Farming under urban pressure: Farmers' land use and land cover change intentions

Abstract

Decisions about future land use are complex and involve a wide range of factors. The perceptions, intentions, and interests of the stakeholders involved are usually unpredictable. Different stakeholders manage land by choosing different future options and revealing different expectations. Greater proximity to built-up areas confronts farmers with challenges about future land use and land cover change (LUCC).This study aims to identify how external drivers can affect farmers’ future LUCC intentions focusing on conversion of agricultural land to urban development. We explore two scenarios projected for the time horizon of 2025 based on farmers’ LUCC intentions: A0 – current social and economic trend; and B0 – increasing demand for urban development. We selected the Torres Vedras municipality (Portugal) as case study, an area predominantly agricultural but with a progressively urban intensification in the past two decades. We conducted interviews to capture the farmers’ LUCC intentions and modelled an artificial neural network – a multilayered perception to allocate the potential areas for urban development. Parishes with the highest urban pressure were identified using a cluster analysis. These were compared with areas expected to be urbanized (defined in the master plan). Results suggest an increasing farming intensity in the A0 scenario, and an urban growth increase of more than 40% in the B0 scenario, with negative impacts on farming expansion. The outcomes can be applied to spatial planning instruments in order to assist planners to define land transformation priorities and adjust them to spatial trends.