The middle of 2007 saw the beginning of a worldwide financial crisis that led to a sharp reduction in investment based on construction and urban development. This new situation is generating a new process, characterised by a slowdown that has almost reached a standstill when compared with the frenzied development of previous decades. In order to analyse these processes, this study examines urban land use changes and the urban growth rate and spatial dynamics of the metropolitan region of Madrid. The analysis has been carried out on a large scale between two periods (2000–2006 and 2006–2009) using a regional land use geodatabase. The results show the changes in the urban land use dynamics that took place over these two periods that could characterise the cities of Mediterranean Europe, where contrarily to the general pattern in Europe built-up areas are combining scattered built-up areas with new aggregated compact developments. 1. Introduction Intensification of urbanization across all regions of the globe, together with the greater ease of cartographic land use data handling through GIS and remote sensing techniques, have led to a proliferation of these kinds of studies in recent years. Analysis of urban expansion in cities in the developing world has become more and more frequent [1–5]. Likewise research on the rapid growth of Asian cities is becoming increasingly abundant (see [6, 7] or [8]). In Europe, the studies which deal with urban sprawl approaches are prevalent. In many cases, especially in Mediterranean regions, this kind of approach is habitually faced from a dualistic perspective, that is, transition from compact to more dispersed growth models, associated with phases of sprawl (see, e.g., [9–17]). Nevertheless, urban expansion is characterized by a high degree of complexity [18]. It does not occur in all regions at the same degree, at the same pace, or in the same way. Rather, it must be approached and understood taking into account specific geographical and historical contexts in which particular urban forms shape cities [19]. For this reason some authors note that difficulties that may arise when attempting to study urban growth based on concepts and, above all, indicators, from North American paradigms. Jiang et al. [8] observe that sprawl indices applicable elsewhere may not be directly applied to the Chinese context. In Mediterranean cities, Catalán et al. [19] have warned that urban trends do not necessarily follow the North-American model and outcomes may differ with respect to the situation found on the other side of the Atlantic.
References
[1]
E. López, G. Bocco, M. Mendoza, and E. Duhau, “Predicting land-cover and land-use change in the urban fringe. A case in Morelia city, Mexico,” Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 55, no. 4, pp. 271–285, 2001.
[2]
K. Sutton and W. Fahmi, “Cairo's urban growth and strategic master plan in the light of Egypt's 1996 population census results,” Cities, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 135–149, 2001.
[3]
H. Alphan, “Land-use change and urbanization of Adana, Turkey,” Land Degradation & Development, vol. 14, no. 6, pp. 575–586, 2003.
[4]
J. I. Barredo, L. Demicheli, C. Lavalle, M. Kasanko, and N. McCormick, “Modelling future Urban scenarios in developing countries: an application case study in Lagos, Nigeria,” Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 65–84, 2004.
[5]
A. G. Aguilar, “Peri-urbanization, illegal settlements and environmental impact in Mexico City,” Cities, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 133–145, 2008.
[6]
G. C. S. Lin, “The growth and structural change of Chinese cities: a contextual and geographic analysis,” Cities, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 299–316, 2002.
[7]
D. F. Frederic and Y. Huang, “Uneven land reform and urban sprawl in China: the case of Beijing,” Progress in Planning, vol. 61, no. 3, pp. 211–236, 2004.
[8]
F. Jiang, S. Liu, H. Yuan, and Q. Zhang, “Measuring urban sprawl in Beijing with geo-spatial indices,” Journal of Geographical Sciences, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 469–478, 2007.
[9]
F. Dieleman and M. Wegener, “Compact city and urban sprawl,” Built Environment, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 308–323, 2004.
[10]
EEA, “Urban Sprawl in Europe. The ignore challenge,” Report 10/2006, Joint Research Centre, European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2006.
[11]
M. Kasanko, J. I. Barredo, C. Lavalle et al., “Are European cities becoming dispersed? A comparative analysis of 15 European urban areas,” Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 77, no. 1-2, pp. 111–130, 2006.
[12]
J. Solon, “Spatial context of urbanization: Landscape pattern and changes between 1950 and 1990 in the Warsaw metropolitan area, Poland,” Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 93, no. 3-4, pp. 250–261, 2009.
[13]
L. Salvati and A. Sabbi, “Exploring long-term land cover changes in an urban region of southern Europe,” International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 273–282, 2011.
[14]
L. Poelmans and A. van Rompaey, “Detecting and modelling spatial patterns of urban sprawl in highly fragmented areas: a case study in the Flanders-Brussels region,” Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 93, no. 1, pp. 10–19, 2009.
[15]
L. Salvati, M. Munafo, V. G. Morelli, and A. Sabbi, “Low-density settlements and land use changes in a Mediterranean urban region,” Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 105, no. 1-2, pp. 43–52, 2012.
[16]
L. Salvati, A. Sateriano, and S. Bajocco, “To grow or to sprawl? Land cover relationships in a Mediterranean City region and implications for land use management,” Cities, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 113–121, 2013.
[17]
F. Moliní and M. Salgado, “Sprawl in Spain and Madrid: a low starting point growing fast,” European Planning Studies, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 1075–1092, 2012.
