Abstract
Metropolitan growth in Europe has resulted in drastic changes of urban forms, socio-spatial structures and land-use patterns due to sequential processes of urbanization, suburbanization and re-urbanization. To assess latent shifts from mono-centric models towards more disarticulated and decentralized settlement configurations, the present study evaluates spatio-temporal patterns of growth between the 1920s and the 2010s in three Mediterranean cities with different structure and functions (Barcelona: compact and moderately polycentric; Rome: dispersed, medium-density; Athens: mono-centric, hyper-compact). To identify and characterize long-term urban transformations, an original approach was illustrated in this study, based on a multivariate analysis of 13 indicators resulting from descriptive statistics and linear regression modeling the relationship between population density and distance from inner cities. The empirical results of this study indicate that Barcelona, Rome and Athens have experienced different urbanization cycles, characterized by a (more or less) concentrated distribution of population along urban gradients. Despite similarities in demographic dynamics and planning practices, these processes have determined (i) a mostly centralized growth in Barcelona, (ii) a relatively dispersed and discontinuous spatial structure in Rome, and (iii) a steep decline of population density with the distance from downtown Athens. Compact urban expansion, population decline and urban de-concentration were finally assessed using the analytical approach proposed in this study.
Highlights
Metropolitan regions worldwide have undergone a progressive transition from urban densification to spatial configurations characterized by settlement scattering around inner cities [1,2,3]
Couch et al [7] proposed a simplified methodology assessing urbanization patterns and processes, under the assumption that centralized urban growth occurs when the population living in urban conurbations increases, while a more diffused urban expansion occurs when the percentage of the population living in inner cities declines relative to the total population resident in the conurbation [63]
Changes over time in population density along relevant geographical gradients remain a common indicator of urban growth and metropolitan scattering, and was only occasionally integrated with quantitative information assessing settlement distribution, urban form and business concentration [29,70,71]
Summary
Metropolitan regions worldwide have undergone a progressive transition from urban densification to spatial configurations characterized by settlement scattering around inner cities [1,2,3]. Exurban development is defined a discontinuous, low-density expansion into fringe land, emphasizing dependency on private mobility, soil consumption, and depolarized economic structures. This development path was common in the United States, and was observed more recently in the European continent [10,11,12], where sparse residential, commercial and service settlements characterize peri-urban landscapes [13]. Metropolitan areas in Europe have undergone changes in both structure and functions reflecting sequential cycles of compact and dispersed urbanization [14,15,16]
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