Land Use Planning Development Research Articles

PLANNING AND GOVERNANCE IN A POSTCOLONIAL CONTEXT: A Historical Institutionalist Approach to Land Use Planning in Morocco

AbstractThis study is concerned with the way colonial land use planning practices have persisted within local institutional structures in the former French colony of Morocco. We use a historical institutionalist approach to reevaluate Morocco's land use planning history and identify key feedback mechanisms that support the continuity of colonial practices within the Moroccan planning institutional structure. We used institutional mappings to identify key actors involved in planning and examined the formal power relations between them. Interviews were used to discuss the effect of informal interactions on the development of land use plans. We argue that aspects of French colonial planning that persisted within the Moroccan local institutional structure have created constraints for Moroccan land use planning. We focus in particular on how a centralist formalization of planning institutions has hampered the effectiveness of decentralization reforms and explain how institutional patterns deriving from the French paternalist approach to colonial rule have persisted in the form of a duality in modern planning structures. Finally, we argue that this path dependence has been strengthened by the creation of the derogation system as a potential way out for actors who are most capable of inducing change.

Simulation of urban growth scenarios using integration of multi-criteria analysis and game theory

Urban growth is a dynamic and evolutionary spatial and social process. Urban development can be considered as a function of strategic behavior of the involved agents, which is affected by various factors such as land use interactions, density of population, economic situation, etc. This study presents an integrated model of cellular automata, multi-criteria analysis, game-theory and agent-based methods for land-use planning and simulation of urban development scenarios based on growth and distribution of the population. This model quantifies and simulates the land-use interactions concerning regulations and guidelines of the master plan. In the proposed approach, the suitability of developed land-use types is evaluated by using the multi-criteria analysis. Land-use changes are defined as an outcome of the interaction between two types of decision-makers (agents): Land Developer and Municipality. Game theory is used to simulate and quantify the strategic behavior of these two agents. The optimal decision between the agents is obtained using the backward induction process. The proposed model was implemented in the region of Roozieh in the city of Semnan. Six scenarios were simulated based on the Semnan’s approved master plan and considering the stochastic perturbation. The outcome of each scenario was evaluated based on the spatial equity factors. The results demonstrated the ability of the model to simulate the consequence of urban land-use development plans based on the regulations and guidelines of the master plan, especially for the balanced distribution of services concerning existing demand in their undersupply regions.

A Design Thinking Approach to Teaching Sustainability

Understanding sustainability requires a system-wide perspective to guide the interpretation of problems and conceptualization of solutions. A lake sustainability Trust provided an opportunity for students to gain this perspective by examining societal, commercial, and environmental policy perspectives associated with a local endangered lake and surrounding wetlands. This was an ideal project to bring sustainability issues to life for students but was too complex for a single class to attack. This article describes a multicourse initiative that sought to heighten students’ awareness of sustainability issues using a design thinking problem-solving approach. Interviews conducted revealed concerns that educators may have in considering similar projects. The authors respond to these perceived obstacles with recommendations and a discussion of mitigation strategies. In addition to the Trust gaining direction, the design and implementation of this cross-course experiential learning initiative allowed Marketing Research and Product Design students to develop an appreciation for macrolevel sustainability issues, and environmental policy students to appreciate the value of marketing research in the development of land use plans.

Excluded communities and participatory land-use planning: experience from informal Roma settlements in Serbia

Citizen participation in the planning and decision-making process in the European post-socialist context is much debated. Still, the involvement of excluded communities in the urban planning process remains understudied. This paper presents and discusses the application of an innovative participatory approach designed to ensure active involvement of an excluded ethnic minority, the Roma community, in the process of formulating and adopting land-use plans for informal settlements in Serbia. By analysing the development of land-use plans in 11 municipalities, we observe that the applied participatory approach enhanced the inhabitants’ active participation and helped build consensus on the planned solution between the key actors. Findings also suggested that further work with citizens, capacity building of planners and administration, and secured financial mechanisms are needed to move citizen participation in urban planning beyond the limited statutory requirements.

