ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Assessing Change in a High-Value Landscape:
Case Study of the Municipality of Sobotka, Poland
Piotr Krajewski
More details
Hide details
Department of Spatial Management, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences,
ul. Grunwaldzka 55, 50-357 Wrocław, Poland
Submission date: 2017-02-21
Final revision date: 2017-05-02
Acceptance date: 2017-05-03
Online publication date: 2017-10-05
Publication date: 2017-11-07
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2017;26(6):2603-2610
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
This article presents analyses made in the first stage of research on determining landscape capacity
of Sobotka municipality located in Lower Silesia in Poland, partially within Sleza Landscape Park and
Bystrzyca Valley Landscape Park. The main objective of the study was to determine the level of change that
took place in the high-value landscape of the analysed area in 1938-2016, and to identify the threat level of
changes in the future. I began research by preparing maps showing the main elements of land cover for the
three periods to be examined. Using of the maps, I developed a database of the surface of the main elements
constituting the background landscape of the research area. I relied on available cartographic documents
and aerial photographs from the years 1938, 1977, and 2014, plus field studies carried out in 2016. The data
obtained made it possible to assess the level of change in two different periods by means of the landscape
change index. The analysis helped identify areas where landscape changes were the highest and areas where
changes were hardly noticeable. The last step was to identify to what degree the landscape is threatened with
changes in the future, current spatial policy of the local authorities being the basis for it.