Urban Versus Rural

Abstract

Until a few decades ago it was very easy to distinguish between city and country: in most cases the edge was defined by defensive barriers. In recent times, the relationships between urban and rural areas completely changed, placing the country in a subordinate position. Consequently, many terms have been coined in order to describe the new phenomena taking place between city and country. The term adopted, “periurban area”, despite its large use, does not have a clear and unambiguous definition. Such various approaches are due to the complexity of the phenomenon to be analyzed and to the huge variety of territorial contexts in which it may reveal. The phenomenon is characterized by urban growth with soil consumption generating loss of competitiveness for agricultural activities. This paper defines more precise rules in order to describe the periurban phenomenon, using techniques of spatial statistic and point pattern analysis. This approach has been tested in the case of study of Potenza municipality. Interest in this area comes after the earthquake of 1980, when a large migration of inhabitants began towards the countryside around Potenza.

Quantitative Study on the Evolution Trend and Driving Factors of Typical Rural Spatial Morphology in Southern Jiangsu Province, China

“…The study in [31] gave a methodological framework of taking data for the popular analysis through computer tools. Murgante and Danese took the Potenza municipality in Italy as a case study to investigate spatial morphology within more than twenty-year dataset and apply some spatial statistic techniques to define suitability with indices, such as, density, distance from infrastructures, spatial autocorrelations, intensity of events and contiguity belt [32]. Shi et al [33] conducted a comparative analysis of the landscape patterns of rural settlements within eight villages in Yixing City and explored the mechanism of driving factors considering landscape ecology and GIS space analysis.…”

Analyzing Neighbourhoods Suitable for Urban Renewal Programs with Autocorrelation Techniques

“…These techniques have been adopted in many fields, from epidemics localization (Gatrell et al, 1996), to analysis of damage scenarios (Danese et al, 2008;Danese et al, 2009), to studies on spreading of city services (Borruso and Schoier, 2004;Borruso, 2003;Borruso and Porceddu, 2009;Porta et al 2009;Produit et al 2010), to assessment of Fire severity (Lanorte et al, 2011), to physical planning processes (Murgante et al, 2007;Murgante and Danese, 2011).…”

Spatio-temporal analysis of the urban–rural gradient structure: an application in a Mediterranean mountainous landscape (Serra San Bruno, Italy)

“…Just to mention a few data, between 1990 and 2000, the amount of land consumed by urban areas and associated infrastructure throughout Europe was about 800 km 2 yr −1 (EEA, 2006b). In Italy, in particular, an increase in urban pressure on the countryside can still be observed, owing to land renting and displacement of certain typical urban functions outside the cities (Murgante and Danese, 2011). This trend is a reversal of the demographic and territorial dynamics occurred during the period immediately following the Second World War and has resulted in the progressive urbanisation of rural areas; in a general increase in the number of inhabitants in the peri-urban belts; and in a decrease in resident population in towns (Alberti et al, 1994).…”