Predictive Diagnosis of Agricultural Periurban Areas Based on Territorial Indicators: Comparative Landscape Trends of the So-Called “Orchard of Europe”

Abstract

The Mediterranean southeastern area of Spain has traditionally been known as the "Orchard of Europe". This configuration, which is based fundamentally on traditional agriculture in periurban areas, has evolved in recent decades as a consequence of the sophistication of the agrifood processes transforming its landscape. In addition, tourism, the growth of cities, and the impact of the real estate bubble between 1995 and 2007 have configured important alterations which have generated heterogeneous phenomena in these periurban areas. The present article studies this process by analyzing the evolution of the territory and diagnosing its transformation at a large scale. The evolution of three very representative periurban and similar in size environments of this so-called Europe's orchard will be compared by using different GIS tools: the El Ejido area, the Campo de Cartagena-Mar Menor area and the Huerta de Murcia area. Through the implementation of different territorial indicators, the current issues will be established from an objective and quantifiable perspective. Moreover, possible future scenarios for 2030 will be raised according to the current transformation trends. This approach will lead us to consider the concept of life cycle in the transformation process of a territory.

Surplus or Deficit? Spatiotemporal Variations of the Supply, Demand, and Budget of Landscape Services and Landscape Multifunctionality in Suburban Shanghai, China

“…Some scientists calculated landscape services via indirect measurements such as net primary productivity (NPP) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) [31,32]. Geographic information system (GIS) analysis through spatiotemporal indicators is also very useful to address land diagnosis and assessment, providing a numerical and objective perspective [33]. Assigning monetary values to landscape services is a hot issue [34][35][36].…”

New Strategies to Improve Co-Management in Enclosed Coastal Seas and Wetlands Subjected to Complex Environments: Socio-Economic Analysis Applied to an International Recovery Success Case Study after an Environmental Crisis

“…This has intensely urbanized a great deal of the coastal perimeter (the coastal perimeter has gone from being 4.5% urbanized in 1956 to the current level of 76.6% while the population grew from 15,000 inhabitants to the 600,000 reached with tourists in the summer), and recreational navigation developed with the construction of 10 marinas and the introduction of numerous motor boats [53]. From the 1980s, the construction of the water transfer network in Spain between the rivers Tajo and Segura contributed to a strong development of intensive agriculture around the lagoon [54]. From the 1990s, the Mar Menor became a natural, highly protected territory being catalogued as Special Protection Area (SPA), Special Area of Conservation (SAC), and Marine Protected Area (MPA) by the European network Natura 2000 and included as an international RAMSAR wetland, in addition to the development of other local and regional environmental protection figures.…”

Assessing Land Fragmentation in Planning Sustainable Urban Renewal

“…Sprawling cities, as the opposite of compact cities, are characterized by the empty spaces that indicate the inefficiencies in development and highlight the consequences of uncontrolled expansion [27], so the term of fragmentation was used as a measure of spatial discontinuity caused by uncontrolled expansion of the urban environment. This type of fragmentation has dealt with: [25,26,[28][29][30][31][32]. Urban sprawl also has marked ecological and environmental impacts, such as the loss and fragmentation of farmland, biodiversity and natural habitat [33][34][35].…”