Density matters? Settlement expansion and land degradation in Peri-urban and rural districts of Italy

Abstract Being a relatively less known driver of land vulnerability to degradation in Southern Europe, the net impact of urban expansion on land quality depletion requires a comparative investigation in peri-urban and rural districts. An empirical approach based on the Environmentally Sensitive Area Index (ESAI) was illustrated here with the aim at assessing long-term changes in the level of land vulnerability during a time interval that reflects divergent socioeconomic dynamics in Italy, an affected country according with the United Nation Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The degree of land vulnerability increased in a spatially heterogeneous manner over the last 50 years thanks to the synergic impact of climate aridity and landscape transformations. At the same time, urbanization shaped the spatial distribution of vulnerable land at both regional and local scale. Urban-rural gradients were at the base of renewed spatial disparities in land vulnerability between Northern Italy (classified as a ‘non-vulnerable’ region in the National Action Plan to combat desertification) and Southern Italy (classified as a ‘highly vulnerable’ region). These dynamics reflect the expansion of peri-urban areas towards high-quality, productive soils less vulnerable to degradation. By documenting a complex pattern of soil depletion due to urbanization in Italy, the present study contributes to a wider knowledge of the intrinsic linkage between peri-urbanization, (un)sustainable development, and desertification risk in advanced economies.