Spatial Diversity Changes in Land Use and Land Cover Mix in Central European Capitals and Their Commuting Zones from 2006 to 2018

Dawid Kudas (), Agnieszka Wnęk, Ľubica Hudecová and Robert Fencik
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Dawid Kudas: Department of Geodesy, Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Land Surveying, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Balicka 253a, 30-149 Krakow, Poland
Agnieszka Wnęk: Department of Geodesy, Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Land Surveying, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Balicka 253a, 30-149 Krakow, Poland
Ľubica Hudecová: Department of Surveying, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Radlinského 11, 810-05 Bratislava, Slovakia
Robert Fencik: Department of Theoretical Geodesy and Geoinformatics, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Radlinského 11, 810-05 Bratislava, Slovakia

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 6, 1-16

Abstract: This article investigates the land use and land cover (LULC) mosaic as a function of distance to the city centre. The research area is four Functional Urban Areas (FUAs) of the capitals of Central European countries: Czechia (Prague), Poland (Warsaw), Slovakia (Bratislava), and Hungary (Budapest). The article presents LULC mix changes in these FUAs in the context of transformations in urban cores and commuting zones of capital city metropolises, which have large populations and prominent positions in the country or region. The study makes use of Urban Atlas LULC data for 2006, 2012, and 2018. LULC change was analysed using a hexagonal tessellation with the hexagon as the basic spatial unit. Spatial entropy (ENT) and Simpson’s Diversity Index (SIDI) were employed. The change in ENT and SIDI were determined as a function of distance to urban cores, as well as changes on the first level of Urban Atlas nomenclature for 2006–2012 and 2012–2018, as well as on the third level of nomenclature for 2012–2018. The research shows that changes from 2006 to 2012 were more considerable than from 2012 to 2018. It also revealed that, if LULC classes are considered on the first level of nomenclature, diversity in urban cores grows and then declines in commuting zones. An analysis of diversity on the third level of nomenclature demonstrated its decline with the growing distance to the urban core. It has also been demonstrated that the mean values of ENT and SIDI are approximately twice as high in urban cores as in commuting zones, indicating a plateau of the mean value of ENT and SIDI over the study period in urban cores compared to an increase in commuting zones around them. The conducted research will be helpful to urban planners and decision-makers in directing the further, inevitable development of metropolitan areas in accordance with sustainable environmental management.

Keywords: entropy; Simpson’s Diversity Index; FUA; land use change; entropy distance model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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