Departing from conventional narratives centered on economic stagnation and social secularism, this book offers a fresh perspective on Mediterranean urbanities. It posits their correlation with housing and welfare regimes, societal transformations, local governance structures, and deficiencies in spatial planning. The analysis within delves into the neglected potential for mitigating regional disparities, conducting a meticulous examination of environmental disparities, economic imbalances, and overarching social inequalities in Southern European regions. The outcome aims to furnish an integrated, and potentially holistic, understanding of spatial divisions between cities and their surrounding territories.

During modernity metropolitan ruralities have been regarded as land reserves for urban expansion. However, there is a growing insight that there are limits to the urban expansion into rural areas. This volume discusses potential developments in urban (and rural) policy and planning which need to be considered.

In the panorama of studies related to the ability of lands to support both natural processes and agricultural production activities, this research introduces a still unexplored or under-studied theme which is that of the relationship between urban sprawl in its various forms and land quality. The first part of the book is dedicated to the motivations and the theoretical premises from which the research originates, connected to the concept of land and those of sustainable urban form. The second part concerns the complex path towards a sustainable use of land, both in terms of institutional and regulatory measures, and in terms of knowledge and understanding of soil degradation processes. This research focuses on the Mediterranean area which is discussed in more detail in the third part. In this part of Europe we try to establish relationships between settlement dynamics and land quality: here fragile ecosystems are diffused both from a biological point of view. physical as well as socio-economic, here we find landscapes that are particularly sensitive to land degradation processes (subject to land degradation, considered the antipodes of land quality) and which in recent decades have been particularly affected by anthropic pressure. In the fourth part, an analysis is presented concerning 76 metropolitan areas representative of southern Europe. The methodology used in this analysis is based on the relationship that exists between soil sealing (or soil waterproofing) and land degradation (or land degradation) aimed at an interpretation, at the metropolitan scale, of how in southern Europe the pattern of Urbanization (compact, dispersive, intermediate) affects the land's ability to support both natural processes and agricultural production activities in a diversified way. In particular, the data on land quality and data on land use were considered together in order to analyze the processes of urban growth and the occupation of productive land for a very large area that includes Greece, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and some parts of the Adriatic coast. There is still a long way to go, in terms of sharing, integration and definition of strategies aimed at achieving certain targets. A necessary and innovative look towards land quality could help to consider the protection of the soil as a whole, even at the planning level.

Urban expansion and the preservation of fringe landscapes are clearly interconnected issues. This book discusses the relationship between landscape and peri-urban agriculture and the possible implications of sustainable land management for fringe land quality, proposing a framework to evaluate the latent nexus between agro-forest systems and human settlements in Southern Europe. Eco-sustainable planning integrated with multi-faceted policy actions (social, economic, cultural and political dimensions) is a relevant approach to reinforce sustainability of fringe landscapes. Permanent assessment of these factors allows for the implementation of different development scenarios. The present work definitely contributes to systemic and multi-scale approaches informing environmental policies, with the aim of achieving an integrated management of peri-urban agricultural landscapes.

This book provides interesting insights for the identification of socioeconomic, demographic and territorial factors that affect structural disparities in local economies. Urban development is the result of demographic dynamics at the local level, connected to socioeconomic factors, and of economic growth, whose fluctuations are particularly sensitive to the economic cycle in countries, such as the ones in the Mediterranean basin, characterized by greater informality of the sector and limited public/social housing. Our objective is to provide a contribution to sustainability planning, explaining the linkage between forms of urban development and economic growth, providing policy indications for integrated spatial planning, and for cohesion policies that may leverage social and economic competitiveness.

Processes driving urban growth are inherently related to multiple socio-economic factors, making the analysis of urban form and functions a challenging and complicated endeavour. Several fundamental factors and contextual indicators contribute to identify the main determinants of urban growth, that include economic and demographic variables, the socio-spatial structure, territorial patterns, institutional, religious and cultural attributes. Understanding spatio-temporal patterns of economic resilience can support the adoption of explicit developmental policies addressing specificities and local weaknesses of regional contexts.Thirty years after the seminal work entitled 'The Mediterranean City in Transition' by Lila Leontidou, the present contribution re-formulates a narrative framework interpreting the medium-term evolution of Southern European cities and generalises this frame to the analysis of other metropolitan areas with similar morphological and functional characteristics worldwide. Going beyond traditional Mediterranean discourses grounded on economic backwardness, social secularism, and demographic mix, an original interpretation of Mediterranean urbanities is proposed related to the local governance, real estate bubbles, land-use mix, and deregulation in urban expansion. Focusing on socioeconomic development processes in the Northern Mediterranean, the lost opportunity to reduce regional disparities and to give value to scenic and cultural values of the cities and the surrounding countryside are additional issues considered in this vision. Basing on a narrative analysis of ecologically fragile and socially fragmented Mediterranean contexts, the pervasiveness of a structural crisis - affecting regional and country economic systems, while infiltrating in the institutions, local governance systems, and the society, is finally debated as a contribution to a better understanding of complex urbanities worldwide.

This book brings together, in a single volume, an overview of multiple applications of the concept of environmental sustainability, featuring examples of useful methodologies and tools for pursuing environmental targets, experiences and case studies spanning a variety of sectors, embracing both industry and research projects; and case studies applied to very different territorial contexts. The first section of the book covers methodologies and tools for environmental sustainability, including Industrial Ecology, Urban Metabolism, Life Cycle Assessment, analysis of industrial water footprint and such chemical technologies as Hypercritical Separation Technology (HYST). Part Two provides case studies of environmental sustainability in specific industrial sectors including electronics, pharmaceutical manufacturing, bio-energy, agriculture, food and residential construction retrofitting. Part Three explores experiences of environmental sustainability in territorial contexts on a local, regional or national scale. This section includes chapters on sustainability in the Republic of San Marino, the European “Covenant of Mayors” urban sustainability initiative and efforts to promote sustainability in Italy, Norway and Poland among others. The book concludes with a discussion of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in Objective I regions of Italy. Featuring the contributions of academics, managers operating in various productive sectors and consultants, the book aims to promote the growth and spread of scientific research and technological development for environmental sustainability.

Mapping and Forecasting Land Use: The Present and Future of Planning is a comprehensive reference on the use of technologies to map land use, focusing on GIS and remote sensing applications and methodologies for land use monitoring. This book addresses transversal topics such as urbanisation, biodiversity loss, climate change, ecosystem services and participatory planning, with the pros and cons of various aerial technologies in mapping and land use. It follows a multidisciplinary approach and provides opinions and evidence from leading researchers working in academic institutions across the globe. The book's second half moves from theory and research advancement into case studies, compiling global examples to provide real-world context and evidence of the techniques and applications. Mapping and Forecasting Land Use is a valuable guide for graduates, academics and researchers in the fields of geography, geographic information science and land use science who want to effectively apply GIS and remote sensing capabilities to mapping or wider land studies. Researchers in geosciences, environmental science and agriculture will also find this of value in utilising 21st-century technologies in their field. - Provides a guide to land use mapping technologies, including GIS and remote sensing - Covers a wide field of interdisciplinary subjects related to GIS applications in land use - Features global case studies alongside exploring theory and current research in the field