Housing and the City: A Spatial Analysis of Residential Building Activity and the Socio-Demographic Background in a Mediterranean City, 1990–2017

Abstract

Fluctuations in residential building activity are becoming progressively more intense over time and space in advanced economies and especially in Europe, fueling real estate market segmentation and making the performance of the construction industry increasingly unpredictable. If non-linear urbanization paths are the result of economic downturns consolidating progressively more volatile real estate markets, the present study investigates the impact of recent building cycles on long-term urban expansion in a Mediterranean city (Athens, Greece), using multiple clustering techniques run on a large set of building activity and socio-demographic indicators. Changes over time in building activity were evaluated considering 12 spatially-explicit indicators derived from the analysis of building permits released by Greek municipalities between 1990 and 2017. By referring to different analysis’ scales (macro-scale: settlements, meso-scale: buildings, micro-scale: dwellings), indicators allow a comprehensive investigation of multiple dimensions and characteristics of construction markets at four-time intervals of 7 years each (1990–1996, 1997–2003, 2004–2010, 2011–2017). Spatio-temporal variability in building activity was further investigated considering 12 contextual indicators assessing the basic socio-demographic attributes of local municipalities. Cluster analysis allows identification of distinctive, local-scale responses of real estate markets to economic cycles (expansion–stagnation–recession) in both short- and long-term horizons and relate them to the dominant socio-demographic context. Density of new buildings, average floors per new building, density of buildings’ additions and number of building permits per inhabitant were found to be the most sensitive indicators to economic downturns in the study area. Infrastructure-driven development, as a result of the 2004 Olympic Games, has produced relevant short-term alterations in residential construction markets, complicating urbanization trends at the local scale. Multi-scale indicators from building permit records provide a useful insight in the diachronic mechanisms of urban growth, with implications for regional planning and design of sustainable development practices.

Water Quality Pollution Control and Watershed Management Based on Community Participation in Maros City, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

“…The results of field confirmation illustrated that the weak control over space utilization and the number of building permits issued by the government had an impact on the deterioration of the urban environmental quality of Maros City. Real estate is one of the largest economic activities worldwide, influencing settlement morphology and shaping built environments [68,69]. The utilization of urban space in Maros City is shown in Figure 9.…”

Spatial Transformation of a New City in 2006–2020: Perspectives on the Spatial Dynamics, Environmental Quality Degradation, and Socio—Economic Sustainability of Local Communities in Makassar City, Indonesia

“…Meanwhile, larger cities are forced to expand their administrative boundaries, thereby seeking to manage the unrestrained urban development along the horizontal axis, which has become the largest urban threat of the 21st century [53]. Multi-scale indicators from building permit records provide useful insight into the diachronic mechanisms of urban growth, with implications for regional planning and the design of sustainable development practices [54]. Furthermore, rapid economic development, population growth, and increasing industrialization have led to faster and more substantial urban expansion, which has had an impact on the historical environment of rural areas [55].…”

Environmental sustainability assessment of excavation, construction, and demolition waste conditions and practices across Greece and Cyprus

“…Construction activity is considered one of the key indicators of growth and prosperity in western countries. The construction industry also contributes to the overall socio-economic development of each country [48]. Sustainable construction is a unifying and holistic construction process, which aims to restore and maintain harmony between the natural and built environment and the establishment of settlements that affirm human dignity and the encouragement of economic justice [49,50].…”