Identifying Trends in Land Use/Land Cover Changes in the Context of Post-Socialist Transformation in Central Europe: A Case Study of the Greater Olomouc Region, Czech Republic

Many countries in Central and Eastern Europe have been undergoing marked economic changes following the collapse of the former “Eastern Bloc” and totalitarian regimes. In the Czech Republic, this transition has had a profound effect on land use management that subsequently results in widespread land cover changes. This study analyzes trends in land use/land cover changes (LULCC) in the context of political and economic transformation of the Czech Republic, using the greater Olomouc region in the period between 1991 and 2001 as a case study. Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) images from 1991 and 2001 were acquired and processed for maximum likelihood classification to produce land use/land cover maps for both times with overall map accuracies between 0.8 and 0.84. Major land changes were identified using post-classification comparison and trend surface analysis. Results showed significant marginalization of intensive agricultural activities (12%), a shift in forest composition from mixed to deciduous forest (6%), and an overall increase in residential development on arable land (3.5%). Our findings are consistent with recent socioeconomic and political studies that describe post-socialist land change drivers in Central and Eastern Europe, such as decreased need for intensive agriculture, shift to ecological management of forested areas, or increasing suburbanization.