ABSTRACT
In Italy, ISPRA is undertaking several activities related to land cover monitoring to assess soil consumption evolution over the last few decades. In 2005, ISPRA and the National System for Environmental Protection developed a Soil Consumption Monitoring Network in order to overcome the lack of updated and homogenous data about soil consumption. Soil consumption is continuously occupying natural and agricultural areas, where impervious surfaces like asphalt and concrete are growing with buildings, roads and infrastructures, often in low-density urban areas. Urban fragmentation and configuration was analysed through landscape metrics calculated using the High Resolution Land Cover Map, in order to assess spatial configuration and heterogeneity. The Very High Resolution Layer of 2012 allows for the accurate estimation of soil consumption at the local level, and thus ISPRA calculated soil consumption for all Italian municipalities. Nevertheless, soil consumption estimates are generally lower than actual soil consumption due to the cartographic method that tends to omit very small or narrow surfaces.
