Abstract
Economic crises have influenced urban growth altering building cycles and re-shaping house and labour markets as a consequence of increased socioeconomic disparities. In southern Europe, one of the most affected regions by the 2007–2008 global crisis, evidence on the recession’s impact on urban growth characteristics and directions are still occasional and restricted to local contexts. This study contributes to this issue by identifying similarities and differences in short-term urban expansion before and during recession. Population growth over 2000–2007 and 2008–2014 was assessed in 235 urban districts and municipalities of Rome metropolitan region, Italy. Local-scale changes in the distribution of resident population are considered a reliable indicator of recent growth trends at the city scale and were compared with evidence from previous studies exploring trends in settlement and land-use indicators. Local-scale population distribution showed relevant differences in the time intervals investigated. While early-1990s depopulation of some central districts continued over 2000–2007, demographic re-polarization was observed especially over 2008–2014 in an increasing number of inner districts. At the same time, suburban growth occurred in different spatial directions and speed over the two periods. Our results identify a more rapid growth rate and a higher spreading of population over space during 2000–2007 compared to 2008–2014, identifying a trend towards population densification and settlement re-compacting in the last years. Our results corroborate previous evidence from other southern European urban agglomerations bringing insights on the debate over the future development of sprawling cities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen, J., Barlow, J., Leal, J., Maloutas, T., Padovani, L.: Housing in Southern Europe. Blackwell, London (2004)
Angel, S., Parent, J., Civco, D.L., Blei, A., Potere, D.: The dimensions of global urban expansion: estimates and projections for all countries, 2000–2050. Prog. Plan. 75, 53–107 (2011)
Arapoglou, V.P., Sayas, J.: New facets of urban segregation in southern Europe—gender, migration and social class change in Athens. Eur. Urban Reg. Stud. 16(4), 345–362 (2009)
Cakir, G., Un, C., Baskent, E.Z., Kose, S., Sivrikaya, F., Keles, S.: Evaluating urbanization, fragmentation and land use/cover change pattern in Istanbul city, Turkey from 1971 to 2002. Land Degrad. Dev. 19, 663–675 (2008)
Catalàn, B., Sauri, D., Serra, P.: Urban sprawl in the Mediterranean? Patterns of growth and change in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region 1993–2000. Landsc. Urban Plan. 85, 174–184 (2008)
Chorianopoulos, I., Pagonis, T., Koukoulas, S., Drymoniti, S.: Planning, competitiveness and sprawl in the Mediterranean city: the case of Athens. Cities 27, 249–259 (2010)
Chorianopoulos, I., Tsilimigkas, G., Koukoulas, S., Balatsos, T.: The shift to competitiveness and a new phase of sprawl in the Mediterranean city: enterprises guiding growth in Messoghia—Athens. Cities 39, 133–143 (2014)
Cohen, B.: Urbanization in developing countries: current trends, future projections, and key challenges for sustainability. Technol. Soc. 28, 63–80 (2006)
van Criekingen, M.: Gentrifying the re-urbanisation debate, not vice versa: the uneven socio-spatial implications of changing transitions to adulthood in Brussels. Popul. Space Place 16(5), 381–394 (2010)
De Muro, P., Monni, S., Tridico, P.: Knowledge-based economy and social exclusion: shadow and light in the Roman socio-economic model. Int. J. Urban Reg. Res. 35(6), 1212–1238 (2011)
Díaz-Pacheco, J., García-Palomares, J.C.: Urban sprawl in the mediterranean Urban Regions in Europe and the crisis effect on the Urban Land Development: Madrid as study case. Urban studies research, Article ID 807381, (2014). doi:10.1155/2014/807381