Gis-Based Assessment of Debris Flow Runout in Kulekhani Watershed, Nepal

Rainfall-induced landslide masses often change into disastrous debris flows and damage large areas in Nepal’s mountainous region. The area covered by debris flow inundation or debris flow runout is a most essential component for landslide hazard assessments leading to development of land use plans. However, there is presently no tool that can allow to assess and predict debris flow runout from the initial landslide on the watershed scale in Nepal. In this paper, a method and simulation tool are developed for the assessment and prediction of debris flow runout in Kulekhani Watershed, Nepal. The Flow-R model with user-defined landslide-susceptible areas was chosen for debris flow runout analysis. The Flow-R model with various algorithms has the capability to analyze debris flow inundation with limited input information. Two recent debris flow events are taken as case studies to identify the appropriate algorithms for runout analysis of the study area. After comparison of the observed and simulated results for debris flow runout, the algorithms proposed by Holmgren (Hydrol Process 8:327–334, 1994) (modified) are found suitable for the study watershed. These algorithms are employed for debris flow inundation analysis in the study area with pre-defined landslide sources plus debris flow inundation map in GIS environment. The results obtained from this modeling for the debris flow area induced by 540 mm of rainfall in 24 h period was 2.68% of the watershed, which is comparable to previously observed debris flow area in the study watershed. The findings of this research and GIS simulation tool developed will enable the optimization of planning and investment for land development in the studied region.

Novel trends in SNS customers in food and beverage patronage: An empirical study of metropolitan cities in South Korea

Driven by the development of information and communications technology as well as the spread of social networking services (SNS), access to spatial information has changed the way people select sites or areas. This study determines whether new urban place selection—that is, the selection of places in a way that differs from the classic locational principle of land use—occurs via SNS by examining changes in the location of Food and Beverage(F&B) retail facilities patronized by citizens daily. More specifically, this study employs spatial and quantitative analyses to investigate location selection of F&B customers, which respond most sensitively to place selection, in six metropolitan cities in South Korea. The results show phenomena indicating that the place selection pattern via SNS was different spatially and quantitatively from that via the established retail location principle. The location of F&B retail facilities most commonly selected via SNS is largely shaped by small-scale and hierarchically lower roads near existing commercial area and is unaffected by land price and distance from public transportation. These findings sufficiently contradict the general location principle in terms of the location characteristics of F&B retail facilities. As such, this study reveals a novel behavior pattern regarding place selection based on SNS. F&B retail facilities should be prepared to adapt to changing consumer behavior. Moreover, this fact indicates that the consideration of gradual changes in the selection of urban project sites, development of land use plans, and calculation of rent for retail is needed in light of advancements in SNS.

The Marine Plan Partnership for the North Pacific Coast – MaPP: A collaborative and co-led marine planning process in British Columbia

For more than a decade, marine spatial planning has been used around the world to advance objectives for conservation, economic development, and ecosystem-based management. Ecosystem-based management (EBM) in British Columbia began with the development of land use plans in the 1990s to address coastal and land use issues related to terrestrial land management. Managing marine resources is challenging on Canada’s Pacific coast because of multiple, overlapping jurisdictions, unceded indigenous territories, and lack of coordination amongst governments in the region and their agencies. The Marine Plan Partnership for the North Pacific Coast (MaPP) was formed in 2011 and was a co-led partnership between 18 First Nations’ and the Province of British Columbia governments. The purpose of the MaPP Initiative was to develop and implement marine plans for 102,000 square kilometers of coastal and offshore water in northern British Columbia. A co-led governance framework included the member First Nations and the Provincial government structured into multiple levels of decisions making, conflict resolution, and technical support. Integral to the planning process was broad and continual stakeholder engagement through multiple advisory committees as well as public engagement. The planning process made use of multiple information sources including traditional, scientific, and local knowledge and was completed in 3.5 years. The result was the development and signing into policy of four sub-regional marine plans (one for each of the four MaPP sub-regions: Haida Gwaii, North Coast, Central Coast, and North Vancouver Island) and a Regional Action Framework. The sub-regional plans delineate protection, special, and general management zones for multiple objectives and will inform future policy decisions for marine protected areas, tenures, resource management and coastal development through an EBM approach. The plans will inform permits for marine tenures including aquaculture, offshore renewable energy siting, contribute to Canada’s marine protected areas network, and improve coastal infrastructure. The Regional Action Framework highlights activities to occur across the entire region through five main activity areas (Regional Governance, Ecological Integrity and Human Well-being, Compliance and Enforcement, Cumulative Effects Assessment, and Zoning Recommendations). Funding for planning was through a public-private model that also supported the development of the plans and decision support tools (e.g. planning and mapping portal). Discussions regarding implementation began during the planning phase to ensure long-term commitment from the Partners and continuity to improve decision making and management within the MaPP area. The process design and methodology created by MaPP can be a model for planning in areas that involve multiple authorities, complex geographies and jurisdictional arrangements that can be scaled up for regional, cross border, and transboundary marine spatial planning.

