Protected areas (PAs) are the most effective tools to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services. They have proven to be effective in stopping extensive land use conversion in well-conserved terrestrial ecosystems. However, land cover changes around PAs threaten biodiversity and ecosystem services within their limits and reduce ecological connectivity. In this study, we analysed the urban sprawls on the boundaries of 159 PAs (national, regional, and natural parks) in Spain, using 2.5 and 5 km non-protected buffer zones from 1990 to 2018. We clustered PAs based on biophysical and socio-economic characteristics and modelled urban sprawl in different buffers and periods. Hierarchical clustering revealed three groups of PAs: (a) proximate urban parks, (b) mountainous parks, and (c) parks in the Madrid autonomous region. We found that urbanisation in the surroundings of PAs in Spain has nearly doubled since 1990. General linear models explained a significant proportion of the urbanisation trends observed, with the number of municipalities in the boundary of the PA, the distance to a main road, and the distance to a big city acting as the most important drivers of urban sprawl. Our results also show that some PAs exert significant effects on urbanisation trends in their surroundings through the park-view effect. Finally, we highlight three coexisting phenomena that might explain the observed urban sprawl processes: (a) PAs attracting urbanisation in their surroundings due to the park-view effect, (b) PAs as a deterrent for urban sprawl within their limits, and (c) PAs occupying residual areas among previously urbanised lands.

保护区 (PA) 是保护生物多样性和生态系统服务的最有效工具。事实证明，它们可有效阻止保存完好的陆地生态系统中的大规模土地利用转变。然而，保护区周围的土地覆盖变化会在其范围内威胁生物多样性和生态系统服务，并降低生态连通性。在这项研究中，我们使用 1990 年至 2018 年 2.5 公里和 5 公里的非保护区缓冲区分析了西班牙 159 个保护区（国家、地区和自然公园）边界上的城市蔓延情况。我们基于生物物理和社会对保护区进行了聚类。 -不同缓冲和时期的经济特征和模拟城市扩张。层次聚类揭示了三组保护区：（a）邻近的城市公园，（b）山地公园，和（c）马德里自治区的公园。我们发现，自 1990 年以来，西班牙保护区周围的城市化率几乎翻了一番。一般线性模型解释了所观察到的城市化趋势的很大一部分，包括保护区边界的城市数量、到主要道路的距离以及与大城市的距离是城市扩张的最重要驱动因素。我们的研究结果还表明，一些保护区通过公园景观效应对其周围的城市化趋势产生显着影响。最后，我们强调了可能解释观察到的城市蔓延过程的三种共存现象：（a）由于公园景观效应，PA 在其周围吸引城市化，（b）PA 在其范围内阻止城市蔓延，以及（c ) 占用先前城市化土地中剩余区域的保护区。