Reassessment of Land Use and Land Cover of Thrace Peninsula According to Corine Land Classification System

Abstract

Previous studies indicated that the continuous growth of the city structure triggered the expansion of the discontinuous city structure towards the environment in the provincial borders of Tekirdağ, occupying the fertile agricultural lands and natural environment in an uncontrolled manner. Furthermore, due to the migration and rapid population growth in recent years, the expansion of settlement areas causes decrease in pastures, forest lands and various land changes in the area. This study aims to investigate whether there has been any destruction and decrease in agricultural land areas in the Thrace Region during the last three decades, and which land classes, if any, replaced agricultural lands. IDRISI Land Change Modeler was utilized in this study where Corine land classification system data of 1990, 2000 and 2018 were used. As a result, when the land classes are examined as loss and gain, a land loss of approximately 160 km 2 was experienced in agricultural lands between 1990 and 2000, whereas an increase of about 150 km 2 was observed in built-up areas during the same period. Examining the change between 1990 and 2018, a more complex picture was observed. In this period, there were serious losses in some areas of agricultural lands and natural lands (100 km 2 and 500 km 2 respectively), while in some regions an increase (approximately 600 km 2 in each land cover) was observed. During the same period, an increase of approximately 250 km 2 has occurred in built-up areas.