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

Author

Listed:
  • Ilaria Tombolini

    (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), Via della Navicella 2-4, I-00184 Rome, Italy)

  • Ilaria Zambon

    (Department of Agriculture, Forest, Nature and Energy (DAFNE), University of Tuscia, Via S. Camillo de Lellis, I-01100 Viterbo, Italy)

  • Achille Ippolito

    (Department of Architecture and Planning, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Via Flaminia 369, I-00196 Rome, Italy)

  • Stathis Grigoriadis

    (Department of Architecture and Planning, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Via Flaminia 369, I-00196 Rome, Italy)

  • Pere Serra

    (Grumets Research Group, Department of Geografia, Edifici B, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, EL-08193 Bellaterra, Spain)

  • Luca Salvati

    (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), Via della Navicella 2-4, I-00184 Rome, Italy
    Department of Social and Economic Science, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Piazzale A. Moro 5, I-00185 Rome, Italy)

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 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.

Suggested Citation

  • Ilaria Tombolini & Ilaria Zambon & Achille Ippolito & Stathis Grigoriadis & Pere Serra & Luca Salvati, 2015. "Revisiting “Southern” Sprawl: Urban Growth, Socio-Spatial Structure and the Influence of Local Economic Contexts," Economies, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-23, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:3:y:2015:i:4:p:237-259:d:60986
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    4. Apostolos Lagarias & Poulicos Prastacos, 2020. "Comparing the urban form of South European cities using fractal dimensions," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 47(7), pages 1149-1166, September.
    5. Apostolos Lagarias, 2023. "Impervious Land Expansion as a Control Parameter for Climate-Resilient Planning on the Mediterranean Coast: Evidence from Greece," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-25, September.
    6. Siyu Miao & Yang Xiao & Ling Tang, 2022. "Urban Growth Simulation Based on a Multi-Dimension Classification of Growth Types: Implications for China’s Territory Spatial Planning," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-14, December.
    7. Moroni, Stefano & Minola, Luca, 2019. "Unnatural sprawl: Reconsidering public responsibility for suburban development in Italy, and the desirability and possibility of changing the rules of the game," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 104-112.

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