The multidimensional assessment of land take and soil sealing

Abstract

In 2006 European Commission stated that soil, fairly recognisable as an ecosystem structure, can be considered essentially as a non-renewable resource, thus triggering both studies for the assessment of land take phenomenon and actions for its mitigation and reduction. In last two decades, a deeper and ecosystem approach to land-use policies targeted to the sustainable development enabled a closer understanding of the complexity of urban dynamics leading to the necessity of multidimensional and integrated approaches for the assessment of the use of resources. The paper presents a multi-dimensional approach to evaluate the phenomenon of land take and soil sealing implemented on a sample of municipalities in Apulia Region, in Southern Italy. The construction of a composite indicator for comparative qualitative and quantitative measurement of land take and soil sealing among the municipalities is aimed at a better evaluation of future urbanisation scenarios and at a monitoring process of urban growth.