Physical accessibility and its role in landscape development—three historical analyses from South Slovakia

Abstract

Physical accessibility is recognised as an important driver or factor affecting landscape development in an increasing number of studies. This work uses cost-distance methods for analysis of landscape accessibility, and presents the analysis in three historical time periods focused on the effect of accessibility on landscape development in South Slovakia. First, from periods when the cultural landscape was forming, the effect of landscape accessibility on the location of settlements is given. The variables explaining the location of historical settlements are: slope steepness, accessibility to water expressed by distance to fluvial sediments and distance within 500 m from suitable soils for agriculture. The second example is from the second half of the twentieth century, when the small-scale agricultural landscape was transformed into large-scale fields suitable for industrial agriculture. Agricultural fields located on steeper slopes and closer to settlements were more likely to survive the collectivisation of agriculture. The third example shows accessibility as a factor affecting the abandonment of the remaining traditional agricultural landscapes (TAL) as a consequence of the economic and cultural changes triggered by the transition to an open market economy. The TAL located on less accessible areas are more likely affected by the abandonment.