[18]
H. Couclelis, “Of mice and men: what rodent populations can teach us about complex spatial dynamics,” Environment and Planning A, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 99–109, 1988.
[19]
B. Catalán, D. Saurí, and P. Serra, “Urban sprawl in the Mediterranean?. Patterns of growth and change in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region 1993–2000,” Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 85, no. 3-4, pp. 174–184, 2008.
[20]
R. Florida, The Great Reset, HaperCollins, New York, NY, USA, 2011.
[21]
I. Chorianopoulos, T. Pagonis, S. Koukoulas, and S. Drymoniti, “Planning, competitiveness and sprawl in the Mediterranean city: the case of Athens,” Cities, vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 249–259, 2010.
[22]
R. Fernández, El Tsunami Urbanizador Espa？ol y Mundial, Virus Editorial, Barcelona, Spain, 2006.
[23]
Observatorio Metropolitano de Madrid, Paisajes Devastados Después del Ciclo Inmobiliario: Impactos Regionales y Urbanos de la Crisis, Traficantes de Sue？os, 2013.
[24]
F. Aguilera, L. M. Valenzuela, and A. Botequilha-Leit？o, “Landscape metrics in the analysis of urban land use patterns: a case study in a Spanish metropolitan area,” Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 99, no. 3-4, pp. 226–238, 2011.
[25]
R. Hewitt and F. Escobar, “The territorial dynamics of fast-growing regions: unsustainable land use change and future policy challenges in Madrid, Spain,” Applied Geography, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 650–667, 2011.
[26]
W. Plata-Rocha, M. Gómez-Delgado, and J. Bosque-Sendra, “Cambios de usos del suelo y expansión urbana en la Comunidad de Madrid (1990–2000) (Land use change and urban expansion in the Comunidad de Madrid, Spain (1990–2000)),” Scripta Nova, vol. 13, no. 293, 2009.
[27]
W. Plata-Rocha, M. G？mez-Delgado, and J. Bosque-Sendra, “Simulating urban growth scenarios using GIS and multicriteria analysis techniques: a case study of the Madrid region, Spain,” Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, vol. 38, no. 6, pp. 1012–1031, 2011.
[28]
X. J. Yu and C. N. Ng, “Spatial and temporal dynamics of urban sprawl along two urban-rural transects: a case study of Guangzhou, China,” Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 79, no. 1, pp. 96–109, 2007.
[29]
R. Ewing, “Is Los Angeles-style sprawl desirable?” Journal of the American Planning Association, vol. 63, no. 1, pp. 107–126, 1997.
[30]
G. Galster, R. Hanson, M. R. Ratcliffe, H. Wolman, S. Coleman, and J. Freihage, “Wrestling sprawl to the ground: defining and measuring an elusive concept,” Housing Policy Debate, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 681–717, 2001.
[31]
G. R. Hess, S. S. Daley, and B. K. Derrison, “Just what is sprawl, anyway?” Carolina Planning, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 11–26, 2001.
[32]
B. L. Turner II, W. C. Clark, R. W. Kates, J. F. Richards, J. T. Mathews, and W. B. Meyer, “The earth as transformed by human action,” in Global and Regional Changes in the Biosphere over the Past 300 Years, B. L. Turner II, Ed., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1990.
[33]
W. P. Anderson, P. S. Kanaroglou, and E. J. Miller, “Urban form, energy and the environment: a review of issues, evidence and policy,” Urban Studies, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 7–35, 1996.
[34]
J. E. Frank, The Cost of Alternative Development Patterns: A Review of the Literature, Urban Land Institute, Washington, DC, USA, 1989.
[35]
European Comission, ESDP: European Spatial Development Perspective, European Union, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, 1999.
[36]
A. Downs, “Some realities about sprawl and urban decline,” Housing Policy Debate, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 955–974, 1999.
[37]
R. Ewing, R. Pendall, and D. Chen, Measuring Sprawl and Its Impact, Smart Growth America, Washington, DC, USA, 2002.
[38]
O. Gillhan, The Limitless City: A Primer on the Urban Sprawl Debate, Island Press, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, 2002.
[39]
J. E. Hasse and R. G. Lathrop, “Land resource impact indicators of urban sprawl,” Applied Geography, vol. 23, no. 2-3, pp. 159–175, 2003.
[40]
R. Lopez and H. P. Hynes, “Sprawl in the 1990s: measurement, distribution, and trends,” Urban Affairs Review, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 325–355, 2003.
[41]
R. Bruegmann, Sprawl: A Compact History, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill, USA, 2005.
[42]
EEA, The European Environment—State and Outlook 2010: Synthesis, European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2010.
[43]
J. Gottmann, Megalopolis: The Urbanized Northeastern Seaboard of the United States, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, USA, 1964.
[44]
J. C. García-Palomares, “Urban sprawl and travel to work: the case of the metropolitan area of Madrid,” Journal of Transport Geography, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 197–213, 2010.
[45]
A. Frenkel and M. Ashkenazi, “Measuring urban sprawl: how can we deal with it?” Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 56–79, 2008.
