IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i4p2042-d499151.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Soil Quality and Peri-Urban Expansion of Cities: A Mediterranean Experience (Athens, Greece)

Author

Listed:
  • Samaneh Sadat Nickayin

    (Planning and Design Faculty, Agricultural University of Iceland, Hvanneyri, 311 Borgarbyggð, Iceland)

  • Francesca Perrone

    (Department of Planning, Design and Technology of Architecture, Sapienza University, Via Flaminia, 72-00196 Roma, Italy)

  • Barbara Ermini

    (Department of Economics and Social Science, Polytechnic University of Marche, Piazzale Martelli, 8, I-60121 Ancona, Italy)

  • Giovanni Quaranta

    (Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Economics, University of Basilicata, Viale dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10, I-85100 Potenza, Italy)

  • Rosanna Salvia

    (Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Economics, University of Basilicata, Viale dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10, I-85100 Potenza, Italy)

  • Filippo Gambella

    (Department of Agriculture, University of Sassari, Viale Italia, 39, I-07100 Sassari, Italy)

  • Gianluca Egidi

    (Department of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (DAFNE), Tuscia University, Via San Camillo de Lellis, I-01100 Viterbo, Italy)

Abstract

Soil loss and peri-urban settlement expansion are key issues in urban sustainability, with multi-disciplinary implications that go beyond individual ecological and socioeconomic dimensions. Our study illustrates an assessment framework diachronically evaluating urbanization-driven soil quality loss in a Southern European metropolitan region (Athens, Greece). We tested the assumption that urban growth is a process consuming high-quality soils in a selective way analyzing two spatial layers, a map illustrating the diachronic expansion of settlements at five time points (1948, 1975, 1990, 2000, and 2018), and a geo-database reporting basic soil properties. The empirical results showed that the urban expansion in the Athens region took place by consuming higher- quality soil in fertile, mostly flat, districts. It entailed a persistent soil quality decrease over time. This trend globally accelerated in recent years, but in a heterogeneous way. Actually, newly built, more compact areas expanded on soils with lower erosion risk than in the past. Besides, low-density land take is likely to be observed in soils with moderate-high or very-high qualities. These evidences reflect the need for a comprehensive evaluation of complex processes of land take informing spatial planning for metropolitan sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Samaneh Sadat Nickayin & Francesca Perrone & Barbara Ermini & Giovanni Quaranta & Rosanna Salvia & Filippo Gambella & Gianluca Egidi, 2021. "Soil Quality and Peri-Urban Expansion of Cities: A Mediterranean Experience (Athens, Greece)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-12, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:2042-:d:499151
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/2042/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/2042/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cesare Feliciantonio & Luca Salvati & Efthymia Sarantakou & Kostas Rontos, 2018. "Class diversification, economic growth and urban sprawl: evidences from a pre-crisis European city," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1501-1522, July.
    2. Dominati, Estelle & Patterson, Murray & Mackay, Alec, 2010. "A framework for classifying and quantifying the natural capital and ecosystem services of soils," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 1858-1868, July.
    3. Antonella Lerario & Silvia Di Turi, 2018. "Sustainable Urban Tourism: Reflections on the Need for Building-Related Indicators," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-25, June.
    4. Andrea Koch & Alex McBratney & Mark Adams & Damien Field & Robert Hill & John Crawford & Budiman Minasny & Rattan Lal & Lynette Abbott & Anthony O'Donnell & Denis Angers & Jeffrey Baldock & Edward Bar, 2013. "Soil Security: Solving the Global Soil Crisis," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 4(4), pages 434-441, November.
    5. Georgia Giannakourou, 2005. "Transforming spatial planning policy in Mediterranean countries: Europeanization and domestic change," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 319-331, January.
    6. Valeria Paul & Matthew Tonts, 2005. "Containing Urban Sprawl: Trends in Land Use and Spatial Planning in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(1), pages 7-35.
    7. United Nations, 2016. "The Sustainable Development Goals 2016," Working Papers id:11456, eSocialSciences.
    8. Andreea Zamfir & Razvan-Andrei Corbos, 2015. "Towards Sustainable Tourism Development in Urban Areas: Case Study on Bucharest as Tourist Destination," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(9), pages 1-14, September.
    9. Salvati, Luca & Ciommi, Maria Teresa & Serra, Pere & Chelli, Francesco M., 2019. "Exploring the spatial structure of housing prices under economic expansion and stagnation: The role of socio-demographic factors in metropolitan Rome, Italy," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 143-152.
    10. Carlos Bueno-Suárez & Daniel Coq-Huelva, 2020. "Sustaining What Is Unsustainable: A Review of Urban Sprawl and Urban Socio-Environmental Policies in North America and Western Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-36, May.
    11. Ana Barbosa & Sara Vallecillo & Claudia Baranzelli & Chris Jacobs-Crisioni & Filipe Batista e Silva & Carolina Perpiña-Castillo & Carlo Lavalle & Joachim Maes, 2017. "Modelling built-up land take in Europe to 2020: an assessment of the Resource Efficiency Roadmap measure on land," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(8), pages 1439-1463, August.
    12. Zambon, Ilaria & Benedetti, Anna & Ferrara, Carlotta & Salvati, Luca, 2018. "Soil Matters? A Multivariate Analysis of Socioeconomic Constraints to Urban Expansion in Mediterranean Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 173-183.
    13. Jansson, Åsa, 2013. "Reaching for a sustainable, resilient urban future using the lens of ecosystem services," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 285-291.
