Special Issue "Land Use and Sustainability"

Guest Editor
Dr. Brian Deal
University of Illinois, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, 111 Temple Buell Hall, 611 Taft Dr., Champaign, IL 61820, USA
E-Mail:
Interests: land use; urban planning; spatial modeling; dynamic modeling; green infrastructure; energy systems; energy conservation

Dear Colleagues,

Imagine the future of 21st century urban society: megacities are straining global resources; mega-regions, with regional governments are challenging established political identities; common values towards development and stewardship proliferate worldwide; an ubiquitous internet infrastructure penetrates all walks of life; and the inescapable realities of climate change are an omnipresent part of everyday existence.

This issue looks at land use sustainability from an evolutionary perspective. What are the approaches, methods and tools needed to shape the development of human habitats and ensure their sustainability into an uncertain future?

Brian Deal, Ph. D.
Guest Editor

• land use sustainability
• climate change
• local impacts
• models
• green infrastructure
• land use regulation
• sustainable transportation
• smart growth

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Beyond Design: the Importance of Construction and Post-construction Phases in Sustainable Developments
Author: Mark Hostetler
Affiliation: Extension Wildlife Specialist, Department of Wildlife Ecology & Conservation, IFAS, University of Florida, 215 Newins-Ziegler Hall, PO Box 110430, Gainesville, FL 32611-0430, USA; E-Mail: hostetm@ufl.edu
Abstract: Essentially this essay focuses on the subdivision of land and the challenges and solutions to creating sustainable communities. Once land use decisions are made (at the broad scale), there may be overlays and Land Development Regulations (LDRs) that encourage/regulate the creation of sustainable communities within given areas. However, how do these function over the long term? From my experiences and examples in the literature, most effort is on design (e.g., clustering of homes and conserving x percentage of open space), but sustainable communities often fail because of what happens during construction and post-construction phases. During construction, impacts of earthwork machines, improper protection of conserved open spaces, etc. can impact conserved areas both within and surrounding the development site. During post-construction, the management of homes, yards, open space, and neighborhoods is dependent on implementing a management plan that engages the homeowners. This essay will discuss the dynamic interactions among design, construction, and post-construction and the way forward to create functional, sustainable communities.

