Approaching Land Cover-Land Use Changes Using Statistical Data Validation for Urban Policies Improvement

Maria-Ioana VLAD ȘANDRU1, 2, Corneliu IAȚU1, Daniel Cristinel ȘANDRU3, Daniela Gabriela CIMBRU3
1”Al. I. Cuza” University, Faculty of Geography and Geology, Department of Geography, Iași, ROMANIA
² Romanian Space Agency, Bucharest, ROMANIA
³ University of Bucharest, Faculty of Geography, Bucharest, ROMANIA
Jahangirnagar University, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Dhaka, BANGLADESH
E-mail: ioana.vlad@rosa.ro, corneliu_iatu@yahoo.fr
Pages: 119-129

Abstract. This article focuses on a specific dimension of environmental quality: land use and land cover, which experienced changes over time, having an important impact on biodiversity loss worldwide, causing soil and air pollution, altering local and regional hydrology. The main objective of this research was to review land use and land cover changes and to identify socio-demographic synergies in the urban area, by validating existing changes extracted from Earth Observation satellite data, provided by Corine Land Cover classes. To link these changes to statistical socio-demographic variables, we used the Pearson correlation coefficient and comparison tools. The study area was represented by the urban area in the South-East Danube Region. Results showed that there were classes that extended their territory, such as Galați, Brăila, Tulcea and classes that reduced their teritory such as forest, semi-natural and agricultural areas in almost all the analysed areas.

K e y w o r d s:  land use, change, urban area, in-situ, indicator, correlation, policy