Cargando…
Complexity in action: Untangling latent relationships between land quality, economic structures and socio-spatial patterns in Italy
Land quality, a key economic capital supporting local development, is affected by biophysical and anthropogenic factors. Taken as a relevant attribute of economic systems, land quality has shaped the territorial organization of any given region influencing localization of agriculture, industry and s...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2017
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5456058/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28574984 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177853 |
_version_ | 1783241162909286400 |
---|---|
author | Salvati, Luca Tombolini, Ilaria Gemmiti, Roberta Carlucci, Margherita Bajocco, Sofia Perini, Luigi Ferrara, Agostino Colantoni, Andrea |
author_facet | Salvati, Luca Tombolini, Ilaria Gemmiti, Roberta Carlucci, Margherita Bajocco, Sofia Perini, Luigi Ferrara, Agostino Colantoni, Andrea |
author_sort | Salvati, Luca |
collection | PubMed |
description | Land quality, a key economic capital supporting local development, is affected by biophysical and anthropogenic factors. Taken as a relevant attribute of economic systems, land quality has shaped the territorial organization of any given region influencing localization of agriculture, industry and settlements. In regions with long-established human-landscape interactions, such as the Mediterranean basin, land quality has determined social disparities and polarization in the use of land, reflecting the action of geographical gradients based on elevation and population density. The present study investigates latent relationships within a large set of indicators profiling local communities and land quality on a fine-grained resolution scale in Italy with the aim to assess the potential impact of land quality on the regional socioeconomic structure. The importance of land quality gradients in the socioeconomic configuration of urban and rural regions was verified analyzing the distribution of 149 socioeconomic and environmental indicators organized in 5 themes and 17 research dimensions. Agriculture, income, education and labour market variables discriminate areas with high land quality from areas with low land quality. While differential land quality in peri-urban areas may reflect conflicts between competing actors, moderate (or low) quality of land in rural districts is associated with depopulation, land abandonment, subsidence agriculture, unemployment and low educational levels. We conclude that the socioeconomic profile of local communities has been influenced by land quality in a different way along urban-rural gradients. Policies integrating environmental and socioeconomic measures are required to consider land quality as a pivotal target for sustainable development. Regional planning will benefit from an in-depth understanding of place-specific relationships between local communities and the environment. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5456058 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2017 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-54560582017-06-12 Complexity in action: Untangling latent relationships between land quality, economic structures and socio-spatial patterns in Italy Salvati, Luca Tombolini, Ilaria Gemmiti, Roberta Carlucci, Margherita Bajocco, Sofia Perini, Luigi Ferrara, Agostino Colantoni, Andrea PLoS One Research Article Land quality, a key economic capital supporting local development, is affected by biophysical and anthropogenic factors. Taken as a relevant attribute of economic systems, land quality has shaped the territorial organization of any given region influencing localization of agriculture, industry and settlements. In regions with long-established human-landscape interactions, such as the Mediterranean basin, land quality has determined social disparities and polarization in the use of land, reflecting the action of geographical gradients based on elevation and population density. The present study investigates latent relationships within a large set of indicators profiling local communities and land quality on a fine-grained resolution scale in Italy with the aim to assess the potential impact of land quality on the regional socioeconomic structure. The importance of land quality gradients in the socioeconomic configuration of urban and rural regions was verified analyzing the distribution of 149 socioeconomic and environmental indicators organized in 5 themes and 17 research dimensions. Agriculture, income, education and labour market variables discriminate areas with high land quality from areas with low land quality. While differential land quality in peri-urban areas may reflect conflicts between competing actors, moderate (or low) quality of land in rural districts is associated with depopulation, land abandonment, subsidence agriculture, unemployment and low educational levels. We conclude that the socioeconomic profile of local communities has been influenced by land quality in a different way along urban-rural gradients. Policies integrating environmental and socioeconomic measures are required to consider land quality as a pivotal target for sustainable development. Regional planning will benefit from an in-depth understanding of place-specific relationships between local communities and the environment. Public Library of Science 2017-06-02 /pmc/articles/PMC5456058/ /pubmed/28574984 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177853 Text en © 2017 Salvati et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Salvati, Luca Tombolini, Ilaria Gemmiti, Roberta Carlucci, Margherita Bajocco, Sofia Perini, Luigi Ferrara, Agostino Colantoni, Andrea Complexity in action: Untangling latent relationships between land quality, economic structures and socio-spatial patterns in Italy |
title | Complexity in action: Untangling latent relationships between land quality, economic structures and socio-spatial patterns in Italy |
title_full | Complexity in action: Untangling latent relationships between land quality, economic structures and socio-spatial patterns in Italy |
title_fullStr | Complexity in action: Untangling latent relationships between land quality, economic structures and socio-spatial patterns in Italy |
title_full_unstemmed | Complexity in action: Untangling latent relationships between land quality, economic structures and socio-spatial patterns in Italy |
title_short | Complexity in action: Untangling latent relationships between land quality, economic structures and socio-spatial patterns in Italy |
title_sort | complexity in action: untangling latent relationships between land quality, economic structures and socio-spatial patterns in italy |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5456058/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28574984 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177853 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT salvatiluca complexityinactionuntanglinglatentrelationshipsbetweenlandqualityeconomicstructuresandsociospatialpatternsinitaly AT tomboliniilaria complexityinactionuntanglinglatentrelationshipsbetweenlandqualityeconomicstructuresandsociospatialpatternsinitaly AT gemmitiroberta complexityinactionuntanglinglatentrelationshipsbetweenlandqualityeconomicstructuresandsociospatialpatternsinitaly AT carluccimargherita complexityinactionuntanglinglatentrelationshipsbetweenlandqualityeconomicstructuresandsociospatialpatternsinitaly AT bajoccosofia complexityinactionuntanglinglatentrelationshipsbetweenlandqualityeconomicstructuresandsociospatialpatternsinitaly AT periniluigi complexityinactionuntanglinglatentrelationshipsbetweenlandqualityeconomicstructuresandsociospatialpatternsinitaly AT ferraraagostino complexityinactionuntanglinglatentrelationshipsbetweenlandqualityeconomicstructuresandsociospatialpatternsinitaly AT colantoniandrea complexityinactionuntanglinglatentrelationshipsbetweenlandqualityeconomicstructuresandsociospatialpatternsinitaly |