An Accessibility-Oriented Optimal Control Method for Land-Use Development

AbstractThe performance of transport systems is seldom considered when designing land-use development planning, which could result in a deteriorated transport system. One of the major goals of a tr...

Importance of factors driving firms’ decisions on spatial distribution structures

ABSTRACT The design of a spatial distribution structure is of strategic importance for companies, to meet required customer service levels and to keep logistics costs as low as possible. Spatial distribution structure decisions concern distribution channel layout – i.e. the spatial layout of the transport and storage system – as well as distribution centre location(s). This paper examines the importance of seven main factors and 33 sub-factors that determine these decisions. The Best-Worst Method (BWM) was used to identify the factor weights, with pairwise comparison data being collected through a survey. The results indicate that the main factor is logistics costs. Logistics experts and decision makers respectively identify customer demand and service level as second most important factor. Important sub-factors are demand volatility, delivery time and perishability. This is the first study that quantifies the weights of the factors behind spatial distribution structure decisions. The factors and weights facilitate managerial decision-making with regard to spatial distribution structures for companies that ship a broad range of products with different characteristics. Public policy-makers can use the results to support the development of land use plans that provide facilities and services for a mix of industries.

Land-Use and Land Cover Changes on the Slopes of Mount Meru-Tanzania

The study of spatial land use and land change is inevitable for sustainable development of land use plans. Environmental transitions analysis was done in part of the land on the slopes of the foothills of Mount Meru in thirty (30) years’ time from 1986 to 2016 using satellite-derived land use/cover maps and a Cellular Automata (CA) spatial filter under IDRISI software environment and assessed the important land use changes. Also, the future land use for 2026 which is the next ten (10) years was simulated based on Cellular-Automata Markov model. The results showed significant land use transitions whereby there is a huge land use change of bush land (BL) and agriculture land (AG) into human settlement (ST) which resulted into conversion of Arusha town into a City. In addition, the changes have caused slight changes in water bodies into mixed forest. Moreover, the future land use/land cover (LULC) simulations indicated that there will be unsustainable LULC changes in the next ten years since most of bush land and part of agriculture land will be used for building different structures thus interfering with fresh water and food availability in the City. These changes call upon the relevant planning authorities to put in place the best strategies for good urban development.

Research on Models of Overall Land-use Planning Based on Ecological Protection Thought

Environmental problems and climate change are the severe challenges facing the mankind today. Ecological protection has become the new element that the overall land-use planning should take into account. In this paper, the land use ecosystem is divided into six types: forest, grassland, farmland, wetland, water area and the land difficult to use. After investigation and research, the equivalent table of ecological service value of unit square of terrestrial ecosystem in China is obtained. Based on the theory of ecosystem service value and combined with the characteristics of regional land, this paper revised the equivalent value. At the same time, we should pay attention to land consolidation work, including strengthening ecological protection objective of land-use planning, optimizing the current situation of land ecology evaluation, reinforcing influence evaluation of ecological environment after planning implementation, setting up management department of land resources protection and perfecting ecological protection laws of land-use planning to ensure the scientific and effective development of land use planning in China and the sustainable development of land ecology.

