Land-development dynamics by morphological areas: a case study of Ribadeo, northwest Spain

The need to understand land-development processes in order to address the problem derived from urban growth led to the implementation of a number of scientific methods aimed at explaining urban-growth patterns. The dynamics that originate these patterns are complex and may vary across space, such that in small areas there may be various processes operating and producing different kinds of growth. Our aim is to use cluster-analysis techniques to identify zones with similar urban-growth patterns in a coastal rural municipality of the northwest of Spain. Then, the processes that originated the different growth patterns identified from the cluster analysis are characterized using logistic regression techniques. The methodology differentiated three clusters (an urban cluster, a rural cluster, and a rural cluster with urban influence) and characterized the underlying dynamics. This proves that the techniques used in this study constitute a straightforward tool to identify and analyze areas with uniform land-development patterns in order to gain deeper knowledge and produce better regulations and zoning for each area.