The urban transformation of Italy's Adriatic coastal strip: Fifty years of unsustainability

The study regards the processing of data on urban land conversion along the Italian Adriatic coast in the last 50 years. The results obtained show different aspects of the phenomenon: values were obtained for the average annual speed of transformation of the coastal strip; clustering, dispersion and statistical concentration of the data obtained were studied, which has made it possible to show unparalleled threshold values in the present levels of urbanization; geostatistical surveys were conducted to determine the distribution changes of urban concentration over time; analyses were developed to point out what landscape and morphological elements have emerged, and are tendentially confirming greater sensitivity to land artificialization; a number of comparisons based on specific indicators were produced that show the typological and geographic variations of development taking place in the time period studied; important information has emerged on the different territorial policies implemented by the regions over the long-term. This research has made it possible to investigate one of the largest and most intense land transformation phenomena in Italy which has led to the construction of an urban organism extending along more than 1470 km of coast with very few breaks which, together with railroad and motorway infrastructural elements, forms the longest urban stretch in southern Europe and one of the most extensive in the entire continent. A further result of the work carried out concerned the extraction of data on the remaining coastal stretches, i.e. those not yet affected by urban transformation and thus of extreme importance for policies focused on the preservation of community habitats and the preservation of coastal landscape. In conclusion, it has been possible to draw a map of management responsibilities at the municipal and regional levels for the revision of future urban planning trends in terms of sustainable governance. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.