Abstract
In the most recent decades European urban regions underwent functional changes reflecting heterogeneous land-use patterns and specific urban footprints. Several mono-centric cities shifted towards a scattered development with impact on the socio-spatial structure. Discontinuous expansion determined, in some cases, a net increase in land consumption. Using a multivariate exploratory approach, the present study analyzes the spatial relationships between 14 morphological variables and 22 socioeconomic indicators in Rome’s province. The aim of this study was to identify the demographic and socioeconomic indicators most associated to the transition from a mono-centric and semi-compact morphology towards a more dispersed settlement structure based on different sealing profiles observed at the local scale. Four groups of socioeconomic indicators (population structure, job market, economic specialization and settlement characteristics) associated to different sealing profiles (low, medium and high imperviousness) were identified and local municipalities classified accordingly. Although the urban–rural axis maintains an important role in the spatial organization of Rome’s province, other variables were found associated to areas with moderately low imperviousness, evidencing a specific demographic structure and persisting socioeconomic disparities at the base of the settlement model observed at the regional scale.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andersson, E. (2006). Urban landscapes and sustainable cities. Ecology and Society, 11(1), 34.
Arapoglou, V. P., & Sayas, J. (2009). New facets of urban segregation in southern Europe. European Urban and Regional Studies, 16(4), 345–362.
Bruegmann, R. (2005). Sprawl: a compact history. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Catalán, B., Saurí, D., & Serra, P. (2008). Urban sprawl in the Mediterranean? Patterns of growth and change in the Barcelona metropolitan region 1993–2000. Landscape and Urban Planning, 85(3), 174–184.
Chorianopoulos, I., Pagonis, T., Koukoulas, S., & Drymoniti, S. (2010). Planning, competitiveness and sprawl in the Mediterranean city: The case of Athens. Cities, 27(4), 249–259.
Costa, F. (1991). Urban planning in Rome from 1870 to the first world war. GeoJournal, 24(1), 269–276.
Costa, F. J., Noble, A. G., & Pendeleton, G. (1991). Evolving planning systems in Madrid, Rome, and Athens. GeoJournal, 24(3), 293–303.
Couch, C., Petschel-held, G., & Leontidou, L. (2007). Urban Sprawl in Europe: Landscapes, land-use change and policy. London: Blackwell.
De Muro, P., Monni, S., & Tridico, P. (2011). Knowledge-based economy and social exclusion: Shadow and light in the Roman socio-economic model. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 35(6), 1212–1238.
Dura-Guimera, A. (2003). Population deconcentration and social restructuring in Barcelona, a European Mediterranean city. Cities, 20(2), 387–394.
European Environment Agency (EEA). (2011). Urban soil sealing in Europe. Copenhagen: EEA (http://www.eea.europa.eu/articles/urban-soil-sealing-in-europe and http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/eea-fast-track-service-precursor-on-land-monitoring-degree-of-soil-sealing-100m-1 accessed May 2014).
Faludi, A. K. F. (2006). From European spatial development to territorial cohesion policy. Regional Studies, 40(6), 667–678.
Garcia, D., & Riera, P. (2003). Expansion versus density in Barcelona: A valuation exercise. Urban Studies, 40(10), 1925–1936.
Garcia-Palomares, J. C. (2010). Urban sprawl and travel to work: The case of the metropolitan area of Madrid. Journal of Transport Geography, 18(2), 197–213.
Giannakourou, G. (2005). Transforming spatial planning policy in Mediterranean countries: Europeanization and domestic change. European Planning Studies, 13(2), 319–331.
Gospodini, A. (2009). Post-industrial trajectories of Mediterranean European cities: The case of post-Olympics Athens. Urban Studies, 46(3), 1157–1186.
Hatz, G. (2009). Features and dynamics of socio-spatial differentiation in Vienna and the Vienna metropolitan region. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geographie, 100(4), 485–501.
Kasanko, M., Barredo, J. I., Lavalle, C., McCormick, N., Demicheli, L., Sagris, V., et al. (2008). Are European cities becoming dispersed? A comparative analysis of 15 European urban areas. Landscape Urban Planning, 77(5), 111–130.
Krumholz, N. (1992). Roman impressions: Contemporary city planning and housing in Rome. Landscape and Urban Planning, 22(2–4), 107–114.
Larondelle, N., & Haase, D. (2013). Urban ecosystem services assessment along a rural–urban gradient: A cross-analysis of European cities. Ecological Indicators, 29(2), 179–190.
Leontidou, L. (1996). Alternatives to modernism in (Southern) urban theory: Exploring in-between spaces. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 20(2), 180–197.
Longhi, C., & Musolesi, A. (2007). European cities in the process of economic integration: Towards structural convergence. Annals of Regional Science, 41(4), 333–351.
Luck, M., & Wu, J. (2002). A gradient analysis of the landscape pattern of urbanization in the Phoenix metropolitan area of USA. Landscape Ecology, 17(2), 327–339.
Maloutas, T. (2007). Segregation, social polarization and immigration in Athens during the 1990s: Theoretical expectations and contextual difference. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 31(4), 733–758.
Muñoz, F. (2003). Lock living: Urban sprawl in Mediterranean cities. Cities, 20(3), 381–385.
Neuman, M. (2005). The compact city fallacy. Journal of Planning and Education Research, 25(1), 11–26.
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(1), 7–35.
Phelps, N., Parsons, N., Ballas, D., & Dowling, A. (2006). Post-suburban Europe. Planning and Politics at the Margins of Europe’s Capital Cities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Richardson, H. W., & Chang-Hee, C. B. (2004). Urban sprawl in Western Europe and the United States. London: Ashgate.
Salvati, L. (2014). The spatial pattern of soil sealing along the urban-rural gradient in a Mediterranean region. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 57(6), 848–861.
Salvati, L. (2014). Towards a polycentric region? The socio-economic trajectory of Rome, an ‘eternally Mediterranean’ city. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 105(3), 268–284.
Salvati, L., Gargiulo, V., Rontos, K., & Sabbi, A. (2013). Concentration or sprawl? Exploring demographic patterns in growing and declining Mediterranean urban regions. Urban Geography, 34(3), 376–394.
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.
Scalenghe, R., & Marsan, F. A. (2009). The anthropogenic sealing of soils in urban areas. Landscape and Urban Planning, 90(1), 1–10.
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(4), 659–692.
Terzi, F., & Bolen, F. (2009). Urban sprawl measurement of Istanbul. European Planning Studies, 17(1), 1559–1570.
Tsai, Y. (2005). Quantifying urban form: Compactness versus sprawl. Urban Studies, 42(1), 141–161.
Turok, I., & Mykhnenko, V. (2007). The trajectories of European cities, 1960–2005. Cities, 24(3), 165–182.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Salvati, L. Soil sealing, population structure and the socioeconomic context: a local-scale assessment. GeoJournal 81, 77–88 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-014-9608-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-014-9608-0