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The main transformation dynamics in the province of Potenza territory (Basilicata region in the south of Italy) correspond to those of urban sprinkling. The urban sprinkling phenomena is typical of mainly mountainous internal areas with indices of settlement density and artificial coverage ratios very low. The temporal and spatial analysis of the urban sprinkling phenomenon gives a picture of the transformation dynamics of the territory, i.e. the phenomena of fragmentation and compaction of the urban territory. Through a logistic regression, the driving factors that have affected the dynamics of urban transformation and specifically the phenomena of fragmentation and compaction between 1998 and 2013 will be analyzed. The two transformation phenomena (dependent variables Y), will be analyzed separately and built on the basis of the variation of the sprinkling index in the analyzed period. In the model, eleven independent variables concerning physical characteristics, proximity analysis, socioeconomic characteristics and the urban policies or constraints, have been considered. The result of the logistic regression consists of two probability maps of change of the dependent variable Y from non-urban to fragmented or compacted. The indexes of the relative operational characteristic (ROC) of 0.85 and 0.84 respectively for compaction and fragmentation, testify the goodness of the model.

Fire effects consist not only in direct damage to the vegetation but also in the modification of both chemical and physical soil properties. Fire can affect the alteration of soil properties in different ways depending on fire severity and soil type. The most important consequences concern changes in soil responsiveness to the water action and the subsequent increase in sediment transport and erosion. Post fire soil loss can increase in the first year by several orders of magnitude compared to pre-fire erosion. In this study a distributed model based on the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) is used to estimate potential post-fire soil loss for four different fire events occurred in Basilicata region in 2017. Geographic Information System techniques and remote sensing data have been adopted to build a prediction model of post-fire soil erosion risk. Results show that this model is not only able to quantify post-fire soil loss but also to identify the complexity of the relationships between fire severity and all the factors that influence soil susceptibility to erosion.

Renewable Energy Sources (RES) are part of the solution to tackle the global problems of climate change and carbon emissions. Programs and policies at different levels are continuing to promote new RES farms, posing a relevant challenge to regional planners and administrators: how to manage landscape transformation and territorial fragmentation to find a really effective sustainable arrangement for these kinds of technologies? Most effects induced by RES (land-use change, land take, diminishing aesthetic values, loss of habitat quality), without a doubt, depend on the location and the spatial pattern of the plants, the relative distance between them, the extension of secondary infrastructures and their technical characteristics. This work takes part in the debate, originating from the need to establish a monitoring system for this kind of new territorial transformation and discusses the implementation of a sprinkling fragmentation index (SPX) in order to assess the current regional settlement structure of RES farms. Our case study concerns the Basilicata region (in Southern Italy), a very low-density area which over the last decade has undergone a relevant increase in the installation of RES technologies, not supported by an effective planning framework. The evolution of the regional energy system has been strongly influenced both by incentive policies and by (weak) urban and territorial planning policies. This approach could be a valuable contribution both in identifying a fragmentation threshold beyond which the expected negative impacts outweigh the benefits, and in providing a useful procedure for the management of future installations.

The main objective of the present study was to integrate a logistic regression (LR) model and a geographic information system (GIS) technique to analyze the urban transformations patterns and investigate the relationship between urban transformation dynamics and its various determinant forces. The case study concerns the territory of the province of Matera, in the region of Basilicata (southern Italy) where the main transformation phenomenon corresponds to the dynamics of urban sprinkling. The definition of the variables, corresponding to the dynamics of urban fragmentation and compaction, will be carried out through spatial analyses concerning the temporal variation of the sprinkling index. The relationships between the dependent variables (Y) fragmentation and compaction and the independent variables (X) referring to different factors will be analyzed through two logistic regressions. The time interval considered is 1998-2013 and the determining factors (driving forces) refer to physical characteristics, proximity analysis to roads or cities, socioeconomic factors and land use policies. The results consist of two maps showing the probability of variation of the dependent variables whose accuracy will be evaluated using the Relative Operational Characteristic Index (ROC).

Territorial transformations are currently influenced by the combination of multi-scale processes that generate complex change dynamics. In particular, we focus on the emerging conflicts between CO2 reduction policies and the preservation of natural and ecosystem values on a the local scale. Global policies stimulate a generalized effort in promoting the transition towards a low carbon economy, and a relevant component of such a development process is connected with Renewable Energy Sources (RES). Such technological settlement processes in low density areas generate relevant impacts. This paper discusses an ex-post-impact assessment methodology based on cumulative ecosystem services losses in a specific study area: the Melfi municipality in the Basilicata region (Italy). The proposed methodology, starting from a temporal evolution of RES plants, considers the ecosystem services estimation based on InVEST tools in order to deliver spatial multicriteria maps of the resulting territorial impacts. These results allowed to clarified the limits of a local sectorial planning approach and highlighted the opportunities offered by performance-based planning in assessing alternative transformation scenarios. The conclusions regard policy implications towards a multidimensional performance-based planning system where alternative low carbon transition scenarios could be compared in order to take into account territorial specializations and identity assets as a tool to drive decision-making in a sustainable planning perspective.

Agricultural production in Basilicata Region is strongly characterized by a high degree of fragmentation, the large percentage of small family businesses and a generalized low propensity to entrepreneurship. Although there are productive realities that are suited to entrepreneurship, going beyond the local market dimensions. The low propensity of agricultural producers to associate in consortium or any other formal collaboration is also a factor to be reinforced in order to improve the competitiveness of the respective supply chains.