Testing of Decision Making Tools for Village Land Use Planning and Natural Resources Management in Kilimanjaro Region

This paper focuses on participatory testing of decision making tools (DMTs) at village level to assist in development of land use plans (LUPs) for sustainable land management (SLM) in Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania. Data were collected using conditional surveys through key informant interviews with the project’s district stakeholders in each district, focused group discussions with selected villagers and participatory mapping of natural resources. Soil health, land degradation, carbon stock, and hydrological conditions were assessed in the seven pilot villages in all seven districts using DMTs as part of testing and validation. Results indicated soils of poor to medium health, and land degradation as portrayed by gullies and wind erosion in lowlands and better in uplands. Carbon and forest disturbance status could not be assessed using one-year data but hydrological analysis revealed that water resources were relatively good in uplands and poor in the lowlands. Challenges with regard to land use include increased gully erosion, decreased stream flow, reduced vegetation cover due to shifting from coffee with tree sheds to annual crops farming, cultivation near water sources, and overgrazing. Empowering the community with decision making tools at village level is essential to ensure that village land uses are planned in a participatory manner for sustainable land and natural resources management in Kilimanjaro and other regions in Tanzania.

A methodology to assess the performance of spatial data infrastructures in the context of work processes

Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) have been developed over the last decades all over the world. They are the subject of periodic assessments in order to give account of past developments, to steer future developments or to better understand their functioning. Most assessment methods are analysing the SDI as a whole which does not allow understanding their internal dynamics. In this research we analyse SDIs from a network perspective and focus on the work processes that take place within these networks. The paper elaborates a series of indicators to assess the SDI performance from the perspective of the process owners and the users of spatial data within those processes. Three indicators are proposed to measure the performance related to the access, use and sharing of spatial data, and three indicators related to the contribution of SDIs to improve the work processes. The methodology is applied to a particular case, i.e. the process of the development of land use plans in Flanders (Belgium). The results show that the methodology and the indicators are applicable in the context of work processes. The proposed process-oriented methodology is complementary to approaches that assess SDIs as a whole. It helps to detect and understand differences in SDI performance between (parts of) organisations that are actively involved in the processes studied. The paper argues that the proposed indicators provide a good basis for analysing the degree to which organisations integrate SDI components in their work processes.

Integrating ecosystem-service tradeoffs into land-use decisions

Recent high-profile efforts have called for integrating ecosystem-service values into important societal decisions, but there are few demonstrations of this approach in practice. We quantified ecosystem-service values to help the largest private landowner in Hawaii, Kamehameha Schools, design a land-use development plan that balances multiple private and public values on its North Shore land holdings (Island of O'ahu) of ∼10,600 ha. We used the InVEST software tool to evaluate the environmental and financial implications of seven planning scenarios encompassing contrasting land-use combinations including biofuel feedstocks, food crops, forestry, livestock, and residential development. All scenarios had positive financial return relative to the status quo of negative return. However, tradeoffs existed between carbon storage and water quality as well as between environmental improvement and financial return. Based on this analysis and community input, Kamehameha Schools is implementing a plan to support diversified agriculture and forestry. This plan generates a positive financial return ($10.9 million) and improved carbon storage (0.5% increase relative to status quo) with negative relative effects on water quality (15.4% increase in potential nitrogen export relative to status quo). The effects on water quality could be mitigated partially (reduced to a 4.9% increase in potential nitrogen export) by establishing vegetation buffers on agricultural fields. This plan contributes to policy goals for climate change mitigation, food security, and diversifying rural economic opportunities. More broadly, our approach illustrates how information can help guide local land-use decisions that involve tradeoffs between private and public interests.

