GIS and Remote Sensing to Study Urban-Rural Transformation During a Fifty-Year Period

A relevant issue in Remote Sensing (RS) and GIS is related to the analysis and the characterization of Land Use Land Cover (LULC) changes, very useful for a wide range of environmental applications and to efficiently undertake landscape planning and management policies. The methodology described has been applied to a case-study conducted in the area of the Province of Avellino (Southern Italy). Firstly, aerial photos and Landsat imagery have been classified to produce LULC maps for a fifty-year period (1954÷2004). Then, through a GIS approach, change detection and spatiotemporal analysis has been integrated to characterize LULC dynamics, focusing on the urbanrural gradient. This study has shown that LULC patterns and their changes are linked to both natural and social processes whose driving role has been clearly demonstrated: after the disastrous Irpinia earthquake (1980), local specific zoning laws and urban plans have significantly addressed landscape changes.