Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Sprawl matters: the evolution of fringe land, natural amenities and disposable income in a Mediterranean urban area

  • Case Study
  • Published:
Environment, Development and Sustainability Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We investigate the relationship between land-use changes (1987–2007) and the spatial distribution of the average declared income of resident population in a southern European metropolitan region (Athens, Greece) as a contribution to the analysis of suburbanization processes in the Mediterranean region. To demonstrate that urban expansion is accompanied with multiple modifications in the use of the surrounding non-urban land, we developed a computational approach based on spatial indexes of landscape configuration and proximity as a result of changes in the local socio-spatial structure. Diversity in the use of land surrounding built-up parcels in the Athens’ metropolitan region increased significantly between 1987 and 2007, reflecting a progressive fragmentation of the exurban landscape. The percentage of forests and (high-quality) natural land surrounding built-up parcels increased from 8.1 to 9.4 % between 1987 and 2007. The reverse pattern was observed for (low-quality) sparsely vegetated areas, declining from 65 to 47 %. Large built-up parcels were surrounded by a higher percentage of natural land than small parcels. The largest increase over time in forest and natural land surrounding built-up parcels was observed in municipalities with high per capita declared income, and the reverse pattern was observed for sparse vegetation. Our results demonstrate that scattered urban expansion determines a polarization in suburban areas with high-quality and low-quality natural amenities. Sprawl increases economic inequality and socio-spatial disparities contributing to a spatially unbalanced distribution of natural amenities with higher consumption of high-quality land.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aguilar, A. G. (2008). Peri-urbanization, illegal settlements and environmental impact in Mexico City. Cities, 25, 133–145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allen, A. (2003). Environmental planning and management of the peri-urban interface: Perspectives on an emerging field. Environment and Urbanization, 15(1), 135–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alphan, H. (2003). Land use change and urbanisation of Adana, Turkey. Land Degradation and Development, 14, 575–586.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Antrop, M. (2004). Landscape change and the urbanization process in Europe. Landscape and Urban Planning, 67, 9–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arribas-Bel, D., Nijkamp, P., & Scholten, H. (2011). Multidimensional urban sprawl in Europe: A self-organizing map approach. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 35(4), 263–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benz, U. C., Hofmann, P., Willhauck, G., Lingenfelder, I., & Heynen, M. (2004). Multi-resolution, object-oriented fuzzy analysis of remote sensing data for GIS-ready information. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry, 58, 239–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhatta, B., Saraswati, S., & Bandyopadhyay, D. (2010). Quantifying the degree-of-freedom, degree-of-sprawl, and degree-of-goodness of urban growth from remote sensing data. Applied Geography, 30(1), 96–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blaschke, T. (2010). Object based image analysis for remote sensing. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry, 65, 2–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruegmann, R. (2005). Sprawl: A compact history (p. 301). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bryant, C. R. (1995). The role of local actors in transforming the urban fringe. Journal of Rural Studies, 11(3), 255–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carrion-Flores, C., & Irwin, E. G. (2004). Determinants of residential land-use conversion and sprawl at the rural-urban fringe. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 86(4), 889–904.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carruthers, J. I., & Ulfarsson, G. F. (2002). Fragmentation and sprawl: Evidence from interregional analysis. Growth and Change, 33(3), 312–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castle, E., Wu, J., & Weber, B. (2011). Rural-urban economic spatial relations: A different perspective. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 33, 1–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Catalàn, B., Sauri, D., & Serra, P. (2004). Urban sprawl in the Mediterranean? Patterns of growth and change in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region 1993–2000. Landscape and Urban Planning, 85, 174–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cavailhès, J., Frankhauser, P., Peeters, D., & Thomas, I. (2004). Where Alonso meets Sierpinski: An urban economic model of a fractal metropolitan area. Environment and Planning A, 36(8), 1471–1498.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cho, S. H., Kim, S. G., & Roberts, R. K. (2011). Values of environmental landscape amenities during the 2000–2006 real estate boom and subsequent 2008 recession. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 54(1), 71–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chorianopoulos, I., Pagonis, T., Koukoulas, S., & Drymoniti, S. (2010). Planning, competitiveness and sprawl in the Mediterranean city: The case of Athens. Cities, 27, 249–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christopoulou, O., Polyzos, S., & Minetos, D. (2007). Peri-urban and urban forests in Greece: Obstacle or advantage to urban development? Journal of Environmental Management, 18, 382–395.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coisnon, T., Oueslati, W., & Salanié, J. (2014). Urban sprawl occurrence under spatially varying agricultural amenities. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 44, 38–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coppi, R., & Bolasco, S. (1988). Multiway data analysis. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Couch, C., Petschel-held, G., & Leontidou, L. (2007). Urban sprawl in Europe: Landscapes, land-use change and policy (p. 252). Hoboken: Blackwell.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dahlman, C. (2006). Detour to Europe: Enlargement, Southeast Europe, and the EU’s external dynamic. Eurasian Geography and Economics, 47(6), 683–697.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delladetsima, P. M. (2006). The emerging property development pattern in Greece and its impact on spatial development. European Urban and Regional Studies, 13, 245–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Economidou, E. (1993). The Attic landscape throughout the centuries and its human degradation. Landscape and Urban Planning, 24, 33–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • European Environment Agency (2006). Urban sprawl in Europe—The ignored challenge. Copenhagen: EEA Report no. 10.

