Ilaria Zambon

Do spatial patterns of urbanization and land consumption reflect different socioeconomic contexts in Europe

Land-use changes and urban sprawl have transformed European cities, with a direct impact on both metropolitan structures and socioeconomic functions. However, these processes tend to be relatively different across countries, being influenced by place-specific factors associated to socioeconomic, historical, political and cultural factors that influence decisions on the use of land. Considering 155 metropolitan areas in 6 European macro-regions, the present study investigates spatial patterns of land consumption profiling cities according to a large set of territorial variables, with the final objective to identify relevant socioeconomic dimensions characteristic of recent processes of urban growth. Investigating the socioeconomic background underlying land-use changes in metropolitan regions allows identification of place-specific factors improving the design of effective strategies containing land consumption in different European urban typologies. An exhaustive analysis of land-use changes at regional and local spatial scales contributes to find alternative policies for land-use efficiency and long-term environmental sustainability.

Prefiguring a future city: urban growth, spatial planning and the economic local context in Catalonia

ABSTRACT This study undertook a quantitative analysis of town master plans to define future urban growth. Spatial direction and intensity of urban expansion were analysed in relation to local contexts using land zoning and a comprehensive database of socio-economic indicators at the municipal scale in Catalonia, Spain. Our results illustrate a progressive shift towards discontinuous settlements consolidating urban centres in most accessible rural areas. Contrary to what was hypothesized (and partly observed) in recent decades, settlement expansion will modestly contribute to a balanced urban spatial structure. Future urban development in Catalonia will not follow a polycentric model, fuelling instead the growth of medium and small urban centres. This process may consolidate the incipient divide in rural areas with high accessibility and a dynamic economic base with remote inland areas experiencing land abandonment and depopulation. The use of indicators derived from town master plans in the assessment of (scattered or polycentric) future urbanization in Europe is finally discussed.

Urban growth, economic structures and demographic dynamics: exploring the spatial mismatch between planned and actual land-use in a Mediterranean city

ABSTRACT Recent urbanization led to a more evident distinction in historical inner cities, consolidated urban periphery and peri-urban areas. The resulting metropolitan structures are moulded by social, economic, cultural and political factors, fuelling unregulated – and often dispersed – urban expansion. In this context, spatial planning was increasingly asked to regulate complex processes of metropolitan development. Under the hypothesis that discontinuous urban expansion was associated with planning deregulation or poorly effective zoning procedures, the present study introduces an operational approach aimed at comparing actual and planned land-use at the metropolitan scale in the Large Urban Zone (LUZ) of Rome, Italy. Settlements developed on land with less stringent building constraints have resulted in the discontinuous urban expansion. Because of increased house demand and high pressure for services and infrastructures, discontinuous urbanization in Rome has frequently involved out-of-plan land – with partial regulatory constraints or with mixed/ambiguous land destination – in areas with growing population. Going beyond a descriptive analysis of urban morphologies, empirical exercises comparing actual and planned land-use provide basic information to design developmental policies containing discontinuous urbanization.