Following Romania’s regime change in 1989 and its accession to the European Union (EU) in 2007, the country experienced substantial land-use and land cover (LULC) changes driven by political, economic, and demographic processes. Early post-socialist property restitution led to land fragmentation, agricultural abandonment, and the expansion of pastures and semi-natural vegetation, while rural areas became dominated by small, semi-subsistence farms. After EU accession, the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), combined with foreign direct investment and market consolidation, reshaped agricultural practices and intensified urbanization, particularly in suburban municipalities, with growth following radial and linear patterns along major transportation corridors. This study analyses LULC dynamics in the Bucharest-Ilfov Development Region across three distinct phases—post-communist transition (1993–2000), EU pre-accession (2000–2015), and post-accession (2015–2022)—combining regional- and municipality-level analyses and using Landsat imagery, GIS, and landscape metrics. Four LULC maps (1993, 2000, 2015, and 2022) were produced with a Random Forest classifier, achieving macro F1-scores above 0.86. Population data from the National Institute of Statistics suggest contrasting patterns between urban expansion and demographic trends, with Bucharest showing population decline despite modest urban growth, and Ilfov County exhibiting parallel increases in population and urbanized areas. Results highlight rapid urban sprawl, sustained agricultural decline, and increasing landscape fragmentation. Discrepancies with earlier studies partly reflect temporal effects related to post-socialist industrial restructuring and differences in data sources and spatial resolution. These findings highlight the need for integrated urban planning strategies to balance development pressures with the preservation of agricultural land and ecological resources.
Navarro et al. (Fri,) studied this question.