Sprawl in the city of Padua: the urban fringe and its visual representation.

The paper explores the phenomenon of sprawl in the city of Padua, focusing on its connection with the presence of the urban fringe. The latest version of sprawl, which is historically described and analyzed, emerged in the American context first, but rapidly affected the majority of European cities, no matter their size, features or geographical collocation. The study results from a combination of recent literature in cultural geography, case study analysis, visual methodology and more practical approaches. Moreover, the paper’s final objective is to provide a visual representation of the urban fringe. Drawing inspiration from contemporary photographic projects on landscape, this investigation also includes an original photographic contribution by myself, which is meant to be an attempt to observe and critically reflect on the evolving edge of the urban fabric. This was achieved through active explorative walks along those places that mark the boundary between urban and suburban landscape, with particular attention to the meaning they carry, the symbols they present and the elements they are made of.