Assessing Change in a High-Value Landscape: Case Study of the Municipality of Sobotka, Poland

This article presents analyses made in the first stage of research on determining landscape capacity of Sobotka municipality located in Lower Silesia in Poland, partially within Sleza Landscape Park and Bystrzyca Valley Landscape Park. The main objective of the study was to determine the level of change that took place in the high-value landscape of the analysed area in 1938-2016, and to identify the threat level of changes in the future. I began research by preparing maps showing the main elements of land cover for the three periods to be examined. Using of the maps, I developed a database of the surface of the main elements constituting the background landscape of the research area. I relied on available cartographic documents and aerial photographs from the years 1938, 1977, and 2014, plus field studies carried out in 2016. The data obtained made it possible to assess the level of change in two different periods by means of the landscape change index. The analysis helped identify areas where landscape changes were the highest and areas where changes were hardly noticeable. The last step was to identify to what degree the landscape is threatened with changes in the future, current spatial policy of the local authorities being the basis for it.