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Determinants of Urban Expansion and Agricultural Land Conversion in 25 EU Countries

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Abstract

Agricultural land conversion is resulting from ongoing complex interaction between the physical environment, policy settings and socio-economic factors. Case studies of the determinants of agricultural land conversion potentially contribute to the analysis of the main causes of land-use change. This can assist authorities and policy makers in understanding the relative importance of a wide range of factors on urban expansion and associated agricultural land-use change. This paper explores the determinants of agricultural land conversion to urban uses in the studied 25 European Union countries between 2000 and 2006. European-level as well as region-specific land-use changes are studied. The research is using the spatial data adapted from European Corine Land Cover maps of 2000 and 2006 and utilised other European sources regarding socio-economic, natural, geological, climate, and policy-related data. The differences in urbanisation processes observed in different regions in Europe emphasise the regional variations of urban conversion process of agricultural land use. This study identifies a combination of socio-economic drivers, policy-related factors, nature and location-based factors as key influences on agricultural land conversion processes in Europe. Specifically we found that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies were influential in curbing urbanisation and reducing agricultural land consumption.

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Notes

  1. Industrial sectors include: ‘manufacturing, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities’, commercial sectors are ‘wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, accommodation and food service activities, transportation, storage and information and communication’, and finally services sectors cover ‘financial and insurance activities, real estate and renting activities, professional, scientific and technical activities, administrative and support service activities (these correspond to NACE Rev.2 classification detailed in Eurostat 2008)

  2. The NUTS classification subdivides economic territory of the EU member states into territorial units (i.e. regions) for the production of regional statistics and for targeting political interventions at a regional level (Eurostat 2015). The NUTS classification includes three hierarchical levels: the country boundaries of each member state form the NUTS0 level, which is divided into NUTS 1 regions, which in turn are subdivided into NUTS 2 regions and then further divided into NUTS 3 regions (see Fig. 7 in Appendix). Existing administrative units of the member states comply with the definition of the NUTS regions, and the NUTS are complemented at the lower level by local administrative units (Eurostat 2015).

  3. The following soil types are classified as fertile soil: Andosols (AN), Cambisols (CM), Chernozems (CH), Fluvisols (FL), Histosols (HS), Luvisols (LV), Phaeozems (PH). The following are classified as manageable soil: Arenosols (AR), Calcisols (CL), Gleysols (GL), Gypsisols (GY), Vertisols (VR). The rest are classified as unsuitable for agriculture i.e., Acrisols (AC), Albeluvisols (AB), Kastanozems (KS), Leptosols (LP), Planasol (PL), Podsols (PZ), Regosols (RG), Solonchaks (SC), Solonetzes (SN), Umbrisols (UM) (the details of soil types can be seen from Toth et al., 2008).

  4. In the slope map, the following values correspond to the following percentages of slope: 1: 0–2%; 2: 2–5%; 3: 5–8%; 4: 8–16%; 5: 16–30%; 6: > 30%.

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  1. School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy, University College Dublin, Richview, Clonskeagh, Dublin 4, Ireland

    Eda Ustaoglu & Brendan Williams

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Fig. 7

Fig. 7
figure 7

Spatial Representation of NUTS Regions in EU. Note: source: Eurostat (2015)

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Ustaoglu, E., Williams, B. Determinants of Urban Expansion and Agricultural Land Conversion in 25 EU Countries. Environmental Management 60, 717–746 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-017-0908-2

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