KULTURLANDSCHAFT IM WANDEL: EIN INDIKATORENBASIERTER RÜCKBLICK BIS IN DAS 19. JAHRHUNDERT: Fallstudie anhand der Gemeinden Waidhofen/Ybbs und Paldau.

During the industrialisation the use of land has changed considerably. Appropriate tools are needed to monitor land use trends and sustainable development. These requirements are met by indicator systems. Indicator-based frameworks are available for the assessment of land development from both, quantitative and qualitative points of view. However, these studies are usually limited to a recent period due to data availability. Analysing long-term trends offers the possibility of apprehending the current situation in a broader context. In this paper, we analysed the cultural landscape change of two Austrian municipalities in the alpine fringe region covering almost 200 years. We created spatially explicit land use data for three time cuts (1820, 1960, 2015) based on historical cadastral maps, aerial photographs and orthophotos. Our analysis focused on the development paths of settlement, forest and agricultural areas, for which geospatial indicators of sustainable development were selected. For each time cut, the indicators were aggregated to an overall index and then compared. The implemented indicator system was suitable to detect trends in land use changes. In both study areas the overall index is significantly lower today than it was in 1820, which represents a negatively valued cultural landscape change. Although there are differences in the development paths, settlement development shows the strongest negative trend in both communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]