Fragmented suburban landscapes: Rethinking vulnerability in southern Europe

Abstract

Suburbanization is accelerating worldwide, with over 83% of Europe’s population projected to live in metropolitan peripheries by 2050. This transformation reshapes not only the physical form of metropolitan areas but also their socio-economic and demographic geographies. While climate change scholarship identifies suburban peripheries as particularly vulnerable, and urban studies have linked vulnerability to density and distance from city centers, the infra-municipal geography of vulnerability within Southern European fragmented peripheries remains largely unexplored. This study examines suburban vulnerability as a multidimensional phenomenon—encompassing socio-demographic, socio-economic, and residential factors—within a medium-sized Southern European metropolis. Moving beyond traditional models, it proposes a fragment-scale analytical framework, capturing the fine-grained spatial heterogeneity often overlooked by conventional municipal or radial approaches. The findings reveal that vulnerability does not align with simple density or distance gradients but follows distinct patterns correlated with specific suburban fragment types, shaped by their historical production logics and governance trajectories. Adopting a constructivist perspective, the study argues that these patterns are not merely contemporary effects but result from long-standing processes of neoliberal speculation and socio-spatial differentiation. By operationalizing the suburban fragment as both a conceptual and empirical tool, this research advances a more relational, context-sensitive understanding of suburban vulnerability in Southern Europe, challenging dominant Anglo-Saxon models and contributing to critical urban studies debates.