  • European Environment Agency (2010). Mapping guide for a European urban atlas. Copenhagen.

  • Feranec, J., Jaffrain, G., Soukup, T., & Hazeu, G. (2010). Determining changes and flows in European landscapes 1990–2000 using CORINE land cover data. Applied Geography, 30, 19–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrara, A., Salvati, L., Sabbi, A., & Colantoni, A. (2014). Urbanization, soil quality and rural areas: Towards a spatial mismatch? Science of the Total Environment, 478, 116–122.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Frenkel, A. (2004). The potential effect of national growth-management policy on urban sprawl and the depletion of open spaces and farmland. Land Use Policy, 21(4), 357–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frondoni, R., Mollo, B., & Capotorti, G. (2011). A landscape analysis of land cover change in the Municipality of Rome (Italy): Spatio-temporal characteristics and ecological implications of land cover transitions from 1954 to 2001. Landscape and Urban Planning, 100, 117–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gitas, I. Z., Mitri, G. H., & Ventura, G. (2004). Object-based classification for burned area mapping of Creus Cape, Spain, using NOAA-AVHRR imagery. Remote Sensing of Environment, 92(3), 409–413.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grekousis, G., Manetos, P., & Photis, Y. N. (2013). Modeling urban evolution using neural networks, fuzzy logic and GIS: The case of the Athens metropolitan area. Cities, 30, 193–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Irwin, E. G., & Bockstael, N. E. (2004). Land use externalities, open space preservation, and urban sprawl. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 34(6), 705–725.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kasanko, M., Barredo, J. I., Lavalle, C., McCormick, N., Demicheli, L., Sagris, V., et al. (2006). Are European cities becoming dispersed? A comparative analysis of Fifteen European urban areas. Landscape and Urban Planning, 77, 111–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laidley, T. (2015). Measuring sprawl. A new index, recent trends, and future research. Urban Affairs Review,. doi:10.1177/1078087414568812.

