Regional drivers of land take: A comparative analysis in two Italian regions

Recent research has focused on quantitative measurement of land take at both the international and the national level, so much so that systematic information has been collected and made available at the EU level. However, not much literature has up to now explored the quantitative relationship between factors affecting land take and land-taking processes. Moreover, still little investigated is the relation between land-taking processes and territorial policies and plans. By building upon previous studies on the identification of the main drivers of land take and on the analyses of the influence of such drivers on the phenomenon at the regional level, this paper aims at understanding whether the drivers act similarly in different contexts. Of particular interest here is the role played by planning-related factors, since, in a planning system in which many competences are devolved to regions, regional plans lay their own set of rules and regulations, which might (or might not) effectively counter land taking processes. We choose to explore this issue by looking at two coastal Italian regions, as coastal areas’ intrinsic territorial fragility and residential polarization might significantly amplify the magnitude of negative impacts associated with land take.