scholarly journals Diagnosis of the State of the Territory in Flanders. Reporting About New Maps and Indicators Differentiating Between Urban and Rural Areas Within Flanders

Author(s):  
Ann Pisman ◽  
Stijn Vanacker

AbstractWithin the several European analyses of spatial patterns, Belgium and Flanders take a specific position. The average ‘settlement area percentage’ (i.e., all land used beyond agriculture, semi-natural areas, forestry, and water bodies) for Europe is 4%, but 32% of the Flemish area is occupied with artificial land. Belgium has the highest score for urban-sprawl indicators, and within the European context, almost the entire area is considered urban. The aim of the research presented in this paper is to expand on the theme of indicators for spatial patterns by analyzing the Flemish area with detailed data across various scales. The results are collected in a report, the ‘Ruimterapport’— ‘RURA’, published in 2018. RURA is a bundling and compilation of research results from very diverse sources, amongst others studies from the Department of Environment and Spatial Development of Flanders and of Espon studies. This article presents the most important results from RURA and further positions them in international comparative literature. New maps and indicators are developed for the urban/peri-urban/rural dimensions of the human settlement area, urban sprawl, and settlement patterns by differentiating amongst others between urban centers, ribbon development, and scattered buildings. The paper gives a quantitative, methodological, and empirical contribution to the field of urban and regional development processes and contributes to conceptualizations of space. The case of Flanders, with its specific sprawl pattern, illustrates the difficulties spatial planning policy makers currently are facing, dealing with the complexity of space and society.

Author(s):  
Jun Zhang ◽  
Xiaodie Yuan ◽  
Xueping Tan ◽  
Xue Zhang

As one of the most important methods for limiting urban sprawl, the accurate delineation of the urban–rural boundary not only promotes the intensive use of urban resources, but also helps to alleviate the urban issues caused by urban sprawl, realizing the intensive and healthy development of urban cities. Previous studies on delineating urban–rural boundaries were only based on the level of urban and rural development reflected by night-time light (NTL) data, ignoring the differences in the spatial development between urban and rural areas; so, the comprehensive consideration of NTL and point of interest (POI) data can help improve the accuracy of urban–rural boundary delineation. In this study, the NTL and POI data were fused using wavelet transform, and then the urban–rural boundary before and after data fusion was delineated by multiresolution segmentation. Finally, the delineation results were verified. The verification result shows that the accuracy of delineating the urban–rural boundary using only NTL data is 84.20%, and the Kappa value is 0.6549; the accuracy using the fusion of NTL and POI data on the basis of wavelet transform is 93.2%, and the Kappa value is 0.8132. Therefore, we concluded that the proposed method of using wavelet transform to fuse NTL and POI data considers the differences between urban and rural development, which significantly improves the accuracy of the delineation of urban–rural boundaries. Accurate delineation of urban–rural boundaries is helpful for optimizing internal spatial structure in both urban and rural areas, alleviating environmental problems resulting from urban development, assisting the formulation of development policies for urban and rural fringes, and promoting the intensive and healthy development of urban areas.


Systems ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Andrea Colantoni ◽  
Rares Halbac-Cotoara-Zamfir ◽  
Cristina Halbac-Cotoara-Zamfir ◽  
Pavel Cudlin ◽  
Luca Salvati ◽  
...  

