Over recent years agriculture has been taken into account in urban projects in response to citizens’ requests for fresh and quality produce, recreational spaces and a ‘quality’ life. A real understanding is still lacking of the dynamics arising from the interaction between urban and agricultural spaces and between different actors (e.g. local authorities, farmers, citizens, planners) for whom the issues are not always the same. On-going experiences can be helpful to understand better these phenomena. The article focuses on peri-urban agricultural parks in Europe particularly in Italy and Spain. We review the definition of agricultural park, taking account of the stakeholders involved, the resources mobilized and the management tools used to define the common points among these projects. The aim is to identify guidelines for the implementation and governance of urban agricultural parks in other contexts