The pressure exerted by towns and cities upon surrounding natural and agricultural environments is an acute problem facing present-day societies due to the serious effects that phenomena such as urban sprawl can have on the ecological balance of the area concerned. One of the ways in which this pressure manifests itself is when part of the urban population settles in areas close to towns, leading to the reduction, fragmentation and destruction of natural ecosystems and agricultural landscapes. The present study pinpoints the existence of certain spatial limits within which changes in land use are caused by the phenomenon of urban sprawl. In addition, the spatial profile of residential pressure for the period 2000-2013 is modelled, as is the spatial profile of the appearance of new artificial surfaces in relation to their distance from the centres of the cities concerned (for the period 2000-2006, using Corine Land Cover data). Finally, results are presented as concerning the absolute and relative losses suffered by areas of agricultural land and natural and semi-natural areas in the proximity of cities of over 200,000 inhabitants.