Land Take and Urban Sprawl: Drivers E Contrasting Policies

Introduction. – The land take is now a central and diriment issue in many disciplines due to the complex problems involved in the depletion of soil resource from an environmental, economic, urban and social perspective, but it is certainly linked to the phenomenon of urban sprawl. In the short-medium term, the land take is a process as destructive as irreversible. Therefore, a research of the main drivers of this ongoing process should take into account a variety of factors and should focus on the urban space and its evolutionary dynamics. Starting from a reading of the processes of urbanization, the present paper deals with the question of the fundamental drivers of «land take» and, through an examination of political initiatives and institutional actions at European and national level, focuses on some critical issues considered of particular importance for the containment of urban sprawl and land take.