Sustainability in Land Use Planning: Tools and Case Studies

Dear Colleagues, 

Growing challenges facing humankind—such as climate change (CC), rising population, urbanisation, poverty, disasters, resource depletion, food insecurity, unbalanced development, crime, social exclusion, and war—have necessitated the need for sustainable solutions. Land use planning is essential in addressing most of these intractable development problems and providing sustainable solutions (UN-Habitat, 2009; Baffour Awuah, 2021; Liu et al., 2024). The fundamental role of land use planning is to allocate land resources efficiently across various desired uses of land to ensure an adequate provision for society’s various needs. Although not often thought of as such, land use planning promotes more than land resources allocation; it includes the allocation of certain financial and human resources and is very essential to socio-economic development (Baffour Awuah, 2021). Accordingly, land use planning, in concert with sustainable land administration, management, and valuation, environmental, resource, and disaster management, urban regeneration, climate science, and advances in technology, among others, is supposed to help manage and address issues such as population growth, urbanisation, access to decent and affordable housing, poverty, urban sprawl, environmental issues of anthropogenic biodiversity loss, infrastructure provision, and the climate change menace (Baffour Awuah and Abdulai, 2022). For example, the World Cities Report notes that land use planning, advanced technology, and effective use of data for evidence-based decisions have the possibility of providing a city’s leadership with new methods and tools for effective urban development and service management (UN-Habitat, 2016).

Land use planning and complementary disciplines’ systems, approaches, methods, and tools are numerous and have evolved over time. Some authors (cf. Liu et al., 2024) categorise evolution of land use planning tools into four groups: foundational surveying tools, computerised tools, IT tools, and smart tools. These systems, approaches, methods, and tools have included rudimentary surveys, zoning and master planning, just cities, collaborative planning, land use regulations, taxation, and incentives. The effluxion of time and advances in technology have also witnessed the integration and introduction of other tools such as geographic information systems (GISs), remote sensing technologies, 3D modelling and simulation, Building Information Modelling (BIM), drones for land surveys, smart city technologies, public engagement platforms, cloud-based collaboration tools, simulation models, green technologies, and an integrated approach to systems thinking. These tools, based on advanced modelling, big data, data analytics, AI, simulation, and collaborative visualisation, can allow stakeholders to establish a comprehensive understanding of the current settlements’ challenges and to evaluate the impact of various land development options on the community, the economy, and the environment. After which, they can choose sound solutions, giving due consideration to vulnerable communities and climate change adaptation (UN-Habitat, 2016). Furthermore, city management services such as waste management, traffic management, pollution control, water management, and disaster management can be made much more efficient and sustainable through technology solutions built around IoT, big data, data analytics, AI, etc., (UN-Habitat, 2016).

Nonetheless, the application of the above systems, approaches, methods, and tools is not linear and has been uneven across the world. For example, whilst local real estate tax is considered a useful land use planning tool to influence the nature of land development, urban form, land use patterns, location of development, and density of communities in the developed world (Henderson and Liu, 2023), it is hardly used in the developing world (Bird and Slack, 2004). Furthermore, the application of sustainability tools for land use planning such as land use indicators, simulation models, green infrastructure, as well as resource and environmental carrying capacity in places like Tainan City in Taiwan and Qiqihar in China to shepherd developments that particularly track and analyse climate impacts, integrate different land uses, and improve ecosystem services in rural and urban settings towards long-term environmental and socio-economic progress is not the same as in other areas. This implies that apart fromthe different theoretical underpinnings of the various land use planning systems, approaches, methods, and tools, there are also differences in case studies, applications, and experiences. An account of these different systems, tools, and case studies that highlight their applications and experiences across the globe in a coordinated manner is hardly encountered in the literature. Yet, such accounts are imperative to international efforts in addressing the many development challenges confronting the world today. 

This Special Issue aims to bring together a systematic collection of works across the world providing insights into sustainability in land use planning, with emphasis on systems, approaches, methods, and tools that aid in the sustainable management of our natural and built environments. The differences in sustainable land use planning systems, approaches, methods and tools applied, case studies, and conditions in various parts of the world require experiences to be shared and lessons to be learnt for socio-economic progress. It is, therefore, based on this foregoing rationale that this Special Issue is fashioned. 

This Special Issue invites both conceptual and empirical submissions that investigate new and emerging initiatives, programmes, projects, etc., on sustainability in land use planning as applied to the built and natural environments across the globe through both theoretical and practical lenses. 

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

References

Baffour Awuah, K.G. (2021). Economic Incentives in Sub-Saharan African Urban Planning: A Ghanaian Case Study. London: Routledge.

Baffour Awuah, K.G. and Abdulai, R.T. (2022). Urban Land and Development Management in a Challenged Developing World: An Overview of New Reflections. Land, 11(1):129. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11010129

Bird, R.M and Slack, E. (2004). (Eds). International Handbook of Land and Property Taxation, Edward Elgar Publishing: London.

Henderson, J.V. and Liu,V. (2023). Urban land markets and city development: Sub-Saharan Africa. Geography and Environment Discussion Paper Series, Paper No. 44, Department of Geography and Environment, LSE, London, UK.

Liu, Y., Timo de Vries, W., Zhang, G. and Cui, X. (2024). From tradition to smart: A comprehensive review of the evolution and prospects of land use planning tools. Heliyon, 10,  23e40857. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e40857.

UN-Habitat (2009). Planning sustainable cities: policy directions, global report on human settlements. London: Earthscan.

UN-Habitat (2016). World Cities Report 2016: Urbanization and Development - Emerging Futures. London: Earthscan.

Dr. Kwasi Gyau Baffour Awuah
Dr. Raymond Abdulai
Guest Editors

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• case studies
• land use planning
• natural environment
• sustainability
• the built environment
• tools