Type of Paper: Review
Author: Christine Rösch; E-Mail: christine.roesch@kit.edu
Abstract: The satisfaction of different needs for food and fodder, raw materials and bioenergy, settlement and transportation, recreation and tourism as well as nature protection requires suitable spaces which are restricted strongly. The political goal to increase the share of renewable energy in Germany from today 6 % to 12-15 % of the total fuel production in 2020 increases the existing competition for land-use because energy plants are needed to reach this target. In this article the possible conflicts in land-use and their main causes are identified and the economic, ecological and social impacts of land-use are analysed. Based on this survey sustainable strategies to reduce the demand for land as well as the negative impacts of land-use will be investigated. The main focus of the article will be on Germany, however the effects of political decision making on the national and European level on land-use in other countries will be considered too.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: External Costs as Driving Forces of Land Use Changes
Author: Dirk Löhr
Affiliation: Environmental-Campus, Birkenfeld, University of Applied Sciences, Trier, PO Box 1380, D-55761 Birkenfeld, Germany; E-Mail: d.loehr@umwelt-campus.de
Abstract: Land conversion is often not done in a sustainable way. The loss of arable land and biodiversity, concern about food security, rising costs of infrastructure due to urban sprawl are only some problems under discussion. The paper wants to show that the beneficiaries of land conversion are often good organized actors, whereas the costs of land conversion often are shifted to poorly organized groups and to society as a whole. A sustainable land use policy has to look for a better coupling of benefits and costs of land use changes. The article discusses in brief some policy designs in order to achieve this target.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Modelling Land Use Scenarios for Flood Risk Mitigation
Authors: José I. Barredo ¹ and Guy Engelen ²
Affiliations: ¹ European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Land Management Unit, TP 261, I-21020 Ispra, Italy; E-Mail: jose.barredo@jrc.ec.europa.eu
² VITO-Flemish Institute for Technological Research, Expertise Centre for Integrated Environmental Studies, B-2400 Mol, Belgium
Abstract: It is generally accepted that flood risk increases in Europe. Thus, it becomes a priority to better understand its components and mechanisms. Flood risk is evaluated on the basis of three factors: hazard, exposure and vulnerability. If one of these three elements increases, then so does risk. Expanding urban developments and associated land use dynamics are recognised as one of the main causes of increased flood risk in Europe. Land use change models used for ex-ante assessment of spatial trends provide planners with powerful tools for territorial decision making. However, until recently the usage of the latter type of tools has been largely neglected in strategic planning for flood hazard mitigation. Thus, ex-ante assessment of flood risk in urban areas remains an innovative application of land use change models. A key rationale of this paper is to propose flood risk mitigation schemes including exposure scenarios. To that effect, a cellular automata-based model for land use scenario simulation is used for exploring different development paths. The proposed methodology enables to weigh off ex-ante the effects of urban and regional planning instruments and policies against the option of no intervention. The methodology is applied in the Pordenone province in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region in northern Italy. In the past 50 years Pordenone has suffered several heavy floods, the disastrous consequences of which demonstrated how vulnerable this area is. Historical land use maps and the scenarios produced by the land use change model are used for flood risk assessment in an integrated spatio-temporal context. Results of this study confirm that the main driving force of increased flood risk has to be sought in new urban developments in flood-prone areas.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Destitution through Development: A Case Study of the Laka Laka Project in Cochabamba, Bolivia
Author: Avrum J. Shriar
Affiliation: Urban/Regional Studies and Planning, L.D. Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University
923 West Franklin Street, Richmond, VA, 23284-2028, USA; E-Mail: ajshriar@vcu.edu
Abstract: Numerous infrastructure projects in developing countries have led to negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts, due to poor planning and, more specifically, a failure to fully consider and address the potential for such impacts. In some cases the resulting environmental impacts have made it difficult if not impossible to sustain a traditional, subsistence-based lifestyle in particular communities or regions. This study sought to examine the principal environmental and socioeconomic outcomes of a water sector project in Cochabamba Department, Bolivia, and gain insights into how and why its design and planning were so clearly flawed. The research relied on a combination of project and other literature review, as well as fieldwork conducted in the mid-1990s while the project was being implemented, and again in 2005. The fieldwork involved discussions with project technical staff and other professionals familiar with the project, as well as informal conversations and interviews with farmers and other householders in the project area. The study revealed that this $8 million (???) project, completed in the late 1990s, effectively destroyed a traditional irrigation system that had been used for thousands of years, and replaced it with a system fraught with numerous problems. The new irrigation system provides insufficient and diminishing quantities of water to many fewer people within a smaller overall area, appears to be causing land degradation, and has led to deep socioeconomic divisions, and even conflicts, within and among the area's communities. The study raises interesting questions about the pressures and incentives that seemingly compel international and local development agencies to charge ahead with projects even when they have obvious potential for significant, negative impact.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Conservation Value of Residential Open Space: Designation and Management Language of Florida's Land Development Regulations
Authors: Dara Wald and Mark Hostetler; E-Mails: dwald@ufl.edu; hostetm@ufl.edu
Abstract: Florida's rapid population growth has prompted communities and governments to encourage sustainable development practices, including the protection of open space areas within private subdivisions. As part of Florida's Land Development Regulations, county codes must adequately address the design (type and quantity) and long-term management of open space within residential subdivisions. Neglecting design and management can result in the conservation of inadequate or inappropriate habitat areas and degraded habitat over time. A content analysis of Land Development Regulations in 57 counties analyzed the strength of county policies regarding the conservation value of open space for residential developments. Researchers evaluated the amount of open space required, open space protection during construction, the delegation of management responsibilities, and the designation of funds for management. The results suggest that the majority of Florida's county land codes contain some language designating open space. There was a great deal of diversity across the state in terms of the percentage of open space required, the definition of open space, and the prohibited and allowable elements within the open space. Codes generally failed to address important management criteria, including funding for management, specific management recommendations or consequences for failure to appropriately manage open space. We conclude that Florida can improve the conservation value of its protected areas by enhancing land development codes so that they require specific conservation designs, long-term maintenance efforts, funding for maintenance, and education for nearby homeowners.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: The Real Estate and Economic Crisis. An Opportunity for Urban Return and Rehabilition Policies in Spain
Author: Jesús M. González Pérez
Affiliation: University of Balearic Islands, Spain; E-Mail: jesus.gonzalez@uib.es
Abstract: In the early 1980s, counter-urbanism processes became widespread in major cities in Spain and an interesting stage of returning to city centres commenced that materialised in the start of rehabilitation policies in historic centres. These processes coincided with weak population growth, an acute industrial economic crisis and new democratic policies in municipal councils. Three decades later, we may be witnessing similar processes, although with different origins. The consequences of a construction-based economic model have been disastrous in Spain, both from the economic as well as environmental point of view. The artificial land boom was significant throughout the country, yet especially in the Mediterranean area that specialises in tourism and real estate (second homes). The burst real estate bubble has demonstrated the economic model’s irrationality and serious social and environmental consequences it has left in its wake. This article’s objective within this context is to study the policies of returning to city centres and rehabilitation caused by the new political and economic context, an urban rehabilitation that is gradually including new spaces for intervention and introducing new sustainable methods for recovering degraded spaces, such as the Master Plan for Platja de Palma, a mature tourism destination that seeks a final ‘0 CO₂ balance’ scenario, among other objectives.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: A Multi-Agent Planning Support –System for Assessing Externalities of Urban Form Scenarios: Results of Case Studies
Authors: Rachel Katoshevski-Cavari ¹, Theo Arentze ², and Harry Timmermans ²
Affilitions: ¹ Urban Planning, POB 4045 Omer, Israel; E-Mail: krachel@bgu.ac.il
² Technical University Eindhoven Den Dolech 2, POB 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands; E-Mails: H.J.P.Timmermans@tue.nl (H.T.); T.A.Arentze@tue.nl (T.A.)
Abstract: The relationship between various planning-ideas and sustainability is described, using a dedicated multi-agent model and demonstrated by a case study. The analysis supports planning based on preferences and behavior of a targeted-population. Two objectives are addressed: (1) Examine the effect of different planning ideas-scenarios on the development of the built-environment and; in particular, how different planning-scenarios can contribute to a sustainable built-environment, and (2) Demonstrate the relevancy of the multi-agent model as a tool for planning and evaluating planning-alternatives. Four planning scenarios are included and three performance-indicators measuring aspects of sustainability (accessibility, mobility, and viability) are employed in the analysis.
Keywords: urban planning; urban form; planning ideas; sustainable environment; planning tool; planning evaluation

