Abstract
Using nonparametric, exploratory statistics, the spatial structure of the city’s vertical profile was investigated at the municipal scale in Athens’ metropolitan region (Greece), evaluating changes over a sufficiently long time interval (1983–2019) that encompasses different phases of the urban cycle in Greece. Assuming the vertical profile of cities as an honest indicator of urban form, the study was aimed to test the intensity and spatial direction of the (supposed) change in settlement models toward sprawl. Transitioning slowly from a dense to a more dispersed settlement structure, Athens’ dynamics revealed a quite representative model for cities expanding significantly but remaining substantially compact and dense, while responding similarly to different (external) economic stimuli. Nonparametric correlation between the average (vertical) profile of each municipality and the distance from downtown Athens revealed a substantially stable mono-centric structure over time, with small changes over time still responding to factors dependent on the urban gradient. The inherent shift towards “horizontal” urban expansion was relatively modest and characteristic of few periurban contexts. The empirical results of this study can be envisaged as a practical tool of regional planning, allowing continuous monitoring of urban sprawl and land take in complex systems under rapid socioeconomic changes.
Highlights
We studied an area coinciding with the Athens metropolitan region
While the metropolitan region consists mainly of mountain chains bordering the Greater Athens, some flat areas are located in Attica: the Messoghia plain, the Marathon plain, and the Thriasio plain [46]
It is worth highlighting that a similar trend toward an increase in the vertical profile of the core city was registered, with diverse intensities, in all spatial partitions, from the early 1980s up to the end of the economic expansion in the mid2000s [24,61,62]. This corresponded with the end of the most intense urbanization wave, in correspondence with the last economic expansion of the early 2000s
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. A city is a complex entity, which contains diverse ecosystems influenced by social, economic, environmental, and cultural factors among others, finding the correct indicators is an important topic [1]. Scholars have developed different evaluation indicators, indexes and models assessing sustainable development, fundamentally applied to urbanism management, regional geography, ecological planning, housing and social policy [2,3,4]. Næss [5] stated that urban planning and Sustainable Development should not be focused solely on means-ends rationality, paying attention in turn to the consensus among stakeholder’s circles and enhancing the “alliance-building” among those groups who can help the minimum “equity and environmental values of a sustainable development”
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