Rural landscapes are the result of a dynamic process driven by environmental and anthropogenic factors (Firmino, 1999; Wood and Handley, 2001) and the spatial patterns of their transformation through time are undoubtedly related to changes in land use (Potter and Lobley, 1996). In fact, the polarization between more intensive and more extensive use of land is the main trend of actual landscape changes (Antrop, 2005; Bender et al., 2005). It is accepted that socio-economic impacts are often determinant of the types of land use within a given region; they in turn affect environmental issues (Mander and Palang, 1994; Melluma, 1994).

From the middle of the last century, changes in the rural landscapes have been more sudden and have occurred at a broader scale as a result of the impacts of industrialisation, urbanization and, globalization in post nineties, which needs to be addressed at a local/micro scale (Antrop, 2005; Calvo-Iglesias et al., 2008). Landscape changes are diverse but very often influenced by regional and agricultural policies.

Agriculture has played an important role in the formation of the rural landscapes (Beaufoy et al., 1994; McCracken et al., 1995). However, during the past two decades, mechanization and concentration of exploitation have resulted in a general decrease in importance of the primary sector within rural communities, with their socio-professional structure increasingly resembling that of more urban environments. For a long time the majority group in rural environment were agrarian but today the changing scenario is mainly due to rural-urban migration and creation of special economic zones in fertile agriculture land in many countries (Hervieux, 2008). Patterns and processes of globalization have influenced contemporary rural land use trends with the emergence of unknown challenges for sustaining land use systems (Currit and Easterling, 2009). In order to address these challenges without compromising the environment and their local communities, land use planning considering landscape dynamics is necessary and crucial, especially to developing countries under severe environmental and demographic transitions (Food and Agriculture Organization, 1995).