SADAPT is a joint research unit of the University of Paris Saclay, INRAE and AgroParisTech, which brings together some fifty researchers and teacher-researchers in social sciences and biotechnical sciences.
The laboratory's missions are (i) to produce knowledge about socio-ecological systems, paying particular attention to the interactions between agriculture, environment and food at different organizational levels (farm, territory, commodity chain); (ii) to clarify the decisions of public and private actors in order to develop social and technical innovations that strengthen agricultural sustainability; (iii) to contribute to structuring interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research within the University of Paris-Saclay.
The unit's ambition is to advance knowledge about adapting agri-food systems to global changes and reducing their footprint on natural resources. This ambition is reflected in our scientific objectives. Our research aims first of all at understanding the socio-economic processes underlying the transition of rural and peri-urban spaces towards sustainable development. We are also working to analyze the technical and economic levers for the transition of farms and territories. Finally, we seek to increase knowledge on urban agriculture technical systems, their role in urban territories and the use of methods to assess their sustainability.
The sustainability challenges facing agriculture have evolved. This is why SADAPT advocates an integrated vision of research on agro-ecological transition to design and evaluate new sustainable agri-food systems.
The unit is structured in three multidisciplinary research teams:
- Urban Agricultures
The mission of the Urban Agriculture team is to analyze urban agriculture, both professional and non-professional, in its diversity, from the point of view of the functions it fulfills, its modes of operation and the technical, social and territorial practices of the actors involved.
- Concepts
The research is aimed at developing concepts, tools and methods to design and evaluate new organizations of agricultural systems reconciling production, environment and biodiversity issues.
- Proximities
The research is devoted to analyzing the dynamics of rural and peri-urban territories in a situation of space scarcity, with a particular focus on agriculture and agricultural land under urban influences.