The birth of ‘land use planning’ in American urban planning

Although the concept of ‘land use planning’ is now firmly enmeshed in American urban planning, its meaning still remains vague. This paper aims to clarify the meaning by examining the historical development of land use planning in the USA. At the beginning of the twentieth century, city planners viewed a city as an organic unit of public facilities. While city planning thereafter provided potential elements of land use planning, such as zoning, zoning surveys and land use classification systems, the idea of land use planning itself was actually derived from rural county planning and was initially utilized in urban county planning as a guide for zoning in the 1930s. After bringing about a change in the way cities were viewed, that is, as a pattern of land use and population density, land use planning was further employed as a guide for urban redevelopment policies in the 1940s, and finally reaching full integration into city planning in the 1950s and 1960s.

The urban public and forest land-use planning: Tapping into the majority

Canadians desire involvement in forest management at normative or early planning phases. One way of accomplishing this is through meaningful public involvement in land-use planning efforts. The Provinces of Ontario and Manitoba have, respectively, completed or are completing the development of land use plans for large areas of forested landscapes. Both governments identified public participation as being an integral part of these processes. This paper examines how well these processes promoted participation by the general public, the vast majority of which resides in urban areas located outside the respective planning regions. It is determined that in both cases this was poorly done. Reasons are given for why and how increased participation by the urban public should be pursued. Key words: public involvement, land-use planning, forest management, urban centres, Lands for Life, East Side Planning Initiative, Canada

The New Zealand Resource Management Act: an exercise in delivering sustainable development through an ecological modernisation agenda

The 1991 New Zealand Resource Management Act established an effects-based planning system intended to safeguard the biophysical resource base. The act and its subsequent practical implementation are deconstructed using an ecological modernisation framework. This demonstrates that many of the key policy instruments of the act can be accommodated within an ecological modernisation discourse. However, elements of discursive democracy introduced by the legislation have subsequently been impaired by technocorporatist legal formalism. This has prompted considerable debate about the perceived high process and compliance costs and the restricted public scrutiny of effects-based compliance in the new planning system. The reduced emphasis on socioeconomic effects within land-use development plans has impeded the promotion of sustainable spatial development strategies, frustrating attempts to deliver the ‘superindustrial ecological switchover’ sought by proponents of ecological modernisation. Recent legislation to e...

New Developments: Realizing the New Opportunity for Railways

Britain’s railway system has a pivotal role in the implementation of the Government’s transport policies, which include effective integration with land-use development planning. A higher and more sustained proportion of public funds has already been allocated in order to achieve this role. The structure of the railway industry needs to take these policies into account. The new structure should also reflect general trends in European transport and railway policies. And its operation must be underpinned by a cohesive national system of management training and skills development.

Windfall Sites for Housing: An Underestimated Resource

The current government has stated that at least 60 per cent of the projected 4.4 million new houses required between 1991 and 2016 should be built on 'brownfield' sites. Many of these sites will be 'windfall' sites—i.e. sites which unexpectedly become available for redevelopment during the plan period. Current government planning policy guidance in both England and Scotland places a significant restriction on the allowances that might be made by local authorities for windfall sites when preparing their strategic land-use development plans and their housing land audits. The effect of this policy restriction is to pressurise local authorities into releasing larger areas of open countryside for housing development than is mathematically necessary. This paper provides a detailed analysis of the allowances for windfall sites made over a 12-year period by the former Grampian Regional Council for the Aberdeen area of north-east Scotland and contrasts this against actual levels of windfall development. It concludes that far more open countryside has been allocated for development than has actually been required and recommends the adoption of a more incrementalist and cautious approach to land release.

Integrating storm-water management concept for the development of the Kuantu plain in the city of Taipei

The formulation of a land-use development plan has traditionally been viewed as largely independent of storm-water management, rather than as an integral part. An analytic framework for incorporating storm-water management concepts into the development of the master land-use plan for Kuantu Plain is presented. Innovative storm-water management techniques, such as retention pond and provision of previous surface, are proposed to be integrated with land-use planning for the purpose of alleviating the storm drainage difficulties of the Plain. The proposed conceptual system and performance criteria for managing storm-water are used as inputs for the estimation of land-use intensities and spatial allocation of land uses. Through this effort, the hydrologic significance of Kuantu Plain is sustained, the land resources of Kuantu Plain can be utilized efficiently, and the storm drainage problems can be eliminated effectively.