Spatial interaction model of land use – An application to Corvo Island from the 16th, 19th and 20th centuries

This paper aims to understand the interaction between economy and land use through a spatial interaction model that highlights the relationships between activities and zones based on relative accessibilities, bid-rents, capacities and technical coefficients. The novelty regarding operational spatial models is the consideration of non-urban uses such as the hinterland agricultural activities and the respective aptitudes of land use. The equilibrium between supply and demand for each activity in each zone is achieved by adjusting bid-rents for each activity per zone, thereby enabling the restriction of the available area for each type of soil in each zone. The model allows the simulation of historical and future scenarios, illustrated by the example of Corvo Island in the Azores.