Urban-geomorphology studies in historical cities provide a significant contribution towards the broad definition of the Anthropocene, perhaps even including its consideration as a new unit of geological time. Specific methodological approaches to recognize and map landforms in urban environments, where human-induced geomorphic processes have often overcome the natural ones, are proposed. This paper reports the results from, and comparison of, studies conducted in coastal historical cities facing the core of the Mediterranean Sea – that is, Genoa, Rome, Naples, Palermo (Italy) and Patras (Greece). Their settlements were facilitated by similar climatic and geographical contexts, with high grounds functional for defence, as well as by the availability of rocks useful as construction materials, which were excavated both in opencast and underground quarries. Over centuries, urbanization has also required the levelling of relief, which was performed by the excavation of heights, filling of depressions and by slope terracing. Consequently, highly modified hydrographic networks, whose streams were dammed, diverted, modified in a culvert or simply buried, characterize the selected cities. Their urban growth, which has been driven by maritime commercial activities, has determined anthropogenic coastal progradation through port and defence or waterfront works. Aggradation of artificial ground has also occurred as a consequence of repeated destruction because of both human and natural events, and subsequent reconstruction even over ruins, buried depressions and shallow cavities. As a result, the selected cities represent anthropogenic landscapes that have been predominately shaped by several human-driven processes, sometimes over centuries. Each landform represents the current result, often from multiple activities with opposing geomorphic effects. Beyond academic progress, we believe that detecting and mapping these landforms and processes should be compulsory, even in risk-assessment urban planning, because of the increase of both hazards and vulnerability as a result of climate-change-induced extreme events and extensive urbanization, respectively.

中文翻译：

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地中海城市地区人类世地貌

历史城市的城市地貌学研究为人类世的广泛定义做出了重大贡献，甚至可能将其视为新的地质时间单位。提出了在城市环境中识别和绘制地形地貌的具体方法，其中人为地貌过程通常会克服自然地貌过程。本文报告了在面向地中海核心的沿海历史城市——即热那亚、罗马、那不勒斯、巴勒莫（意大利）和帕特雷（希腊）进行的研究的结果和比较。他们的定居得益于相似的气候和地理环境，具有防御功能的高地，以及可用作建筑材料的岩石，在露天和地下采石场挖掘。几个世纪以来，城市化还需要平整地势，这是通过开挖高地、填充洼地和坡地梯田来实现的。因此，高度修改的水文网络，其溪流被筑坝、改道、在涵洞中修改或简单地掩埋，成为选定城市的特征。他们的城市增长是由海上商业活动驱动的，通过港口和国防或滨水工程确定了人为的沿海扩展。由于人为和自然事件的反复破坏，随后甚至在废墟、埋藏的洼地和浅空洞上进行了重建，也发生了人工地基的加合。 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 因此，选定的城市代表了主要由几个人类驱动的过程塑造的人为景观，有时几个世纪以来。每个地形都代表当前的结果，通常来自具有相反地貌效应的多种活动。除了学术进步之外，我们认为，即使在风险评估城市规划中，检测和绘制这些地形和过程也应该是强制性的，因为气候变化引发的极端事件和广泛的城市化导致灾害和脆弱性增加，分别。