Rural areas are pivotal in the global economy, hence rural development planners and decision makers face significant technical and information management challenges, hindering their ability to assess sustainable development and formulate strategies. These challenges, coupled with shifts in traditional rural activities, aging populations, and climate change impacts, create inequalities and threaten rural communities. Therefore, developing approaches for the assessment of changes in rural areas are required. In recent years, remote sensing has emerged as a useful tool for monitoring the complex dynamics of rural regions, with a notable increase in the accessibility and use of freely available satellite data and platforms for tracking changes in land use and land cover (LULC). In light of this trend, this article analyzes the spatio-temporal trends in eight different development regions in Japan, Germany, Poland and Spain and integrates them with population data. This research relied on the utilization of openly available datasets - satellite imagery from Landsat and WorldPop population data, processed in Google Earth Engine (GEE). The time series of Landsat imagery were employed to analyze changes in LULC over a 20-year period from 2000 to 2020 in each test site. Unique combinations (i.e. each pixel history) were systematically examined and categorized based on established rules, with improbable scenarios marked as "uncertain." The comparison demonstrates that all eight regions have unique spatial, temporal and thematic characteristics. The most significant changes observed include the transformation of tree-covered areas into built-up areas in the case of Tsukuba and into agricultural lands in Shibushi. In the Bodzentyn and Połaniec communes in Poland, agricultural lands have transitioned into forested areas. In Spain, there is an increase in built-up areas, particularly at the outskirts of established towns. In Germany, the results indicate an expansion of built-up and agricultural areas in the Fürth region, while the Regen region experienced an increase in agricultural land. Incorporating population data reveals relationships between different types of LULC conversions and population trends, showing clear positive trends in areas transformed from agricultural and tree-covered land to built-up areas, with the most profound changes observed in Spanish cases and Tsukuba. The findings from automatic LULC classification highlight the usefulness of this tool in identifying socio-economic changes, especially when it is integrated with and compared to statistical data. Policy makers and planners at local levels should consider these specific values as a foundational reference point for shaping their plans related to sustainable development, land use, environmental preservation, and resource management.

中文翻译：

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探索农村地区的土地利用动态。对北半球八个案例的分析


农村地区在全球经济中至关重要，因此农村发展规划者和决策者面临着重大的技术和信息管理挑战，阻碍了他们评估可持续发展和制定战略的能力。这些挑战，加上传统农村活动的转变、人口老龄化和气候变化影响，造成不平等并威胁农村社区。因此，需要制定评估农村地区变化的方法。近年来，遥感已成为监测农村地区复杂动态的有用工具，用于跟踪土地利用和土地覆盖（LULC）变化的免费卫星数据和平台的获取和使用显着增加。针对这一趋势，本文分析了日本、德国、波兰和西班牙8个不同发展地区的时空趋势，并将其与人口数据相结合。这项研究依赖于公开可用的数据集——来自 Landsat 和 WorldPop 人口数据的卫星图像，并在 Google Earth Engine (GEE) 中进行处理。利用 Landsat 图像的时间序列来分析每个试验点 2000 年至 2020 年 20 年间 LULC 的变化。根据既定规则对独特的组合（即每个像素历史记录）进行系统检查和分类，将不可能的场景标记为“不确定”。比较表明，所有八个区域都具有独特的空间、时间和主题特征。观察到的最显着的变化包括筑波的树木覆盖区域转变为建筑区，以及志布志的农业用地。 在波兰的 Bodzentyn 和 Połaniec 公社，农业用地已转变为森林地区。在西班牙，建筑面积不断增加，特别是在已建成城镇的郊区。在德国，结果表明菲尔特地区的建筑面积和农业面积有所扩大，而雷根地区的农业用地有所增加。纳入人口数据揭示了不同类型的土地利用和土地利用转变与人口趋势之间的关系，显示出从农业和树木覆盖的土地转变为建成区的地区明显的积极趋势，其中在西班牙案例和筑波地区观察到最深刻的变化。自动土地利用和覆盖率分类的结果凸显了该工具在识别社会经济变化方面的有用性，特别是当它与统计数据整合和比较时。地方层面的政策制定者和规划者应将这些具体价值观视为制定可持续发展、土地利用、环境保护和资源管理相关计划的基本参考点。