Land use and urban sustainability assessment: a 3D-GIS application to a case study in Gozo

Rosa Morosini,Floriana Zucaro

doi:10.1186/s40410-019-0106-z

Rosa Morosini, Floriana Zucaro

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40410-019-0106-z

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Abstract

Balancing urban growth and natural resource availability has been recognized as the main challenge of the 21st century from the strategic documents adopted by the recent World Summits. Agenda 21 advocates sustainable land use, as soil is a crucial natural resource to reduce urban vulnerability due e.g. to climate change, energy saving, and natural disasters. In this perspective, this paper aims at supporting local decision makers in identifying the portions and the buildings of an urban area most susceptible to transformation, in order to promote a sustainable land use according to physical and functional characteristics. The proposed methodology combines the 3D modeling of urban settlements and the adoption of the performance-based approach by the urban transformation government, in order to guarantee the satisfaction of the supply–demand ratio through a compatible balance between urban growth dynamics and the overall urban efficiency. The test area was Gozo island, where a significant urban transformation will occur as a consequence of the new Malta-Gozo tunnel construction.

Highlights

Since the first international Earth Summit, both government agencies and the scientific community have worked to facilitate the transition from the theoretical affirmation of sustainable development towards strategies and above all actions aimed at protecting, restoring and increasing natural resources in urban areas.The assumption of sustainability as the main guiding principle in the choices of government of urban transformations requires the preparation of new tools, interventions and solutions to deal with the new challenges each city is required to tackle (Maciocco and Serreli 2009; Roggema 2016; Frantzeskaki et al 2017; Gargiulo et al 2018)
Since the Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) change project was launched by the International Geosphere and Biosphere Program (IGBP) and the International Human Dimensions Program (IHDP) on Global Change, land use research programs on a global scale have become central to international climate and environmental change research (Lambin et al 1999; Couch et al 2008; Han et al 2015; Martellozzo et al 2018)
The proposed methodology was developed with the aim of supporting local decision makers in the promotion of an optimal and sustainable land use; it is based on two main elements: (i) the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) for modeling and processing analyses, as it allows detailed exploration of future scenarios of development through the visualization of alternative land-uses and their impact on urban environment and (ii) the adoption of a performance-based approach, commonly taken by public authorities in planning and urban government, to analyze the urban system in terms of demand and supply of natural and anthropic resources

Summary

Introduction

The assumption of sustainability as the main guiding principle in the choices of government of urban transformations requires the preparation of new tools, interventions and solutions to deal with the new challenges each city is required to tackle (Maciocco and Serreli 2009; Roggema 2016; Frantzeskaki et al 2017; Gargiulo et al 2018). These include traffic congestion and pollution, GHG emissions, intense urban sprawl, energy efficiency (Vojnovic 2014; Gargiulo and Lombardi 2016; Gargiulo and Russo 2017; Papa et al 2017). Since the Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) change project was launched by the International Geosphere and Biosphere Program (IGBP) and the International Human Dimensions Program (IHDP) on Global Change, land use research programs on a global scale have become central to international climate and environmental change research (Lambin et al 1999; Couch et al 2008; Han et al 2015; Martellozzo et al 2018).

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