Artificial surfaces in the Raya Central Ibérica. Use generalized linear models to define driving forces of the territorial changes

Abstract

The rapid changes that the socio-demographic structure and the economic activity are experiencing in the “Raya Central Ibérica”, and that are produced for the new socioeconomic needs, the concentration of the population in the principal cities, the abandon of the rural spaces, the growth of irrigation areas, etc., they motivate changes in the artificial surfaces. A spatial analysis is applied to determine the principal driving forces of the artificial surfaces changes. For this, different tools are in use in order to differentiate the land use and land cover changes or the driving forces. The changes were quantified by statistical technologies and images of CORINE Land Cover Project and the driving factors were analyzed by logistic regressions (generalized linear models) combining human and geophysics variables. Conclusions show the suitability of the employment of the information of CORINE Land Cover project, the significant selected independent variables, and the validity of the generalized linear models for the explanation of the land use and land cover change of a certain territory.