Rural in Town: Traditional Agriculture, Population Trends, and Long-Term Urban Expansion in Metropolitan Rome

Abstract

Mediterranean regions have experienced a shift from accelerated urban growth typical of a post-industrial phase to a more recent spatial delocalization of population and economic activities reflecting discontinuous settlement expansion, land take, and the abandonment of cultivated areas around central cities. On the basis of a comprehensive analysis of land-use, settlement, and demographic indicators, the present study explores urban growth and population density over a sufficiently long time period in a metropolitan region of Southern Europe (Rome, Italy). Local-scale population trends were compared with the evolution of the primary sector (workers in agriculture, number of farms, cultivated land) between 1951 and 2011. Our results indicate non-linear growth waves alternating compact and discontinuous expansion shaping fringe land. The future development of metropolitan regions is increasingly dependent on the relationship between urban diffusion and economic viability of peri-urban agriculture. Crop abandonment and land take rates increase in local contexts where peri-urban agriculture rapidly declines. Policies managing ex-urban development and promoting the recovery of fringe soils are increasingly required to contain the expansion of dispersed settlements and preserve relict agricultural systems from land conversion to urban use.

Los paisajes de viñedos. Historia y tendencias de la viticultura en casos de estudio de Eslovaquia

“…Spontaneously spreading urbanisation in vineyards can negatively impact and destroy the vineyard landscape values forever in a short time. The intensified urbanization in vineyards documented in this article was also observed in other case studies from Slovakia (kopecká & Rosina, 2014;Izakovičová et al, 2017) as well as in other Eastern Bloc Communist coun-tries (Grigorescu et al, 2012;Novák et al, 2014) and Mediterranean countries (Salvati & Sabbi, 2011;Egidi et al, 2020).…”

Ecological Connectivity in Agricultural Green Infrastructure: Suggested Criteria for Fine Scale Assessment and Planning

“…With respect to this potential arrangement, the present land use and land cover is starkly dominated by agricultural areas, without clear trends upon abandonment [22]. On the contrary, urban sprawl and soil consumption are threatening the rurality of the Reserve especially at its borders [23,24], with artificial areas representing about 4% of the site. Natural and semi-natural vegetation is therefore reduced to minor remnants, with the mature stages of the most widespread vegetation series types, i.e., Quercus cerris woods, accounting for about 10% of the site.…”

Rural-Urban Migration and its Effect on Land Transfer in Rural China

“…This could further threaten food security and hamper the achievement of the sustainable development goals. This may be especially true in countries with more people and less land [6,7]. Since ancient times, China has been faced with the problem of the contradiction between "man and land".…”