Beyond Crisis: Demographic Dynamics, Long-term Settlement Patterns, and the Intrinsic Evolution of Local Systems Along a Coastal and Inland Gradient

This work focuses on population trends recorded at municipal scale in Latium, Central Italy, in the time period between 1871 and 2011. A principal component analysis (PCA) and a cluster analysis were adopted to investigate demographic dynamics concerning specifically the development and the subsequent consolidation of a coastal-inland gradient in population density within the examined area. The main findings of the study indicate the prominence of internal migrations occurred both along elevation (from mountainous to flat areas) and urban (from Rome to countryside) gradients. Population displacement has generated a socioeconomic gap between lowlands featuring intensive agriculture and inner areas featuring depopulation and land abandonment. Peri-urbanization and coastalization of economic activities determined remarkable changes in population density, amplifying traditional divides in the region. Our study demonstrates the role of a multivariate, exploratory approach in the study of regional population dynamics.