Fringes and the crisis: Emerging dynamics in mediterranean landscapes

Urban settlements have globally expanded into rural land. The present work focused on the Athens' metropolitan region, the capital of Greece, discussing the potential role of a typical Mediterranean landscape dominated by olive groves, in urban containment and peri-urban conservation of biodiversity and local traditions. Having a great cultural, culinary, and aesthetic importance, olive groves characterize Mediterranean peri-urban landscapes in a distinctive way. This contribution identifies processes of urban expansion and changes in the 'olive landscape' in Athens, proposing a new vision for sustainable land management in metropolitan contexts under rapid socioeconomic transformations.