Economic Downturns and Land-Use Change: A Spatial Analysis of Urban Transformations in Rome (Italy) Using a Geographically Weighted Principal Component Analysis

Globally, processes that drive urbanization have mostly evolved within economic downturns. Economic crises been more severe and frequent, particularly in the Mediterranean region. However, studies on recession effects are limited. The present study explores possible differences spatial direction intensity of land-use change trajectories at two time intervals (2006–2012, 2012–2018) using high-resolution Copernicus Land Urban Atlas images Rome metropolitan area. To this aim, a landscape ecology classical approach based metric analysis combined with multivariate has carried out. Results identified different patterns during expansion recession. “Greening”, defined as conversion urban marginal areas into croplands forests, increased At same time, rate rural decreased, thus indicating beneficial effect downturns reducing sprawl.