Landscape changes of Rome through tree-lined roads

Rome has greatly expanded in the course of the last century, after it becam e the capital of the Italian state in 1870. In this period, many areas were built according to different urbanistic criteria. The city may now be divi ded into urban units (Wards, Districts, Suburbs and Zones), which have an a lmost concentric disposition. The changes of the whole urban landscape and of the single urban units (UUs) have been analysed by studying the differen t tree-species planted along the roads. A database has been created using t he four censuses of the tree-lined roads made by the city administration in 1898, 1955, 1971 and 1998. This analysis has shown a strong link between t he specific cultural and political period and the tree-species used. Moreov er, for each year, the UUs have been classified according to the percentage composition of the species. The results have been mapped using the Arcview 3.1 GIS program in order to integrate them with a more general project on GIS-based cartography of the natural and anthropic vegetation of Rome. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.