According to the United Nations, 68% of the world’s population is expected to live in urban areas by 2050. This makes urban growth one of the cornerstones of sustainable development policies that must be implemented from the outset. Well-managed urbanization is essential to minimize environmental degradation and land use, while maximizing the benefits of agglomeration and ensuring the expected well-being of all city dwellers. On the other hand, it is equally important that these growth dynamics interface systematically with ongoing climate change and its expected effects on the urban environment. Local climate regulation is a crucial urban ecosystem service as it directly affects the quality of urban life. Although its link with soil sealing and land-use change is theoretically known, it is worth explaining this relationship in terms of significant parameters of both altered surfaces and type of urban expansion.

All programs and policies that stimulated and continue to promote the construction of renewable energy production plants, pose a growing challenge to regional planners and administrators: how to manage the transformation of the landscape to find an effective sustainable arrangement for renewable energy technologies? In fact, while RES plants contribute to solve the global problem of climate change and to reduce emissions, at the local level they imply significant impacts on several components such as: land use, land take, diminishing aesthetic values, deterioration of habitat quality. The intensity of these effects depends on the location of the plants, the distance between the plants, the extension of the ancillary infrastructures and the technical characteristics. It is questionable whether the intensity of the negative impacts at the local level is more related to the technical characteristics of each installations or their dislocation on the territory. The present work is part of this debate, discussing fragmentation index resulted from the assessment of the current regional settlement structure of RES plants.

From the beginning of the 21st century, following major European and global initiatives such as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the Economics of Ecosystem and Biodiversity, the idea that Ecosystem services could be used as a decision support tool, gained considerable importance in several fields: from economy to public policy, from territorial planning to environmental assessment. This research is part of the methodological framework of an important strategic reference: the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, an international project that defines ecosystem services and assesses the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being. According to the MA, ecosystem services are grouped into four categories: supplying services, regulation services, cultural services, and support services. Starting from this, the present work contributes to build interpretative models for the evaluation of a relevant part of the fourth class of ecosystem services: the territorial touristic attractiveness. The InVEST model, an open source toolkit, has been applied to assess attractiveness of the Basilicata Region considering both natural and cultural heritage in order to highlight strengths and weaknesses of the investigated methodology.

Artificial land use trends could represent an effective indicator of the settlement process quality and could also provide information about the efficacy of protection and exploitation policies in natural and rural areas. This work discusses an analytic procedure for the time series investigation of urban settlement development at the regional scale to verify the nexus between urban growth and demographic trends connected with the phenomenon of land take. In Italy, since 1950, the land take phenomenon has been a consequence of several factors: urbanization, realization of transport infrastructures including ports, airports, and highways, and the enhancement of industrial and productive systems. We analyzed all these territorial transformations that create waterproof soil, and more generally, a transition from natural and semi-natural uses toward artificial land use. After World War II, the demographic growth and the consequent housing demand generated a strong urbanization process in the main poles of economic development areas in Italy. Since the early 2000s, the situation has completely changed and the land take phenomenon is no longer mainly based on real need for new urban expansion areas based on effective urban planning tools, but is strongly related to a scattered demand for new housing in a weak territorial spatial planning system not able to drive effective urban development that minimizes speculative real estate initiatives. This uncontrolled occupation of soil generated, in Italy, a landscape fragmentation called the urban sprinkling phenomenon, different from urban sprawl, which is a wider phenomenon characterized by disordered urban growth. The present document aims to assess how uncontrolled expansion in areas characterized by low settlement density can generate fragmentation. To define if the territory is affected by the urban sprinkling phenomenon, two 50-year time series concerning urban expansion of buildings and demographic trends are analyzed calculating population and building density indices and their variation over the years. The sprinkling index is used to analyze the variation in the fragmentation degree at two different scales (regional and municipal). Finally, we discuss the context where this phenomenon has developed, analyzing the buildings located in hydrogeological risk zones and protected areas, and the correlation between demographic changes and the degree of territorial fragmentation variation.

It is widely recognized that tourism sector plays an important role in territorial analysis both because of its economic and employment potential and its environmental and social implications. Investigating dynamics that influence tourist attractiveness and receptivity is fundamental in territorial planning sector in order to monitor regional and sustainable development policies, above all with a view to pursuing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) defined by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development [1].

The increase of artificial land use represents a relevant indicator in land management policies and practices. It is a useful tool in assessing the quality of settlement processes and the protection and enhancement policies in rural and natural areas. Over time land take processes have been caused by different phenomena: urban or industrial expansion, realization of infrastructures, the development or the productive exploitation of territorial areas characterized by the presence of specific resources (natural, mining, etc.). This phenomenon is no longer a direct consequence of a real need of new expansion areas throughout Italian national territory. In the past the phenomenon was mainly due to residential, productive or tertiary sector needs, and it was generated by demographic growth and the consequent urbanization process. In the last two decades land take is more and more related to a weak territorial governance, generally linked to an inefficiency of urban and territorial planning instruments and sometimes of speculative real estate initiatives. In this paper a spatial analysis procedure oriented to calculate indicators of urban fragmentation for Basilicata Region has been presented. Such indicators could drive to the identification of two phenomena: urban-sprawl and urban-sprinkling according to the literature classification proposed in several researches by Romano et al. The results represent a useful contribution in order to improve regional normative system concerning urban development. The research is part of a wider project on environmental and territorial indicators (INDICARE) promoted by FARBAS (Environmental Observatory Foundation of Basilicata Region) in collaboration with the University of Basilicata.