From rural to urban: landscape changes in north-west Italy over two centuries.

Landscape changes during the last two centuries were analysed, comparing two rural areas of about 5000 ha at the interface between the Alps and the Po plain (north-west Italy). Two centuries ago the areas were both set within a rural context. In the last few decades one of the two (15 km from Torino) has become mainly residential. The comparison has been made using ancient cadastral maps focused on land use which date back to the eighteenth century (Napoleonic cadastre) and recent land-use maps based on aerial photographs. The comparison highlights that changes of socio-economic frames determine different rural landscape dynamics in spite of geomorphologic similarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]