The land use impacts in the formation of landscape characteristics: quantification of the structure and of the spatial distribution of land uses in Larger Urban Zones

Abstract

The Greek landscape is the result of the dynamic osmosis and complex interactions between physicogeographical and human factors. It is characterized both by specific qualities and its fragile character. Spatial transformations and pressures exercised on it emerge the need for an integrated and effective management framework. The understanding and quantitative description of landscape features is the central challenge of this paper. We investigate both the analysis and quantitative yield concerning the geometry of land use patches and secondly, to consider the effects that this entails on the formation of landscape character. The case study focuses on Large Urban Zones of medium-sized Greek cities, as these are defined by the European Urban Audit (2012). In these areas, we examine, with basic landscape metrics, the main geometry characteristics of the land use patches as well as a comparative analysis of the landscape character between them.