This section shows that in addition to areas that already have wild vegetation, there are different areas in the peri-urban landscape that could be potential places for new wilderness areas.
New wilderness on formerly cultivated land
As the landscape changes from a rural to a peri-urban one, potential areas for new wilderness are provided mainly by former farmland. One reason for this change is the development of different intensities of agriculture. With decreasing subsidies and strong competition in the European market, only land suitable for agricultural production can be profitable. Poorer land will either turn fallow or will be used for other urban purposes such as recreation (Losch 1999). In addition, better job opportunities in urban regions and the permanent loss of land due to urban development make profitable agriculture uncertain. For these reasons, farmland with very intense agricultural use can be found next to extensively cultivated or even fallow land. Although these areas appear wild they are not original wilderness, but new wilderness.
