Endless urban sprawl in the Metropolitan Area of Seville. Some explanatory elements.

Abstract

The evolution of the process of growth of the Metropolitan Area of Seville is analysed in this text. Three different periods are identified and analysed, from an historic perspective. Also, from a territorial point of view, the different municipalities (city councils) of the Metropolitan Area of Seville are classified in different crowns. Different underlying causes of this strong metropolitan expansion are suggested in the text. Some of them have a structural element, like the role of urbanisation in the processes of capital accumulation. Other causes are more specific of some particular territories, like the pre-existing spatial structure or the changes in the local models of urban planning, with the rise of entrepreneurialism in city councils´ policies. In any case, the changes in the international financial environment and the different ways in which it has influenced the processes of urbanisation in the Metropolitan Area of Seville are analysed.