INDEX OF ANTHROPOGENIC LOAD ON LAND (ALOL) AS DECISION SUPPORT METHOD IN TERRITORIAL PLANNING

Rimvydas Gaudėšius

doi:10.3846/jeelm.2020.12669

Abstract

Not all international indexes of sustainability can be easily applied to Lithuanian specialists who organize territorial planning documents. Therefore, the index assessing the anthropogenic impact can be applied in spatial planning documents is required. The proposed method is beneficial in a way that it is based on the available free statistics data. Not only land use changes can be assessed by using presented ALOL index, but also newly presented spatial planning documents. The anthropogenic load on the land index have been calculated and the comparison with another popular multi-criteria decision support methods was conducted in this study. The results showed that the value of the anthropogenic load index is deteriorating in one of the Lithuanian metropolitan areas and the proposed method does not let others down with the precision for other mathematical methods.

Highlights

Sustainable development can be correctly achieved by allocating the usage of natural resources and rationally developing the infrastructure
One of the largest cities in Lithuania, Klaipeda, was selected for the research. This administrative area is quite heavily influenced by the anthropogenic processes, so it is appropriate to carry out measurements using the newly developed anthropogenic load on land (ALOL) index achieving to find out the numerical value of land use changes
Calculation of the ALOL index in the case of Klaipeda showed that the numerical value of the anthropogenic load on the land, positive, shows a decrease in the result over several years (Figure 2)

Summary

Introduction

Sustainable development can be correctly achieved by allocating the usage of natural resources and rationally developing the infrastructure. If we cannot measure the current situation in the environment we cannot control it. For that purpose appropriate indicators are needed indicating the relative position of the particular area. Environmental, social and economic indicators can form integrated indices which can guide policy decisions. One single indicator or index for sustainable development cannot be expected as it is difficult to come up with a measure that fully embraces the concept of sustainability. R. Čiegis et al (2010) analyzed the indicators proposed by other scientists and the requirements for them. It has been distinguished that the sustainability indicators have to be:

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion