Revisiting “Southern” Sprawl: Urban Growth, Socio-Spatial Structure and the Influence of Local Economic Contexts

Abstract

Given its unpredictable nature, urban sprawl in the Mediterranean region is considered an intriguing (and intricate) socioeconomic issue. Since the 1970s, urban dispersion advanced rapidly in southern Europe-irrespective of a city's size and morphology-with urbanization rates growing faster than population. A comparison between the metropolitan areas of Barcelona, Rome and Athens reveals how sprawl has occurred in different ways in the three cities, highlighting peculiar relationships between urbanization, land-use and economic structures. Sharing common drivers of change related to population dynamics, socio-spatial structure and deregulated urban expansion, sprawl has adapted to the local economic, cultural and environmental context. Barcelona shows a dispersion pattern towards a more spatially-balanced morphology, with expanding sub-centres distributed around the central city, Rome appears to be mostly scattered around the historical city with fragmented OPEN ACCESSEconomies 2015, 3 238 urban fabric and heterogeneous economic functions, Athens is denser, with polarized economic spaces and social segregation. Understanding how place-specific factors influence processes of settlement dispersion in Mediterranean contexts may inform policies of urban containment and land-use management.

Unraveling the "suburban fertility hypothesis": Demographic implications and territorial consequences

“…older people or adults who live alone) prefer to live in urban areas, because of increased accessibility to services (López-i-Villanueva et al, 2013). Following Tombolini et al (2015), the spatial distribution of the elderly index reproduces the main demographic pattern at the base of urban sprawl. The elderly index was higher in central cities, as observed e.g.…”

Multi-Actors’ Stakes and Strategies: Tangier Med Free Zones Group’s Case

“…In literature, research shows the role of the local socioeconomic context at shaping urban growth, socioeconomic disparities, and diverging sprawl observed in the Mediterranean area (Tombolini et al 2015). This requires a set up regional/urban planning and sustainable land management working towards a greater containment and management of sprawled urban expansion.…”

Industrial Sprawl and Residential Housing: Exploring the Interplay between Local Development and Land-Use Change in the Valencian Community, Spain

“…Moreover, urbanization processes-especially those involving industrial settlements-have occurred in recent decades outside the traditional urban centers, settling new economic poles along peri-urban landscapes [4,7,[15][16][17][18]. Along with residential sprawl [6,8,9,19,20], some metropolitan areas in Europe have witnessed a huge expansion of industrial settlements, increasing their degree of innovation Being a typically Mediterranean region, Valencian Community has become a major tourist destination in recent decades [39,42], promoting its touristic image, especially the Costa Blanca destination in Alicante [39]. Its strategic position in the Mediterranean basin, mild climate and territorial diversity contribute to make the Valencian Community very attractive in every aspect and season [45], revealing its cultural and natural heritage, a diversified economic system, extended farmlands and highly qualified services in the tourism sector [42].…”

“…The transaction fees connected to urbanization and land liberalization, together with local fiscal competences over housing construction, have offered both municipal and regional administrations with the resources needed to renovate cities [61,62]. Though, the restrictions of what modernization incomes have occasionally been blurred, to the extent that the housing boom became in some cases unreasonable, like in Southeastern Spain [8,20,37].…”