Farmers and the city. Urban sprawl, socio-demographic polarization and land fragmentation in a mediterranean region, 1961–2009

Southern European cities experienced important transformations toward a more fragmented socio-demographic structure in recent decades. Under the hypothesis that farm characteristics were influenced by the local context where holders live, long-term patterns of socio-demographic polarization in a Mediterranean city were assessed using diachronic data on basic characteristics of farms held by residents in urban and rural districts of the Athens' metropolitan region, Greece (1961–2009). Evidence of this study indicates that the spatial distribution of farms according to the holder's place of residence reflects both traditional and new social gradients linked with the dominant phase of urban expansion. As a result, the local context was related to farmers' preferences and long-term strategies, influencing decisions toward a (more or less) sustainable management of peri-urban land. Results of this study aliment the debate on future development of contemporary cities, shedding further light on the (evolving) socioeconomic relations with the surrounding (rural) regions.