43 / 55
41
Figure 1
– Percentage of soil consumption for Municipality (2012). Source: ISPRA
Moreover, the dispersion of low density urban sprawl increases the overall artificial land use and,
most importantly, boosts its negative effects on the territory, for example, in terms of habitat
fragmentation and loss of productivity. In Italy, over the past two decades, nearly 40% of large
urban transformations took place through the creation of low-density areas, while over a third took
place with the construction of new commercial, industrial and tertiary areas. A typical process of
urban sprawl in which we lose the distinction between urban and countryside area, amplifying the
negative impacts on natural ecosystems.