Variations in land-use/land-cover changes (LULCCs) in a peri-urban Mediterranean nature reserve: the estate of Castelporziano (Central Italy)

Abstract

This study was aimed at analyzing land-use/land-cover changes (LULCCs) in a protected area, the Presidential estate of Castelporziano, a nature reserve located 20 km southwest of Rome in a peri-urban area. In this territory, there are two SCIs (sites of community importance) and several environments of naturalistic value. This research can be seen as a study case in landscape planning and transformative processes in terms of governance, in consideration of the natural and cultural heritage of the area and its location. In fact, Castelporziano, located in the proximity of two urban centers, Rome and Ostia, is a peri-urban territory that has undergone a significant transformation in recent decades as a result of anthropic pressure in terms of land-use change. Photo-interpretation of aerial photographs taken in 1930 and 2010 was carried out to perform an LULCCs and land-use change detection analysis. To this aim Patch Analyst 3.1 software was also used to calculate landscape indices in order to characterize the landscape structure.