Peri-Urbanization and Rurbanization in Leiria City: the Importance of a Planning Framework

The objective of this study is to evaluate the spatial and temporal dynamics of land use in the city of Leiria, which is located in central Portugal, and its relation to the planning framework. The analysis is based on land-use change recognition in the period 1958–2011, calculation of the stability grade indicator, the losses and gains between classes, and the rate of artificialization. The results show an increase of the artificial areas, namely in continuous and discontinuous urban fabric, contrasting with a continuous decrease of the agricultural land-use classes, giving origin to peri-urbanization and rurbanization processes. We can also observe a large fragmentation of the landscape in the city of Leiria, representing rapid urban expansion that is fundamentally related to the increase of residential and industrial areas, and afterwards, tertiary growth. This study also demonstrated the relation of a land-use and planning framework that works as a driving force for land-use changes. This underlines the importance of strategic regional planning instruments in managing urban sprawl and the artificialization processes of medium-sized cities.