Influence of natural conditions on land use in the Vysočina region and its changes since the mid-19th century

Abstract

There are two main aims of this article: (1) to characterise the changes of the relationship between land use and natural conditions in the Vysočina region during last 150 years; and (2) to present one of many possible approaches to monitoring long-term development of spatial aspects of society-nature interaction, and to outline the approach both from the theoretical and methodological perspective. The work is based on two data sources: (A) land use data for 1113 "Basic territorial units" (BTUs), approximately 6 sq. km on average, of the Vysočina region for the years 1845, 1948, 1990 and 2000. (B) To each BTU, values of three characteristics of natural conditions were assigned: official price of agricultural land (a complex indicator of the given area‘s suitability for agriculture), average altitude and average slope. The influence of natural conditions on land use was then measured with the help of several basic statistical methods. At the end of the article it is emphasized that this quantitative method must be accompanied by some kind of “qualitative“ approach which should be based especially on an understanding of behaviour of involved actors and their interaction with structures