Building up alternative economic spaces. A comparison of concepts in the Global North and South

Abstract

Rural societies around the world face numerous challengesrelated to containing market pressures on agro-food production,which is causing a loss of competitiveness of small-scale agriculture.The outlook for the future is unclear for the rural population whilean increase in new capitalized actors is visible in the Global Northand South. However, there is also a display of resistance and innovativeactions by many groups in rural societies. This paper introducessome of the conceptual approaches underlying these developmentpaths. We provide an overview on the problem definitions, goals, meansand central actors that are nurturing these alternative economicspaces. In doing so, we seek to bridge some aspects of the North andSouth, co-creating the world we want.