Agricultural Land Fragmentation at Urban Fringes: An Application of Urban-To-Rural Gradient Analysis in Adelaide

Suranga Wadduwage, Andrew Millington, Neville D. Crossman and Harpinder Sandhu
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Suranga Wadduwage: School of the Environment, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
Andrew Millington: School of the Environment, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
Neville D. Crossman: School of the Environment, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
Harpinder Sandhu: School of the Environment, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia

Land, 2017, vol. 6, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: One of the major consequences of expansive urban growth is the degradation and loss of productive agricultural land and agroecosystem functions. Four landscape metrics—Percentage of Land (PLAND), Mean Parcel Size (MPS), Parcel Density (PD), and Modified Simpson’s Diversity Index (MSDI)—were calculated for 1 km × 1 km cells along three 50 km-long transects that extend out from the Adelaide CBD, in order to analyze variations in landscape structures. Each transect has different land uses beyond the built-up area, and they differ in topography, soils, and rates of urban expansion. Our new findings are that zones of agricultural land fragmentation can be identified by the relationships between MPS and PD, that these occur in areas where PD ranges from 7 and 35, and that these occur regardless of distance along the transect, land use, topography, soils, or rates of urban growth. This suggests a geometry of fragmentation that may be consistent, and indicates that quantification of both land use and land-use change in zones of fragmentation is potentially important in planning.

Keywords: urban-to-rural gradients; agricultural land-use; land fragmentation; urban fringe; Mean Parcel Size; Parcel Density (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:6:y:2017:i:2:p:28-:d:95944

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