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Goix, R. (2005). Gated communities: Sprawl and social segregation in Southern California. Housing Studies, 20(2), 323–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leontidou, L. (1990). The Mediterranean city in transition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lichtenberg, E., & Hardie, I. (2007). Open space, forest conservation, and urban sprawl in Maryland suburban subdivisions. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 89(5), 1198–1204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longhi, C., & Musolesi, A. (2007). European cities in the process of economic integration: Towards structural convergence. Annals of Regional Science, 41, 333–351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacDonald, K., & Rudel, T. K. (2005). Sprawl and forest cover: What is the relationship? Applied Geography, 25(1), 67–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mallinis, G., Koutsias, N., & Arianoutsou, M. (2014). Monitoring land use/land cover transformations from 1945 to 2007 in two peri-urban mountainous areas of Athens metropolitan area, Greece. Science of the Total Environment, 490, 262–278.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maloutas, T. (2007). Socio-economic classification models and contextual difference: The “European socio-economic classes” (ESeC) from a South European angle. South European Society and Politics, 12, 443–460.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Munafò, M., Norero, C., Sabbi, A., & Salvati, L. (2010). Urban soil consumption in the growing city: A survey in Rome. Scottish Geographical Journal, 126(3), 153–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nechyba, T. J., & Walsh, R. P. (2004). Urban sprawl. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 18(4), 177–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paul, V., & Tonts, M. (2005). Containing urban sprawl: Trends in land use and spatial planning in the metropolitan region of Barcelona. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 48, 7–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prodromidis, P. (2014). The evolution of personal incomes across Greece: 2001–2008. Athens: Stamoulis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Radeloff, V. C., Hammer, R. B., & Stewart, S. I. (2005). Rural and suburban sprawl in the US Midwest from 1940 to 2000 and its relation to forest fragmentation. Conservation Biology, 19(3), 793–805.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, H. W., & Chang-Hee, C. B. (2004). Urban sprawl in Western Europe and the United States. Aldershot: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salvati, L. (2015). Agro-forest landscape and the ‘Fringe’ city: A multivariate assessment of land-use changes in a Sprawling region and implications for planning. Science of the Total Environment, 490, 715–723.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salvati, L., & De Rosa, S. (2015). Economic structure and the spatial distribution of declared income in a Mediterranean city: Persisting disparities in a ‘locked’ social context? Current Politics and Economics of Europe, 25(1), 3–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salvati, L., & Gargiulo, Morelli V. (2014). Unveiling urban sprawl in the Mediterranean region: Towards a latent urban transformation? International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 38(6), 1935–1953.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salvati, L., & Sabbi, A. (2011). Exploring long-term land cover changes in an urban region of southern Europe. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, 18(4), 273–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salvati, L., Sateriano, A., & Bajocco, S. (2013). To grow or to sprawl? Evolving land cover relationships in a compact Mediterranean city region. Cities, 30, 113–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salvati, L., Ranalli, F., & Gitas, I. (2014). Landscape fragmentation and the agro-forest ecosystem along the urban gradient: An exploratory study. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, 21(2), 160–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, A., & Woodcock, C. E. (2008). Compact, dispersed, fragmented, extensive? A comparison of urban growth in twenty-five global cities using remotely sensed data, pattern metrics and census information. Urban Studies, 45, 659–692.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Serra, P., Pons, X., & Saurí, D. (2008). Land-cover and land-use change in a Mediterranean landscape: A spatial analysis of driving forces integrating biophysical and human factors. Applied Geography, 28(3), 189–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shrestha, M. K., York, A. M., Boone, C. G., & Zhang, S. (2012). Land fragmentation due to rapid urbanization in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area: Analyzing the spatiotemporal patterns and drivers. Applied Geography, 32, 522–531.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Terzi, F., & Kaya, H. S. (2011). Dynamic spatial analysis of urban sprawl through fractal geometry: The case of Istanbul. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 38(1), 175–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turok, I., & Mykhnenko, V. (2007). The trajectories of European cities, 1960–2005. Cities, 24, 165–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, R. (2007). Endogenous open space amenities in a locational equilibrium. Journal of urban Economics, 61(2), 319–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waltert, F., & Schläpfer, F. (2010). Landscape amenities and local development: A review of migration, regional economic and hedonic pricing studies. Ecological Economics, 70(2), 141–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, C., & Wu, J. (2011). Locational amenities, increasing returns, and urban development. Journal of Economic Geography, 11(4), 687–707.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu, J. (2001). Environmental amenities and the spatial pattern of urban sprawl. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 83, 691–697.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu, J. (2006). Environmental amenities, urban sprawl, and community characteristics. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 52(2), 527–547.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu, J. (2010). Economic fundamentals and urban-suburban disparities. Journal of Regional Science, 50, 570–591.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank WWF Hellas for funding part of the work through the ‘Future of the Greek Forest’ project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Council for agricultural research and economics (CREA), Via della Navicella 2–4, 00184, Rome, Italy

    Luca Salvati

  2. Laboratory of Forest Management and Remote Sensing, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 248, 54124, Thessaloníki, Greece

    Ioannis Gitas

  3. Department of Science and Technology for Agriculture, Forests, Nature and Energy (DAFNE), University of Tuscia, Via San Camillo de Lellis snc, 01100, Viterbo, Italy

    Tullia Valeria Di Giacomo

  4. Hellenic Open University, Odos Parodos Aristoteleiou 18, 26335, Patra, Greece

    Efthimia Saradakou

  5. Department of Economic and Social Sciences, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, Piazzale A. Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Luca Salvati & Margherita Carlucci

Authors
  1. Luca Salvati
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ioannis Gitas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tullia Valeria Di Giacomo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Efthimia Saradakou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Margherita Carlucci
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luca Salvati.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Salvati, L., Gitas, I., Di Giacomo, T.V. et al. Sprawl matters: the evolution of fringe land, natural amenities and disposable income in a Mediterranean urban area. Environ Dev Sustain 19, 727–743 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-015-9742-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-015-9742-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation