importance of setting linkages among products, people and places, and ask for an integrated paradigm for new and balanced territorial relationships between the two spaces in theory, practice and policy fields.