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Monitoring Land Use: Capturing Change through an Information Fusion Approach
Authors: Mark R. Altaweel 1, Lilian N. Alessa 2, Andrew D. Kliskey 2 and Christopher E. Bone 2
Affiliations: 1 Computation Institute, University of Chicago / 5640 S. Ellis Avenue, RI 405, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; E-Mail: mraltawe@uchicago.edu
2 Resilience and Adaptive Management Group, University of Alaska Anchorage / 3101 Science Circle, Anchorage, AK 99508, USA; E-Mails: afla@uaa.alaska.edu (L. N. A.); afceb@uaa.alaska.edu (C. E. B.)
Abstract: Social and environmental factors affecting land use change are among the most significant drivers transforming the planet. Such change has been and continues to be monitored through the use of satellite imagery, aerial photography, and technical reports. While these monitoring tools are useful in observing the empirical results of land use change and issues of sustainability, the data they provide are often not useful in capturing the fundamental policies, social drivers, and unseen factors that shape how landscapes are transformed. In addition, some monitoring approaches can be prohibitively expensive and too slow in providing useful data at a timescale in which data are needed. This paper argues that techniques using information fusion and conducting assessments of continuous data feeds can be beneficial for monitoring primary social and ecological mechanisms affecting how geographic settings are changed over different time scales. We present a computational approach that couples open source tools in order to conduct an analysis of text data, helping to determine relevant events and trends. To demonstrate the approach, we discuss a case study that integrates varied newspapers from two Midwest states in the United States, Iowa and Nebraska, showing how potentially significant issues and events can be captured. Although the approach we present is useful for monitoring current web-based data streams, we argue that such a method should ultimately be integrated closely with less managed systems and modeling techniques to enhance not only land use monitoring but also to better forecast and understand landscape change.
Keywords: monitoring; land use; information fusion; social-ecological; data mining; modeling