Economic Downturns and Land-Use Change: A Spatial Analysis of Urban Transformations in Rome (Italy) Using a Geographically Weighted Principal Component Analysis

Abstract

Globally, processes that drive urbanization have mostly evolved within economic downturns. Economic crises have been more severe and frequent, particularly in the Mediterranean region. However, studies on the recession effects on urbanization are limited. The present study explores possible differences in spatial direction and intensity of land-use change trajectories at two time intervals (2006–2012, 2012–2018) using high-resolution Copernicus Land Urban Atlas images in the Rome metropolitan area. To this aim, a landscape ecology classical approach based on land-use metric analysis combined with a multivariate spatial analysis has been carried out. Results have identified different land-use change patterns during expansion and recession. “Greening”, defined as the conversion of urban marginal areas into croplands and forests, increased during the recession. At the same time, the rate of urban expansion into rural areas decreased, thus indicating a beneficial effect of economic downturns in reducing urban sprawl.

A Dynamic Performance and Differentiation Management Policy for Urban Construction Land Use Change in Gansu, China

“…China is the largest developing country in the world, while Gansu is one of the most typical inland underdeveloped regions in China. Therefore, this paper chooses the added value of non-agricultural industries to represent the total economic output created by urban construction land inputs [90,91] and per capita GDP to represent the support of urban construction land investments for industrialization [92]. Besides, income increase is the core goal of urban construction land input in China, especially in Gansu, so this paper chooses government revenue and resident income to represent the government and the residents' income.…”

Spatio-Temporal Evolution Dynamic, Effect and Governance Policy of Construction Land Use in Urban Agglomeration: Case Study of Yangtze River Delta, China

“…Gross Domestic Product reflects the total economic output, and Government Revenue shows the dependence of government revenue, especially local governments, on land finance. Socio-economics plays a dominant role in the construction land expansion, which in most cases is closely related to the economic scale of the region and shows a strong statistical correlation [109,110]. However, the causal relationship between the expansion of construction land and economic growth is not entirely clear, leading to the expansion of construction land and economic growth in individual regions not to be synchronized, and there is even economic stagnation or negative growth when the expansion of construction land continues.…”