Land Use Changes in the Alpine Area of Lombardy: A Challenge for AI

The sustainable development of remote and ecologically sensitive regions, such as mountain landscapes, depends also upon land use management. This study examines land use dynamics in the Alpine region of Lombardy, Italy, as delineated by the eco-regions defined by the Italian Statistical Institute (ISTAT). By analyzing land use data from Regional Agency for Services to Agriculture and Forestry (ERSAF), we assess the 2013 and the 2018 status for 19 relevant land use categories, along with the identification of net changes observed during this period. This exploratory work, based on the use of high volume data, lays the foundations for a wider project that aims at modeling spatial autocorrelation, outlining the challenges this estimation would lead to, when managing such a huge volume of data via AI algorithms.