Land Use
The nature of the estate is fundamentally urban and none of the land is reserved for significant agriculture or other exploitation of natural resources. The city state displays an impressive degree of land economy, born of necessity due to its extremely limited territory. Thus, the urban development (i.e., buildings) is optimized to occupy less than 50% of the total area, while the rest is reserved for open space, including the Vatican Gardens. The territory holds many diverse structures that help provide autonomy for the sovereign state, including a rail line and train station, heliport, post office, radio station (with extraterritorial antennas in Italy), military barracks, government palaces and offices, public plaza, part of an audience hall, old defensive wall marking the border, institutions of higher learning, cultural/art centers, and a few embassies.
Read more about this topic: Geography Of Vatican City
Famous quotes containing the word land:
“There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the LORD is sure to bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as a possession to occupy, if only you will obey the LORD your God by diligently observing this entire commandment that I command you today.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Deuteronomy 15:4,5.
“A counterfeiting law-factory, standing half in a slave land and half in a free! What kind of laws for free men can you expect from that?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)