Land use change across contexts and scales: A chronostratigraphic approach

Land use change is usually analysed through fixed spatial and temporal scales that flatten the diverse relational, multi-scalar and historical processes behind the observed spatial patterns. In a world more and more globally interconnected, this article presents a novel transdisciplinary methodological framework to investigate land use change across diverse geographical contexts and scales. Inspired by chronostratigraphic thinking applied to history, at the core of our method lies the chronostratigraphic matrix , an analytical tool we have developed to assemble local geonarratives of land use change as layered temporal sequences, enabling the identification of synchronicities, divergences and path dependencies across contexts and scales, without imposing a single spatial or temporal unit of analysis. Applied to 12 case studies in Europe, where geonarratives have been collected through participatory mapping workshops, our methodological framework reveals that similar land use categories often follow divergent temporal trajectories, while land use transitions similar in type unfold nonetheless at different speeds and intensities. These findings highlight the fundamentally asynchronous and multi-layered nature of land use change, demonstrating how such non-synchronicity can be itself a lens to further investigate underlying socio-economic, political and governance power dimensions. The article concludes by discussing the methodological and governance implications of adopting relational, process-oriented methodological frameworks in spatial analysis and land use planning.