This study estimates demographic resilience in local socioeconomic systems of Southern Europe using long-term population dynamics. We assume attractive places with a continuously expanding (resident) population as ‘demographically resilient’, and locations experiencing a persistent decline of population as more fragile to external shocks. Based on these premises, a comprehensive assessment of demographic resilience in more than 1000 municipalities along the urban–rural gradient in Greece, a Mediterranean country with marked regional disparities, was carried out between 1961 and 2011. Municipalities were considered representative of homogeneous local communities, especially in rural areas. The results of non-parametric correlations suggest how basic geographical gradients (coastal–inland and urban–rural) have significantly influenced the demographic resilience of Greek municipalities. These findings outline two contrasting spatial patterns that reflect (i) continuous expansion of peri-urban local communities and (ii) a particularly intense rural shrinkage, linking depopulation to land abandonment and scarce accessibility of inland districts. While long-term population growth in Greece has progressively re-shaped the intrinsic divide in urban and rural areas, the traditional gap in central and peripheral districts is still reflected in the spatial polarization between the ‘demographically resilient’, socially dynamic coastal locations and the ‘demographically fragile’ inland, economically marginal places. These results indicate the persistence of a center–periphery model characterizing long-term settlement expansion in Greece, with spatial patterns delineating ‘resilient’ and ‘fragile’ districts based essentially on infrastructures, accessibility, and amenities.


2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodoros Iosifides ◽  
Thanasis Kizos ◽  
Elektra Petracou ◽  
Ekaterini Malliotaki ◽  
Konstantina Katsimantou ◽  
...  

This paper aims at an investigation of factors of differentiation of basic social and economic characteristics of foreign immigrants in the Region of Western Greece. The paper explores whether the thesis of urban-rural divide is relevant for the differentiation of immigrants’ socio-economic characteristics in a typical Region of Greece, where there is a strong interplay between major urban centers and large rural areas. Findings show that spatial factors play a very limited role in the differentiation of socio-economic characteristics of immigrants and indicate that other factors are more important. Thus, and as regards socio-economic characteristics of immigrants, the overall picture is that of urban-rural continuum rather than divide. 


1982 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 275-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rehana Siddiqui

The paper aims at testing the validity of Engel's law with data on Pakistan. Consumption functions for urban and rural areas have been estimated separately. These functions are shown to be determined by total expenditure and household size. Engel's law is confirmed for some commodity groups but not for all. Following tests of urban-rural homogeneity and of stability of urban and rural consumption functions, demand growth rates for different food and non-food items have been calculated, assuming different growth rates of total expenditure and household size.


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1228
Author(s):  
Zhiheng Yang ◽  
Nengneng Shen ◽  
Yanbo Qu ◽  
Bailin Zhang

Integrated development in urban and rural areas has led to a new form of urban–rural interdependence, which promotes rural territorial functional evolution and land use changes. Rural land use transition, showing the synchronous development between cities and villages, is an important window through which to observe integrated development in urban and rural areas. We focus on uncovering the association between rural land use transition and urban–rural integration development (URID), put forward a dynamic relationship assumption between rural land use transformation and URID stages based on the transmission mechanism of urban–rural linkages, and undertake empirical analysis using the panel regression model with the data of county-level administrative units in Shandong Province, China. The results show that rural land use transition has maintained a close association with URID, and that the changes in cultivated land, forest land, and surface-water area are highly related to URID. There are different leading urban–rural linkages in rural areas around big-sized cities, mid-sized cities, and small-sized cities, which determine whether rural areas are in different URID stages of high, medium, or low levels. Further, rural areas can take different actions to promote URID at different stages through strengthening or introducing urban–rural linkages driven by economies of scale and deepening urbanization. This provides a reference for developing countries to formulate rural land use policies on achieving the goal of URID.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shekhar Chauhan ◽  
Shobhit Srivast ◽  
Pradeep Kumar ◽  
Ratna Patel

Abstract Background: Multimorbidity is defined as the co-occurrence of two or more than two diseases in the same person. With rising longevity, multimorbidity has become a prominent concern among the older population. Evidence from both developed and developing countries shows that older people are at much higher risk of multimorbidity, however, urban-rural differential remained scarce. Therefore, this study examines urban-rural differential in multimorbidity among older adults by decomposing the risk factors of multimorbidity and identifying the covariates that contributed to the change in multimorbidity.Methods: The study utilized information from 31,464 older adults (rural-20,725 and urban-10,739) aged 60 years and above from the recent release of the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) wave 1 data. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate decomposition analysis techniques were used.Results: Overall, significant urban-rural differences were found in the prevalence of multimorbidity among older adults (difference: 16.3; p<0.001). Moreover, obese/overweight and high-risk waist circumference were found to narrow the difference in the prevalence of multimorbidity among older adults between urban and rural areas by 8% and 9.1%, respectively.Conclusion: There is a need to substantially increase the public sector investment in healthcare to address the multimorbidity among older adults, more so in urban areas, without compromising the needs of older adults in rural areas.


