Assessing urban sprawl-related housing dynamics in the Romanian metropolitan areas

Sprawling post-communist metropolis: Commercial and residential suburbanization in Prague and Brno, the Czech Republic

“…Thus, spatial data (GIS processing of maps at different spatial and temporal scales after the fall of the communist regime when the urban sprawl process, mainly suburbanisation, come into force), statistical data (supplied by the National Institute of Statistics for the 1991-2012 time frame) were used and field surveys were carried out. The spatial data (topographic maps, 1990; EEA Corine Land Cover 2006) were used in order to understand and picture the territorial dynamics of suburbanisation, as well as the connections between the environmental driving forces and the main patterns of change (Grigorescu et al 2012a). In addition, relevant statistical data were processed (e. g. population growth, finished dwellings, built-up areas, dwelling units density) in order to provide comprehensive information on the housing dynamics in the Romanian Metropolitan Areas focusing on the selected case-studies.…”

“…In the political and socio-economical context of the post-communist period, the dynamics of urban population marked the emergence of the urban sprawl phenomenon in Romania (Grigorescu et al 2012a). In the Romanian geographical literature the metropolitan areas are defined as "spaces under the influence of urban centres that have macro-regional functions and whose population exceeds 1 million people" (Erdeli et al 1999) and only one metropolitan area (Bucharest) falls into this category.…”

“…In the Romanian geographical literature the metropolitan areas are defined as "spaces under the influence of urban centres that have macro-regional functions and whose population exceeds 1 million people" (Erdeli et al 1999) and only one metropolitan area (Bucharest) falls into this category. Given that the rest of Romanian towns have less than 400,000 inhabitants each and polarise spaces under 1 million inhabitants, the metropolitan development was supported by some legal instruments according to which a metropolitan area is to be established based on the joint association of the administrative-territorial structures (Grigorescu et al 2012a). Thus, the Intercomunitary Development Associations were established as cooperation structures intended to jointly address the development projects at local and regional level.…”

“…The rest of 21 towns attempted to develop metropolitan areas based on the legislative context which supports metropolitan development by the association of the administrative units under the influence of a city rather than by the size of the polarising city (Table 1, Fig. 1) (Grigorescu and Dumitrescu 2010;Grigorescu et al 2012a). Thus, the population living in metropolitan structures is totalising nearly 7,500,000 (34%) inhabitants, out of which over 2,500,000 (11.5%) in Bucharest Metropolitan Area.…”

Sprawl Dynamics in Rural–Urban Territories Highly Suited for Wine Production. Mapping Urban Growth and Changing Territorial Shapes in North-East Italy

“…In the EU and worldwide, excessive urban sprawl [1] (p. 6), [2][3][4][5][6] has led to an increase in land-take. The process involves in particular the transformation of agricultural and natural areas through the construction of buildings and infrastructures, and for decades has been generally associated with low building density and high fragmentation/dispersion of artificial surfaces.…”