[46]
F. Munoz, “Lock living: urban sprawl in Mediterranean cities,” Cities, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 381–385, 2003.
[47]
UN-Habitat, State of the World's Cities 2012/2013: Prosperity of Cities, Routledge, New York, NY, USA, 2013.
[48]
Ministerio of Works, Atlas Estadístico de las áreas Urbanas de Espa？a, 2006, Secretaria General Técnica, Centro de Publicaciones del Ministerio de Vivienda, 2007.
[49]
R. López de Lucio, “La región urbana de Madrid: territorio y transformación en la estructura espacial,” in AAVV. La Explosión de la ciudad. Transformaciones Territoriales en las Regiones Urbanas de la Europa Meridional, Ministerio de la Vivienda, Madrid, Spain, 2007.
[50]
J. Díaz-Pacheco and R. Hewitt, “El territorio como bien de consumo: las grandes superficies comerciales en el contexto metropolitano y su implicación para el desarrollo urbano sostenible,” in Ciudad, Territorio y Paisaje, pp. 234–249, 2010.
[51]
P. Guerrieri, The Rise of Unemployment in the Eurozone: The Worst of the Crisis is Not Over, vol. 51, The G-20 and Central Banks in the New World of Unconventional Monetary Policy, 2013.
[52]
N. X. Thinh, G. Arlt, B. Heber, J. Hennersdorf, and I. Lehmann, “Evaluation of urban land-use structures with a view to sustainable development,” Environmental Impact Assessment Review, vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 475–492, 2002.
[53]
M. Guérois and D. Pumain, “Built-up encroachment and the urban field: a comparison of forty European cities,” Environment and Planning A, vol. 40, no. 9, pp. 2186–2203, 2008.
[54]
R. Fuller and K. Gaston, “The scaling of green space coverage in European cities,” Biology Letters, vol. 5, pp. 352–355, 2009.
[55]
R. Catalá, J. Bosque, and W. Plata, “Análisis de posibles errores en la base de datos CORINE land cover (1990–2000) en la comunidad de Madrid. (Error analysis in the geodatabase CORINE land cover (1990–2000) in Madrid Community),” Estudios Geográficos, vol. 69, no. 264, pp. 81–104, 2008.
[56]
J. Feranec, G. Hazeu, S. Christensen, and G. Jaffrain, “Corine land cover change detection in Europe (case studies of the Netherlands and Slovakia),” Land Use Policy, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 234–247, 2007.
[57]
J. Díaz-Pacheco and J. C. García-Palomares, “A highly detailed land-use vector map for Madrid region based on photo-interpretation,” Journal of Maps, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 424–433, 2014.
[58]
J. Díaz-Pacheco and J. Gutiérrez, “Exploring the limitations of CORINE Land Cover for monitoring urban land-use dynamics in metropolitan areas,” Journal of Land Use Science, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 243–259, 2013.
[59]
A. Botequilha Leit？o and J. Ahern, “Applying landscape ecological concepts and metrics in sustainable landscape planning,” Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 59, no. 2, pp. 65–93, 2002.
[60]
A. Botequilha-Leit？o, J. Miller, J. Ahern, and K. Mcgarigal, Measuring Landscapes. A Planner’s Handbook, Island Press, Washington, DC, USA, 2006.
[61]
R. L. de Lucio, “Morfología y características de las nuevas periferias. Nueve paisajes residenciales en la región urbana de Madrid (Urban morphology and characteristics of the new peripheries. Nine residential landscapes in the urban region of Madrid),” Urban, vol. 9, pp. 56–80, 2004.
[62]
J. Gutiérrez and J. C. García-Palomares, “New spatial patterns of mobility within the metropolitan area of Madrid: towards more complex and dispersed flow networks,” Journal of Transport Geography, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 18–30, 2007.
[63]
F. Terzi and F. Bolen, “Urban sprawl measurement of Istanbul,” European Planning Studies, vol. 17, no. 10, pp. 1559–1570, 2009.
[64]
K. C. Seto and M. Fragkias, “Quantifying spatiotemporal patterns of urban land-use change in four cities of China with time series landscape metrics,” Landscape Ecology, vol. 20, no. 7, pp. 871–888, 2005.
[65]
J. N. DiBari, “Evaluation of five landscape-level metrics for measuring the effects of urbanization on landscape structure: the case of Tucson, Arizona, USA,” Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 79, no. 3-4, pp. 308–313, 2007.
[66]
M. T. Gallo, R. Garrido, and M. Vivar, “Cambios territoriales en la Comunidad de Madrid: policentrismo y dispersión,” EURE, vol. 36, no. 107, pp. 49–65, 2010.
[67]
R. Hewitt and V. Hernandez-Jimenez, “Devolved regions, fragmented landscapes: the struggle for sustainability in Madrid,” Sustainability, vol. 2, no. 5, pp. 1252–1281, 2010.
[68]
A. Leboreiro, “De la teoría a la práctica en la planificación territorial,” Urban, vol. 3, pp. 68–80, 1999.
