The issues of urban growth and sprawl of cities into the countryside has been an important theme at the centre of political, economic and social debate during the latest decades. The city has spread in a chaotic way and the expansion has been determined by various factors, including the lowering of the cost of living outside the city centre, ease of travel and the desire of living in the countryside. This defines a nebular structure following new patterns of land use.
The doctrine of urban planning has always been interested in the sizing of cities able to accommodate population harmoniously. By the middle of last century urban management has become much more complex and the choice to restrain sprawl trough rational planning, rather than limiting growth, seems a reasonable theory in order to target the urban well-being and the environment.
