Transformations of agriculture and natural lands to urban use are dominant and well known effects of urbanization, but consistent and reliable methods to map regional-scale land transitions are limited. Herein, we develop a land use classification approach to assess spatiotemporal patterns of urban expansion and associated land use changes. We utilized a 33-year annual time series (1984–2016) of fractional land characteristics and cover data from Landsat satellite imagery to summarize multidecadal land use transitions on the pixel and census dissemination area level for 18 major Canadian cities. Across Canada, 41% of peri-urban areas analyzed experienced a transition, converting about 2,700 sq-km of natural and/or agriculture to an urban use. West coast peri-urban areas observed the greatest area conversion of natural to urban use (39%). In contrast, peri-urban areas of the Prairies (i.e. west-center stratum) experienced the greatest area transition from an agriculture to urban use (41%), while west- and east-center observed marked rates of natural to urban transitions (3.9 and 3.5% per annum per sq-km, respectively). Current high population densities were generally associated with historic losses of agriculture or natural use, while regional differences in correlations between land use trends and current levels of income, new residential construction, and single-detached housing highlight the potential influence of urban policies and historic socio-economic trajectories. The developed dynamic land use classification provides a reliable, transparent, and nationally consistent method to tabulate land use intensity across various spatiotemporal scales and may enhance interpretation of interdisciplinary studies involving social and community outcomes.

农业和自然土地向城市利用的转化是城市化的主导和众所周知的影响，但是用于绘制区域规模土地过渡的一致而可靠的方法是有限的。本文中，我们开发了一种土地利用分类方法，以评估城市扩张和相关土地利用变化的时空格局。我们使用了33年的部分土地特征的年度时间序列（1984-2016），并从Landsat卫星图像中获得了覆盖数据，以总结了加拿大18个主要城市在像素和人口普查传播区域一级的数十年土地利用变化。在整个加拿大，所分析的41％的近郊地区经历了转型，将约2700平方公里的自然和/或农业转变为城市用途。西海岸近郊地区观察到自然向城市利用的最大面积转变（39％）。相比之下，大草原沿郊地区（即中西部阶层）经历了从农业到城市使用的最大面积转变（41％），而中西部地区和东部中部则经历了自然到城市的明显转变（3.9）和每年每平方公里3.5％）。当前的高人口密度通常与农业或自然利用的历史损失有关，而土地利用趋势与当前收入水平，新住宅建设和独立屋之间的相关性区域差异突出了城市政策和历史社会的潜在影响-经济轨迹。发达的动态土地利用分类提供了可靠，透明，