Higher education in non‐standard wage contracts

Population Space and Place

2020

The present study verifies if spatial variability in local fertility reflects the shift from a monocentric dense settlement model towards a polycentric metropolis organised in central cores and subcentral locations. The spatial distribution of a crude birth rate in Barcelona's province was investigated for a long time span (1975–2018), identifying distinctive trends within five concentric rings around Barcelona at four subperiods (1975–1985, 1986–1996, 1997–2007 and 2008–2018). Using multivariate exploratory statistics, local fertility rates were correlated with background indicators delineating the socio‐economic profile of each municipality in the study area. Fertility rates decreased with the distance from downward Barcelona and with population density. In the first time interval (1975–1985), fertility levels—higher in subcentral municipalities and peri‐urban locations than in downtown Barcelona—were positively associated with urban growth. In the following two subperiods (1986–1996 and 1997–2007), the contribution of local fertility to urban growth decreased significantly, reaching the lowest‐low figures at the end of the 1980s. In the most recent time interval (2008–2018), a moderate (and spatially heterogeneous) recovery of fertility rates was observed in subcentral locations. Demographic processes underlying Barcelona's expansion provide evidence in favour of a positive relationship between polycentric development and local fertility. Our article finally debates on the use of fertility indicators in the assessment of monocentric versus polycentric (metropolitan) growth in advanced economies.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polycentric development and local fertility in metropolitan regions: An empirical analysis for Barcelona, Spain

López‐Gay

Population Space and Place

2020

“…Traditionally, urban sprawl was defined as a low-density, inefficient settlement expansion [22,[38][39][40][41]. This notion defines sprawl as a spatial pattern of urbanization associated with design features that encourage car dependency [42][43][44][45]. Nonetheless, other definitions of sprawl emphasize different characteristics of urban settlements, with both positive and negative connotations [46][47][48][49].…”

Section: Toward a Comprehensive Definition Of Sprawl?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a New Urban Cycle? A Closer Look to Sprawl, Demographic Transitions and the Environment in Europe

Smiraglia

Egidi

et al. 2021

Land

Urban growth is a largely debated issue in social science. Specific forms of metropolitan expansion—including sprawl—involve multiple and fascinating research dimensions, making mixed (quali-quantitative) analysis of this phenomenon particularly complex and challenging at the same time. Urban sprawl has attracting the attention of multidisciplinary studies defining nature, dynamics, and consequences that dispersed low-density settlements are having on biophysical and socioeconomic contexts worldwide. The present commentary provides a brief overview on nature and implications of the latent relationship between sprawl, demographic dynamics, and background socio-environmental contexts with special focus on Europe. Empirical evidence supports the idea that spatial planning should cope more effectively with the increasing environmental and socioeconomic exposure of European regions to sprawl and demographic transitions, being progressively far away from a traditional urban cycle with sequential waves of urbanization, suburbanization, counter-urbanization, and re-urbanization. Growing socio-ecological vulnerability of metropolitan regions was evaluated based on a literature review demonstrating how a better comprehension of the intimate linkage between long-term demographic dynamics and urban cycles is necessary to inform fine-tuned policies controlling sprawl and promoting a sustainable management of peri-urban land.

“…Results of our work delineate, likely better than other-more traditional-approaches, a fertility trend typical of the late stages of the first demographic transition (fertility decline in both Northern and Southern Italy, possibly with high between-region differences and a relatively low within-region heterogeneity). A less intense fertility decline, and a low between-region heterogeneity in reproductive behaviors, were characteristic of the early phase of the second demographic transition [16,52,61]. This new pattern, however, was not associated with homogeneous fertility levels at the local scale, varying with the socioeconomic context [62][63][64].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

High-to-Low (Regional) Fertility Transitions in a Peripheral European Country: The Contribution of Exploratory Time Series Analysis

Rodrigo‐Comino

Egidi

et al. 2021

Data

Diachronic variations in demographic rates have frequently reflected social transformations and a (more or less evident) impact of sequential economic downturns. By assessing changes over time in Total Fertility Rate (TFR) at the regional scale in Italy, our study investigates the long-term transition (1952–2019) characteristic of Mediterranean fertility, showing a continuous decline of births since the late 1970s and marked disparities between high- and low-fertility regions along the latitude gradient. Together with a rapid decline in the country TFR, the spatiotemporal evolution of regional fertility in Italy—illustrated through an exploratory time series statistical approach—outlines the marked divide between (wealthier) Northern regions and (economically disadvantaged) Southern regions. Non-linear fertility trends and increasing spatial heterogeneity in more recent times indicate the role of individual behaviors leveraging a generalized decline in marriage and childbearing propensity. Assuming differential responses of regional fertility to changing socioeconomic contexts, these trends are more evident in Southern Italy than in Northern Italy. Reasons at the base of such fertility patterns were extensively discussed focusing—among others—on the distinctive contribution of internal and international migrations to regional fertility rates. Based on these findings, Southern Italy, an economically disadvantaged, peripheral region in Mediterranean Europe, is taken as a paradigmatic case of demographic shrinkage—whose causes and consequences can be generalized to wider contexts in (and outside) Europe.