Influence of socio-economic conditions on land use

Abstract

The main focus of this chapter is put on driving forces of land use changes. Authors distinguish among political, economic, social, technological, and cultural driving forces; the importance of different types much depends on how developed the society is. The greatest attention is devoted to social driving forces as these were behind the land use changes over the last 200 years especially in Europe and North America. Different phases of the “Complex Revolution of the Modern Age” are outlined and the spatial diffusion of new technologies are shown. In the nineteenth century Czechia, technological advance in agriculture and farming innovations were crucial and allowed to cultivate land in a more intensive way. Political driving forces of land use changes were especially important in the second half of the twentieth century. After Communists had seized the power in Czechoslovakia (1948), cooperatives and state-owned estates prevailed, private farming was suppressed. Later on, following the collapse of Communism in 1989, rural areas were significantly influenced by economic and social transformation. Socio-economic conditions in Czechia are outlined in brief, with special emphasis on geographical location and transport infrastructure. The concepts of centrality and peripherality are seen as crucial; core areas, neutral, and peripheral (marginal) regions are defined. The steady urban growth meant that most of the decision-making processes moved from rural areas to cities and towns—process that keeps continuing. The effects of transport infrastructure are studied too. The advance of railways seems to have a big influence on land use patterns in the fertile regions especially in the nineteenth century; later on, highways and modern roads became more important.