ANALYSIS OF LANDSCAPE TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE URBAN-RURAL GRADIENT OF THE METROPOLITAN DISTRICT OF QUITO

Abstract

In contexts of globalization, economic restructuring and information and communication revolution, the relocation of services in peripheries and new urban expansion patterns have drastically altered periurban landscapes. However, due to its transformation speed, there is limited knowledge regarding the spatiotemporal changes of these interstitial territories. Calculating landscape metrics in high resolution satellite images, this research analyses spatiotemporal transformations in the Metropolitan District of Quito urban-rural gradient, testing a novel and accurate method to identify urbanization tendencies. The results evidence the main role that new road-infrastructures have had in the urban expansion. Also, the analyses identify significant changes in agricultural coverages (related to rural lots subdivision) and the processes of vegetation fragmentation, evidencing the environmental fragility of these territories in transformation. Finally, the Markov chains modelling technique was applied, exploring the landscape change probabilities in the following years. This methodology can be particularly useful in land-use planning policies since it provides precise knowledge about the main tendencies of urbanization.