Special Issue "Land Use/Land Cover and Natural Hazards: Interactions, Changes, and Impacts"

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2022.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Matej Vojtek
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geography and Regional Development, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, 94901 Nitra, Slovakia
Interests: flood mapping; flood hazard; flood risk; flood susceptibility; flood management; hydrologic-hydraulic modeling; surface runoff; landslide hazard; land use/land cover change; multi-criteria decision analysis; geographic information systems; remote sensing
Dr. Andrea Petroselli
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Economics, Engineering, Society and Business Organization (DEIM), Tuscia University, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Interests: rainfall-runoff modeling; flood prone area estimation; surface hydrology; GIS Terrain Analysis for hydrogeomorphic applications; hydrological processes monitoring and modelling
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Dr. Raffaele Pelorosso
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture and Forest Sciences (DAFNE), Italy, Tuscia University, 01100 Viterbo VT, Italy
Interests: urban regeneration and performance-based planning; urban storm water and climate regulation by green and grey infrastructure; low-entropy systems; climate adaptation; nature-based solutions and ecosystem services; urban modeling
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past few decades, the risks due to natural hazards have increased significantly due to changes in climate as well as land use/land cover (LULC), which are both triggered mainly by anthropic pressure on landscapes, i.e., urbanization, forest management practices, agricultural practices, and the like. Climate and LULC change contribute significantly to changes in the frequency, variability, or magnitude of natural hazards, such as floods, landslides, erosion, and so on.   

Constant progress in remote sensing (RS) allows for the rapid collection of information about the landscape, namely LULC, of adequate quality and accuracy. Geographic information system (GIS), in turn, represents a tool for processing, modeling, analyzing, and synthesizing spatial data. In addition, RS and GIS play an essential role in natural hazards mapping, monitoring, and assessment.

Therefore, the focus of this Special Issue is to gather and present the current knowledge on the interactions between LULC and natural hazards and to study the impacts of LULC changes/scenarios on the occurrence of natural hazards, as well as vice versa – the impacts of natural hazards on LULC and society at various spatial scales (from local to global). Tackling these issues has the potential to help risk managers and decision-makers to adopt appropriate mitigation/adaptation actions and resilient preparedness and response.

Authors are encouraged to submit innovative and original contributions in the following priority areas, but not exclusively:

  • Change in historical and present LULC and its impact on natural hazards,
  • LULC future scenario modeling and its impact on the occurrence of natural hazards,
  • Impact of natural hazards on LULC and society.

Dr. Matej Vojtek
Dr. Andrea Petroselli
Dr. Raffaele Pelorosso
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 papers will be 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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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 1800 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

  • land use/land cover (LULC)
  • historical LULC
  • present LULC
  • LULC scenarios
  • natural hazards mapping
  • floods
  • landslides
  • erosion
  • geographic information systems (GIS)
  • remote sensing (RS)
  • statistical modeling
  • numerical modeling
  • machine learning modeling

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Impact of Land Use Change Due to Urbanisation on Surface Runoff Using GIS-Based SCS–CN Method: A Case Study of Xiamen City, China
Land 2021, 10(8), 839; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10080839 - 11 Aug 2021
Viewed by 322
Abstract
Rapid urban development results in visible changes in land use due to increase in impervious surfaces from human construction and decrease in pervious areas. Urbanisation influences the hydrological cycle of an area, resulting in less infiltration, higher flood peak, and surface runoff. This [...] Read more.
Rapid urban development results in visible changes in land use due to increase in impervious surfaces from human construction and decrease in pervious areas. Urbanisation influences the hydrological cycle of an area, resulting in less infiltration, higher flood peak, and surface runoff. This study analysed the impact of land use change due to urbanisation on surface runoff, using the geographic information system (GIS)-based soil conservation service curve number (SCS–CN) method, during the period of rapid urban development from 1980 to 2015 in Xiamen, located in south-eastern China. Land use change was analysed from the data obtained by classifying Landsat images from 1980, 1990, 2005, and 2015. Results indicated that farmland decreased the most by 14.01%, while built-up areas increased the most by 15.7%, from 1980 to 2015. Surface runoff was simulated using the GIS-based SCS–CN method for the rainfall return periods of 5, 10, 20, and 50 years. The spatial and temporal variation of runoff was obtained for each land use period. Results indicate that the increase in surface runoff was highest in the period of 1990–2005, with an increase of 10.63%. The effect of urbanisation can be realised from the amount of runoff, contributed by built-up land use type in the study area, that increased from 14.2% to 27.9% with the rise of urban expansion from 1980 to 2015. The relationship between land use and surface runoff showed that the rapid increase in constructed land has significantly influenced the surface runoff of the area. Therefore, the introduction of nature-based solutions such as green infrastructure could be a potential solution for runoff mitigation and reducing urban flood risks in the context of increasing urbanization. Full article
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Article
Flash Flood Events along the West Mediterranean Coasts: Inundations of Urbanized Areas Conditioned by Anthropic Impacts
Land 2021, 10(6), 620; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10060620 - 09 Jun 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 616
Abstract
Flash floods represent one of the natural hazards that causes the greatest number of victims in the Mediterranean area. These processes occur by short and intense rainfall affecting limited areas of a few square kilometers, with rapid hydrological responses. Among the causes of [...] Read more.
Flash floods represent one of the natural hazards that causes the greatest number of victims in the Mediterranean area. These processes occur by short and intense rainfall affecting limited areas of a few square kilometers, with rapid hydrological responses. Among the causes of the flood frequency increase in the last decades are the effects of the urban expansion in areas of fluvial pertinence and climatic change, namely the interaction between anthropogenic landforms and hydro-geomorphological dynamics. In this paper the authors show a comparison between flood events with very similar weather-hydrological characteristics and the ground effects occurred in coastal areas of three regions located at the top of a triangle in the Ligurian Sea, namely Liguria, Tuscany and Sardinia. With respect to the meteorological-hydrological hazard, it should be noted that the events analyzed occurred during autumn, in the conditions of a storm system triggered by cyclogenesis on the Genoa Gulf or by the extra-tropical cyclone Cleopatra. The “flash floods” damage recorded in the inhabited areas is due to the vulnerability of the elements at risk in the fluvio-coastal plains examined. There are numerous anthropogenic forcings that have influenced the hydro-geomorphological dynamics and that have led to an increase in risk conditions. Full article
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