Historical cultural landscape development and land use change in the Swabian Alb Biosphere Reserve

In the project the historical development of the cultural landscape and land use change in the Swabian Alb biosphere area will be investigated. Land use change since around 1800 is being recorded. Historical maps serve as the basis for the creation of GIS shapefiles and enable spatial visualisation and analysis. In addition to the quantitative map evaluation of different land use types, the relevant literature on the development of cultural landscapes is analysed in order to explain the land use changes. One focus is the development of former land use in today's core zones of the biosphere area and the designation of historically old forest areas based on old maps since around 1800 in today's core zones.