Dura-Guimera, A.: Population deconcentration and social restructuring in Barcelona, a European Mediterranean city. Cities 20, 387–394 (2003)
De Dominicis, L., Arbia, G., De Groot, H.L.F.: Concentration of manufacturing and service sector activities in Italy: accounting for spatial dependence and firm size distribution. Reg. Stud. 47(3), 405–418 (2013)
European Environment Agency 2011. Mapping guide for a European urban atlas. EEA, Copenhagen, Version 1.1. http://land.copernicus.eu. Accessed Sept 2015
Florida, R.: The Great Reset. Harper Collins, New York (2011)
Frenkel, A.: The potential effect of national growth-management policy on urban sprawl and the depletion of open spaces and farmland. Land Use Policy 21, 357–369 (2004)
Frenkel, A., Kaplan, S.: The joint choice of tenure, dwelling type, size and location: the effect of home-oriented versus culture-oriented lifestyle. Lett. Spat. Resour. Sci. (2014). doi:10.1007/s12076-014-0131-1
Garcia, M.: The breakdown of the Spanish urban growth model: Social and territorial effects of the global crisis. Int. J. Urban Reg. Res. 34(4), 967–980 (2010)
Goldblum, C., Wong, T.C.: Growth, crisis and spatial change: a study of haphazard urbanisation in Jakarta, Indonesia. Land Use Policy 17(1), 29–37 (2000)
Haase, A., Kabisch, S., Steinführer, A., Bouzarovski, S., Hall, R., Ogden, P.: Spaces of reurbanisation: exploring the demographic dimension of inner-city residential change in a European setting. Popul. Space Place 16(5), 443–463 (2010)
Leontidou, L.: Alternatives to modernism in (Southern) urban theory: exploring in-between spaces. Int. J. Urban Reg. Res. 20, 180–197 (1996)
Leontidou, L., Marmaras, E.: From tourists to migrants: residential tourism and ‘littoralisation’. In: Apostolopoulos, Y., Loukissas, P., Leontidou, L. (eds.) Mediterranean Tourism. Facets of Socioeconomic Development and Cultural Change. Routledge, New York (2001)
Pacione, M.: Urban Geography: A Global Perspective. Routledge, London (2005)
Patacchini, E.: Local analysis of economic disparities in Italy: a spatial statistics approach. Stat. Methods Appl. 17, 85–112 (2008)
Pérez, J.M.G.: The real estate and economic crisis: an opportunity for urban return and rehabilitation policies in Spain. Sustainability 2(6), 1571–1601 (2010)
Ren, X.: City power and urban fiscal crises: the USA, China, and India. Int. J. Urban Sci. 19(1), 73–81 (2015)
Salvati, L.: Long-term dynamics of self-contained urban growth in compact and dispersed regions of southern Europe. Land Use Policy 35, 213–225 (2013)
Salvati, L.: Towards a polycentric region? The socioeconomic trajectory of Rome, an ‘ethernal’ Mediterranean City. Tijdschr. Econ. Soc. Geogr. 105(3), 268–284 (2014)
Salvati, L., De Rosa, S.: ‘Hidden polycentrism’ or ‘Subtle dispersion’? Urban growth and long-term sub-centre dynamics in three Mediterranean cities. Land Use Policy 39, 233–243 (2014)
Salvati, L., Munafò, M., Gargiulo, V., Sabbi, A.: Low-density settlements and land use changes in a Mediterranean urban region. Landsc. Urban Plan. 105(1–2), 43–52 (2012)
Salvati, L., Sabbi, A.: Exploring long-term land cover changes in an urban region of southern Europe. Int. J. Sustain. Dev. World Ecol. 18(4), 273–282 (2011)
Schneider, F., Kallis, G., Martinez-Alier, J.: Crisis or opportunity? Economic degrowth for social equity and ecological sustainability. Introduction to this special issue. J. Clean. Prod. 18(6), 511–518 (2010)
Winarso, H., Firman, T.: Residential land development in Jabotabek, Indonesia: triggering economic crisis? Habitat Int. 26(4), 487–506 (2002)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Salvati, L., Sateriano, A. & Grigoriadis, E. Crisis and the city: profiling urban growth under economic expansion and stagnation. Lett Spat Resour Sci 9, 329–342 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12076-015-0160-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12076-015-0160-4