Territorial Analysis of the Agricultural Terraced Landscapes of Tuscany (Italy): Preliminary Results

Mauro Agnoletti, Leonardo Conti, Lorenza Frezza and Antonio Santoro
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Mauro Agnoletti: Department of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Systems, University of Florence, Via San Bonaventura, 13-50134 Florence, Italy
Leonardo Conti: Department of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Systems, University of Florence, Via San Bonaventura, 13-50134 Florence, Italy
Lorenza Frezza: Department of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Systems, University of Florence, Via San Bonaventura, 13-50134 Florence, Italy
Antonio Santoro: Department of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Systems, University of Florence, Via San Bonaventura, 13-50134 Florence, Italy

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 4, 1-18

Abstract: Terraced areas have existed in Italy since ancient times, and they continue to be characteristic elements of the cultural identity of the country. The progressive abandonment of rural areas and farmland that began in the 1960s has led to the disintegration and disappearance of many terraces, representing one of the problems connected with the deterioration of the historic Tuscan agricultural landscape. This research aims to provide a contribution to the territorial analysis of the agricultural terraced landscapes at a regional scale. The preliminary phase of the study involved setting up a working method in Geographic Information System (GIS) for the quantitative definition of the population. Afterwards, for the territorial analysis at a more detailed scale, a method was devised to identify the areas of greater significance in terms of a terracing intensity index. The final results concerned considerations on the distribution of the terraced landscapes and analyses related to land use and the main environmental parameters of the most representative terraced systems.

Keywords: agricultural terraced landscapes; Geographic Information System (GIS); land use; intensity index (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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