Review of Experience in Recent Studies on the Dynamics of Land Urbanisation

Urbanisation rapidly accelerated in the 20th century. Along with the increasing dynamics of this phenomenon, the desire to know its origins and its course as well as to anticipate its effects is also growing. Investigations into the mechanisms governing urbanisation have become the subject of numerous studies and research projects. In addition, there has been a rapid increase in the number of tools and methods used to track and measure this phenomenon. However, new methods are still being sought to identify changes in space caused by urbanisation. Some of the indicators of urbanisation processes taking place include quantitative, qualitative and structural changes in land use, occurring at a certain time and place. These processes, related to human activity at a given time and in a given area, are determined by spatial diffusion, usually spreading from the city center towards the peripheral zones. Changes in land use involve the transition from less intensive to more intensive forms of land use. The constant effort to acquire new land for development, the search for alternative solutions for the location of investments and the need to determine the correct direction of development generates the need to constantly apply newer methods in the study of the dynamics of urbanisation processes. This paper presents an overview of recent studies and the most interesting—in the authors’ opinion—methods used in research into the dynamics of urbanisation processes. The main objective of the authors was to produce a compendium to guide the reader through the wide range of topics and to provide inspiration for their own research.