Landscape Ecology and Sustainable Land Use Strategies: Examples and Principles

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Landscape Ecology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 768

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Agriculture and Environment, College of Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand
Interests: sustainable landscape management; landscape ecology; environmental management; land system change; land use; GIS; environmental change; participatory research; co-production of knowledge; landscape planning and design and landscape function
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
The James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen, UK
Interests: land systems science; land use; GIS; sustainability; environmental change; landscape ecology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Land management increasingly needs to achieve multiple goals simultaneously, as challenges of food, biodiversity protection, healthy livelihoods, climate, and other environmental changes are faced locally, regionally, and globally. Making good decisions on how land is used has never been so critical, and the need for achieving sustainability has become more pronounced.  There is also  growing awareness that a landscape approach is fundamental to decision-making, which includes the many demands on land.

We already understand much about relationships between people and landscapes as well as the need to preserve and enhance ecosystem services that underpin human well-being, health, and economic stability.   We have a wealth of knowledge, tools, and approaches at our disposal to help guide our actions towards land use. What is urgently required is stronger integration between science, policy, and practice.  Political commitment is needed to prioritise long-term sustainability goals over short-term electoral cycles and ensure sustainable strategies are effectively implemented in a bipartisan manner. 

Landscape Ecology, with its transdisciplinary focus and landscape-scale approach, is in a unique position to contribute to sustainable land use strategies.  This Special Issue will explore ways in which landscape ecology can contribute towards sustainable land use and landscape management and how it can work at the interface of science, policy, and practice for sustainable outcomes. 

This Special Issues welcomes manscripts that address the following broad themes:

  • Landscape ecology and sustainable land use;
  • Exemplars of landscape-scale decision-making in pursuit of multiple goals;
  • Examples of landscape ecology supporting the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals.
  • We look forward to your original research articles and reviews.

Prof. Dr. Diane Pearson
Prof. Dr. Richard Aspinall
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • landscape ecology
  • sustainable land use and management
  • landscape-scale decision-making
  • sustainable development goals
  • science, policy, and practice in land systems management and decision-making

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

22 pages, 2984 KB  
Article
Urban Expansion and Landscape Pattern Dynamics in Urban Agglomerations: A Case Study of the Guanzhong Plain Urban Agglomeration, China
by Haiying Wu, Yixuan Wang, Aocheng Zhuang, Shengyi Qiang and Yongyong Song
Land 2026, 15(5), 768; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15050768 - 30 Apr 2026
Viewed by 354
Abstract
Urban agglomerations serve as crucial spatial carriers for advancing people-centered new urbanization. However, the integrated analysis of urban expansion dynamics, landscape pattern responses, and their driving mechanisms, particularly in ecologically sensitive, late-developing urban agglomerations, remains insufficiently understood. Taking the Guanzhong Plain Urban Agglomeration [...] Read more.
Urban agglomerations serve as crucial spatial carriers for advancing people-centered new urbanization. However, the integrated analysis of urban expansion dynamics, landscape pattern responses, and their driving mechanisms, particularly in ecologically sensitive, late-developing urban agglomerations, remains insufficiently understood. Taking the Guanzhong Plain Urban Agglomeration (GPUA) as the study area, this paper utilizes the Urban Expansion Rate Index (UERI), Urban Expansion Intensity Index (UEII), Landscape Expansion Index (LEI), and Landscape Pattern Metrics (LPMs) to examine urban land expansion and landscape pattern changes, and employs GeoDetector to analyze the driving forces behind these changes. The findings indicate that from 1990 to 2020, the urban land area of the GPUA expanded continuously, with UERI and UEII showing an “increase-then-decrease” trend. Significant disparities exist among cities in the urban expansion areas, with the coexistence of “edge” and “infilling” modes profoundly influencing landscape responses. The driving forces of urban expansion have undergone a stage-specific transition from socioeconomic dominance to ecological policies and natural constraints, with policy–institutional control, socioeconomic development drivers, natural endowment constraints, and improved locational conditions collectively shaping the GPUA’s “spatial landscape” system. The findings of this study provide a scientific basis for territorial spatial governance and sustainable development in ecologically fragile urban agglomerations. Full article
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