2018 ◽  
pp. 67-86
Author(s):  
Luca Salvati ◽  
Ilaria Zambon

Being more sensitive to economic fluctuations, childbearing postponement increased during the second demographic transition and was accompanied by a moderate decline in the number of children per woman and the progressive rise of mother’s age at first birth. Under the hypothesis that recessions have a marked influence on population dynamics, the present study investigates spatial changes in mother’s age at birth in Greece with the aim to assess the differential impact of economic crisis along the urban-rural gradient. The percent composition of births by mother's age class – considered a gross indicator of fertility under a changing socioeconomic context – was studied at 4 spatial scales (the whole country, administrative regions, prefectures and metropolitan areas or specific economic districts) over an economic cycle from expansion to recession (1980–2016). While stimulating childbearing postponement observed since the early 1980s, empirical results of this study indicate that the 2007 recession was quite neutral on fertility trends in Greece, consolidating the traditional divide between urban and rural areas.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 247-259
Author(s):  
Lech Jańczuk

There are “urban-rural municipalities” in Polish administration nomenclature. They are territorial units where urban and rural areas have one name and one local government. There are also urban and rural municipalities that have one name but different local governments. That neighborhood of municipalities in Polish may be described as “municipalities bagel”. The aim of this article was to investigate whether and to what extent the “municipalities bagel” cooperate (coordinate) the exercising public tasks on the economic level. The article attempts to verify the research hypothesis: in “municipalities bagel” there is a lack of coordination of the exercising public tasks”. The research method was a diagnostic survey in which the questionnaire was conducted. In December 2019, questionnaire forms were sent to all “municipalities bagel” in Poland. The results of the research indicated a lack of coordination in the performance of public tasks between “municipalities bagel”. The result is a reduction of the efficiency of performance of public duties in such municipalities. The “municipalities bagel” are functionally related areas. This link is characterized by the subordination of the interests of the rural municipality (especially economic). The development of bagel rural communes is determined by the development and cooperation with their urban counterparts.


Author(s):  
Tijana M. Vujičić ◽  
Dijana Simonović

Many regions worldwide are faced with the problem of shrinkage, manifested through demographic decline, economic loss, and perforation of the urban tissue. Starting from the assumption that the shrinking phenomenon is present in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the research deals with the diagnosis of the shrinking condition in urban and rural areas of the northwest region of the country. In the light of the shrinkage problems, the chapter defines a new alternative model—e-co—which should enable the recovery from the crisis and restore the vitality of the region. The chance for recovery is recognized in the processes of rural urbanization and urban ruralization, the integration of rural values and urban advantages, the modern globality, and traditional locality.


2020 ◽  
pp. 009614422095209
Author(s):  
Siu Wai Wong ◽  
Bo-sin Tang ◽  
Jinlong Liu

Rural revitalization calls for a new type of urban–rural relations in urbanizing China. Although the importance of urban–rural dichotomy has received increasing attention by scholars interested in studying urban development and governance in contemporary China, their interpretations about the connection between urban and rural areas remain fragmented and ambiguous. This article seeks to trace the origin of the Chinese city and its relations with the countryside in the imperial era. It generates a more complete understanding of the rural–urban relationship in the traditional Chinese society and to appeal for a more rounded research agenda for the Chinese urbanization based on a sound historical perspective. The findings of this study explain why and how the traditional urban–rural continuum has disappeared in contemporary China, and identifies the key lessons and wisdoms that we can borrow from the imperial era when we come to tackle the present urban–rural development.


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