    14. Luca Salvati, 2016. "The Dark Side of the Crisis: Disparities in per Capita income (2000–12) and the Urban-Rural Gradient in Greece," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 107(5), pages 628-641, December.
    15. Luca Salvati & Adele Sateriano & Eftathios Grigoriadis, 2016. "Crisis and the city: profiling urban growth under economic expansion and stagnation," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 329-342, October.
    16. Barbara Grah & Vlado Dimovski & Judita Peterlin, 2020. "Managing Sustainable Urban Tourism Development: The Case of Ljubljana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-17, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Seham S. Al-Alola & Haya M. Alogayell & Ibtesam I. Alkadi & Soha A. Mohamed & Ismail Y. Ismail, 2021. "Recognition and Prediction of Land Dynamics and Its Associated Impacts in Al-Qurayyat City and along Al-Shamal Train Pathway in Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-25, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jesús Rodrigo-Comino & Barbara Ermini, 2021. "Are Cities Truly Dispersed? A Long-Term Analysis of Vertical Profile of Settlements in Athens’ Metropolitan Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-14, March.
    2. Tomao, Antonio & Quaranta, Giovanni & Salvia, Rosanna & Vinci, Sabato & Salvati, Luca, 2021. "Revisiting the ‘southern mood’? Post-crisis Mediterranean urbanities between economic downturns and land-use change," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    3. Samaneh Sadat Nickayin & Antonio Tomao & Giovanni Quaranta & Luca Salvati & Antonio Gimenez Morera, 2020. "Going toward Resilience? Town Planning, Peri-Urban Landscapes, and the Expansion of Athens, Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-18, December.
    4. Kostas Rontos & Barbara Ermini & Luca Salvati, 2023. "Enlarging the divide? Per-Capita Income as a measure of social inequalities in a southern European City," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 345-361, February.
    5. Rosanna Salvia & Gianluca Egidi & Luca Salvati & Jesús Rodrigo-Comino & Giovanni Quaranta, 2020. "In-Between ‘Smart’ Urban Growth and ‘Sluggish’ Rural Development? Reframing Population Dynamics in Greece, 1940–2019," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-18, July.
    6. Mariateresa Ciommi & Francesco M. Chelli & Luca Salvati, 2019. "Integrating parametric and non-parametric multivariate analysis of urban growth and commuting patterns in a European metropolitan area," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 957-979, March.
    7. Rosanna Salvia & Luca Salvati & Giovanni Quaranta, 2021. "Beyond the Transition: Long-Term Population Trends in a Disadvantaged Region of Southern Europe, 1861–2017," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-23, June.
    8. Leonardo Bianchini & Gianluca Egidi & Ahmed Alhuseen & Adele Sateriano & Sirio Cividino & Matteo Clemente & Vito Imbrenda, 2021. "Toward a Dualistic Growth? Population Increase and Land-Use Change in Rome, Italy," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-14, July.
    9. Gianluca Egidi & Giovanni Quaranta & Luca Salvati & Rosanna Salvia & Gimenez Morera Antonio, 2021. "Investigating density-dependent patterns of population growth in Southern Italy, 1861–2019," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 11-30, April.
    10. Egidi, Gianluca & Mosconi, Enrico Maria & Turco, Rosario & Salvati, Luca, 2023. "Functions follow structures? The long-term evolution of economic dynamics, social transformations, and landscape morphology in a Mediterranean metropolis," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    11. Kostas Rontos & Enrico Maria Mosconi & Mattia Gianvincenzi & Simona Moretti & Luca Salvati, 2023. "Toward a Spatially Segregated Urban Growth? Austerity, Poverty, and the Demographic Decline of Metropolitan Greece," Data, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-20, March.
    12. D'Agata, Alessia & Alaimo, Leonardo Salvatore & Cudlín, Pavel & Salvati, Luca, 2023. "Easy come, easy go: Short-term land-use dynamics vis à vis regional economic downturns," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    13. Gianluca Egidi & Luca Salvati & Andrea Falcone & Giovanni Quaranta & Rosanna Salvia & Renata Vcelakova & Antonio Giménez-Morera, 2021. "Re-Framing the Latent Nexus between Land-Use Change, Urbanization and Demographic Transitions in Advanced Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-17, January.
    14. Vinci, Sabato & Bartolacci, Francesca & Salvia, Rosanna & Salvati, Luca, 2022. "Housing markets, the great crisis, and metropolitan gradients: Insights from Greece, 2000–2014," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    15. Luca Salvati, 2019. "Examining urban functions along a metropolitan gradient: a geographically weighted regression tells you more," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 19-40, April.
    16. Luca Salvati, 2022. "Endogenous Population Dynamics and Metropolitan Cycles: Long-Term Evidence from Athens, an Eternally Mediterranean City," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(5), pages 835-860, December.
    17. Kostas Rontos & Maria-Eleni Syrmali & Luca Salvati, 2021. "Unravelling the Role of Socioeconomic Forces in the Early Stage of COVID-19 Pandemic: A Global Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-14, June.
    18. Salvati, Luca, 2020. "Residential mobility and the local context: Comparing long-term and short-term spatial trends of population movements in Greece," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    19. Rares Halbac-Cotoara-Zamfir & Gianluca Egidi & Enrico Maria Mosconi & Stefano Poponi & Ahmed Alhuseen & Luca Salvati, 2020. "Uncovering Demographic Trends and Recent Urban Expansion in Metropolitan Regions: A Paradigmatic Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-15, May.
    20. Margherita Carlucci & Sabato Vinci & Giuseppe Ricciardo Lamonica & Luca Salvati, 2022. "Socio-spatial Disparities and the Crisis: Swimming Pools as a Proxy of Class Segregation in Athens," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 161(2), pages 937-961, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:2042-:d:499151. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.