Understanding the role of wildfire drivers is essential to implement more effective prevention strategies at the regional scale and to promote specific mitigation actions at the local scale. By considering municipalities as the elementary analysis domain, the present study investigates the spatial distribution of wildfires (1993–2015) in the Valencian Community, a Mediterranean fire-prone area with variable climate regimes, heterogeneous landscapes and increasing human pressure. Assuming that a denser road network increases the probability of wildfire occurrence, results of a quantitative analysis exploring the relationship between spatial location of ignition points and roads were presented. The empirical findings of this study contribute to ascertain the role of roads as a direct (or indirect) cause of wildfires in the Mediterranean region.

This work introduces a new class of landscape metrics characterizing basic features of patch perimeters. Specific computation on patch perimeters was carried out on fine-grained land-use maps with the aim to characterize spatial patterns of neighbor patches, evidencing contact points and perimeter length between two (or more) land-use types. A detailed set of class and landscape metrics were derived from such analysis. This approach is complementary to classical landscape metrics and proved to be particularly useful to characterize complex, fragmented landscapes profiling metropolitan regions based on integrated evaluations of their structural (landscape) and functional (land-use) organization. A multivariate analysis was run to characterize distinctive spatial patterns of the selected metrics in four metropolitan regions of southern Europe reflecting different morphological configurations (Barcelona: compact, polycentric; Lisbon: dispersed, mono-centric; Rome: dispersed, polycentric; and Athens: compact, mono-centric). Perimeter metrics assumed different values for each investigated land-use type, with peculiar characteristics associated to each city. Land-use types assessing residential, discontinuous urban patches were associated to particularly high values of perimeter metrics, possibly indicating patch fragmentation, spatially-associated distribution of land-use types and landscape complexity. Multivariate analysis indicates substantial differences among cities, reflecting the range of morphological configurations described above (from compact mono-centric to dispersed polycentric) and suggesting that urban expansion is accompanied with multiple modifications in the use of the surrounding non-urban land. The computational approach proposed in this study and based on spatially-explicit metrics of landscape configuration and proximity may reflect latent changes in local socio-spatial structures. Our results demonstrate that scattered urban expansion determines a polarization in suburban areas with highly fragmented and more homogeneous landscapes, respectively, associated with mixed cropland and forest systems.

In wealthiest countries, urban sprawl and peri-urban agricultural landscapes are strictly interconnected issues, with dispersed urban expansion causing inherent land-use conflicts. Interpreting latent socioeconomic processes at the base of peri-urban agriculture in southern Europe may benefit from a thorough analysis of metropolitan dynamics of growth and change, considering together morphological and functional issues. The approach proposed in this study is intended to provide an overview of new strategies for food production in highly fragmented landscapes, investigating the point of view of local actors operating in the primary sector. A preliminary survey carried out in the Athens' metropolitan region, Greece, provides a knowledge base to identify apparent and latent trends in peri-urban farming and the mutual implications for farmers and citizens.