Neither Urban Nor Rural: Urban Growth, Economic Functions and the Use of Land in the Mediterranean Fringe

Abstract

The present study assesses the morphological transition and the consequent changes in the use of land observed recently in southern Europe. We analysed the spatial distribution of basic land-use classes (built-up areas, cropland, forests) together with demographic and socioeconomic indicators with the aim to evaluate the differential impact of compact urban expansion and dispersed urbanization on peri-urban farming. Alternating distinct expansion waves over the last 50 years, Athens’ metropolitan region, Greece, was selected as the case study. Although per-capita built-up area was higher in the ‘dispersed’ urban wave compared with the ‘compact’ wave, cropland was the most vulnerable class to urbanization. A high rate of conversion from forests to cropland (in turn abandoned and, finally, developed) was observed since the early 1990s. This process is associated to land fragmentation and soil degradation driven by illegal housing and real estate speculation. Land-use changes are a target for policies mitigating soil consumption and promoting peri-urban agriculture on Mediterranean fringe land.

Citation

Salvati, L. (2016), "Neither Urban Nor Rural: Urban Growth, Economic Functions and the Use of Land in the Mediterranean Fringe", Metropolitan Ruralities (Research in Rural Sociology and Development, Vol. 23), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 19-37. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1057-192220160000023001