Urban Growth and Habitat Connectivity: A Study on European Countries

Abstract

The main tool for biodiversity conservation at the European level is the Natura 2000 network. The identification of Natura 2000 as an “ecological network spread over the entire European Union territory” is the symbolic image launched by the Habitat Directive (92/43/EEC) even though many considerations focused on the contradiction between the shared model of the ecological network—based on spatial continuity—and the fragmented geographical configuration of the Natura 2000 sites. Currently, it stretches across all 28 European countries, both on land and at sea, and it is made up of over 27,000 sites for a total extension of approximately 1,150,000 km2. The land area covered by N2000 corresponds to approximately 18% of the total EU, with the national coverage ratio ranging from a minimum of 9% to a maximum of 38% in the various European countries. The aim of this study was to determine the degree of landscape fragmentation caused by the urban areas towards the Natura 2000 network, with the aim of analyzing how the current urban settlements’ geography could compromise their functionality. The proximity analysis carried out provides the necessary information to achieve full efficiency in the connections between the different habitats. In addition, these results give indications on which planning scale is most appropriate to intervene to reduce environmental fragmentation.