Between urban sprawl and food production

The rural/urban conflict in relation to land use spatial pattern in La Plata district, Buenos Aires

Abstract

The lack of appropriate policies of territorial planning, deficiencies in its application and the multiple interests of the actors linked to the productive periurban in La Plata district, among other factors, have outlined the current unsustainable use of the territory. Recently, novel experiences of extension and participatory research-action have emerged, incorporating guidelines that arise as demands of different actors in the territory. In this work we seek to provide new knowledge of updated land uses and coverages, spatial relationships between them and with physical variables and to make considerations for collaborate in collective planning strategies in the territory. The land uses/coverage map was made from Landsat8 (2015) images using "support vector machine" (ENVI). It was integrated with soil fitness maps, drainage model and municipal delegation limits. There were identified 11 uses/coverage. Among them, semi-natural covers were much less represented at horticultural area. A 67,93% of greenhouses were found less than 1000m. from urban areas and a 51,16% of the urban area settled on agricultural soils. Abasto was the delegation where greenhouses occupied most of its area (23,5%). Finally, 45,06% of the greenhouses were found within 200 m. of streams and 10,19% at less than 50 m. This information is useful for a future sustainable territorial planning strategy and provides a basis of knowledge to nourish the debate about peri-urban agriculture models in Argentina and particularly in La Plata region.