Latitudinal Gradient in Urban Pressure and Socio-Environmental Quality: The “Peninsula Effect” in Italy

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to synthesize, for an international audience, certain fundamental elements that characterize the Italian peninsular territory, through the use of a biogeographical model known as the “peninsula effect” (PE). Just as biodiversity in peninsulas tends to change, diverging from the continental margin, so do some socio-economic and behavioral characteristics, for which it is possible to detect a progressive and indisputable variation depending on the distance from the continental mass. Through the use of 14 indicators, a survey was conducted on the peninsular sensitivity (which in Italy is also latitudinal) of as many phenomena. It obtained confirmation results for some of them, well known as problematic for the country, but contradictory results for others, such as those related to urban development. In the final part, the work raises a series of questions, also showing how peninsular Italy, and in particular Central–Southern Italy, is not penalized so dramatically by its geography and morphology as many political and scientific opinions suggest. The result is a very ambiguous image of Italy, in which the country appears undoubtedly uniform in some aspects, while the PE is very evident in others; it is probably still necessary to investigate, without relying on simplistic and misleading equations, the profound reasons for some phenomena that could be at the basis of less ephemeral rebalancing policies than those practiced in the past.

Why Italy First? Health, Geographical and Planning Aspects of the COVID-19 Outbreak

“…In this context, which is certainly not simple for human, environmental, and anthropic geography, the ecological approach has allowed us to obtain the first results and the first policy proposals supported by the LISA analysis (Figure 25). The results produced are in line with the most recent scientific literature of the Po Valley and COVID-19 [140][141][142] and its guidelines: thinking globally and acting locally.…”

“…Consequently, the main aim of this approach to planning is to enforce such rules. In several cases, The results produced are in line with the most recent scientific literature of the Po Valley and COVID-19 [140][141][142] and its guidelines: thinking globally and acting locally.…”

Micromunicipality (MM) and Inner Areas in Italy: A Challenge for National Land Policy

“…The classification shown in Figure 1, derived from the standard deviation, has made possible to determine five size classes with fairly well-defined clusters (Table 1 and Figure 3) The geographic distribution per region of the size categories is rather clear-cut and the cluster is evident in Figure 3, although it is rather difficult to geo-historically interpret the grouping of regions into the average size ranges of their municipalities. Indeed, there is no latitudinal gradient (Figure 2), which usually characterizes many Italian phenomena of all types [49], nor a morphological one, considering that the regions with a prevalence of small and very small municipalities are both in the mountainous and flat north and in the flat and hilly south. Moreover, although some literature is available [50,51], it is not possible to trace how perimeters have evolved over 10 centuries, even though we know that the determinants are geomorphological, proprietary, land tenure, production-related and, in some cases, even the product of military conquests.…”

Latitudinal gradients of reproductive traits in Japanese woody plants

“…When analyzing interspecific latitudinal trends in trait expression based on floral species lists, changes in species composition that are not directly related to climate have to be considered. These refer mainly to human induced changes in landscape characteristics and habitat conditions such as increased agricultural land use (Foley et al, 2005), habitat fragmentation (Betts et al, 2019), urban pressure (Romano et al, 2020), and invasive plant diversity (Qian, 2008). Therefore, the large‐scale variability in reproductive trait expression might already trace these recently established anthropogenic gradients.…”