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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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With a tradition of compact cities, generally strict planning controls, and variable growth rates, many cities in Europe have policies which aim to restrict low density growth patterns. However, there is clear evidence that low density growth is happening, and that it is essential to understand the nature, location, and extent of the urban forms emerging on the periphery of cities across Europe. In its extreme manifestation, such low density peripheral growth is labelled as sprawl and considered detrimental. Drawing on the extensive literature on defining and measuring urban form, we focus on the methodologies and measures applied in the European studies at the regional (metropolitan), city, and community level. Affirming that the assessment of urban form at the community level is undertaken only sporadically, we adapt the measures used by Knaap et al. (2007) in studying US urban form to explore their applicability and robustness in analysing the evolution of urban form in a European setting. We examine the change of urban form in the Dublin Region (Ireland) in terms of residential and commercial density, internal and external connectivity, and land use mix. We find that the measures used, when adjusted to meet availability and nature of local data, are strong in revealing the trends in urban development form. We conclude by discussing the significance of the trends revealed in the case of Dublin and point to the issues of data availability in terms of both spatial and temporal resolution. Finally, we speculate on how the measures at different scales are suited to inform different types of urban policies and planning approaches.