Diachronic analyses on land use changes and vernacular architecture distribution, to support agricultural landscape development

Abstract

Rural buildings have shaped for centuries the landscape. In the last decades, however, the traditional balance between vernacular architectures and agricultural areas was often altered, without a correspondence between productions and buildings. Identifying the rural buildings distribution, recognizing the changes in land uses and understanding the criteria and processes which characterize them, are strategic both to protect the traditional and cultural heritage and to support a suitable landscape development.

The main aims of the work are: to support the identification of vernacular architectures in Mediterranean costal and less productive contexts; to recognize the land use changes and their impacts on landscape structure; and to support the decision makers activity considering both the historical building heritage and the local community development issues.

In the study area, the Sorrento’ Peninsula (Southern Italy), at local scale, due to the absence of a regional archive on rural buildings, the buildings identification (in the last fifty years) inside the agricultural areas and their comparison with topographic, aesthetic and connectivity indices were developed; at regional scale, land uses changes recognition and their impact assessment, in terms of landscape metrics were assessed.

A considerably huge area (20 %) was subjected to land use changes, mainly due to urban and forested areas increase and agricultural lands decrease. As fragmentation process results, the landscape structure is more complex and disaggregated, consisting of smaller, numerous and isolated parcels. Furthermore, despite the reduction in agricultural areas, the number of buildings has more than doubled, highlighting the strong pressure to which the territory is subjected today due to land consumption. The results stand out the need for decision-makers to monitor these contexts to stem the effects, and the vernacular architecture preservation and the agricultural uses improvement can be the support for new different socio-economic activities and opportunities.

The present work proved to be useful for meta-analysis of rural buildings distribution compared with land use changed driving forces, allowing a significant reduction in analysis costs and times. The approaches and methods integration allows providing a replicable model for other Mediterranean and European regions. The combination of traditional knowledge and modern technology offers a comprehensive approach to support a landscape management that respects both the past and the future, fostering resilience and sustainable development in rural areas.