Introduction: Many studies analyze urban growth and its implications for planning and land use. Urban development often prioritizes viability and economic profitability over environmental criteria. In periods of a significant decline in agricultural, livestock farming and forestry activities, little attention has been paid by urban planning to soil quality, and considerable sealing of high or medium quality soils has taken place. This is a serious environmental problem that has been analyzed by various authors on different scales. Estimated soil loss from sealing was 9% in Europe from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s [2], 7% in the city of Nanjing in China 1984–2003 [3], and 4.5% in the US during the 1990s [4]. Soil erosion sealing is a direct result of urban growth and is seldom included in environmental impact assessments. Some of the changes that it triggers in ecosystems have been minimized, including variations in the water balance [5].

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