Terms Of Land Use Research Articles

Data on recreational activities, respondents' values, land use preferences, protection level and biodiversity in nature-based tourism areas in Finland.

We present the first dataset that can be used to associate peoples’ opinions with comprehensive biodiversity and cultural heritage values. The socio-ecological dataset includes 1) place-based information on peoples’ recreational activities, values expressed as pleasant and unpleasant sites, and negative preferences concerning land use in terms of tourism, nature protection and forestry, and 2) compiled information on scored biodiversity values and protection level of sites. The data are organized in 1ha grid cells. The data were compiled from a rural nature-based tourism area in two municipalities northern Finland. Peoples’ opinions were assessed using a public participation geographic information system (PPGIS) and the data were merged with spatial biodiversity data from the same area. The data are directly related to the article Tolvanen et al. [1]. Biodiversity data, also utilized in Tolvanen et al. 2020, were compiled from various sources and scoring was done in Kangas et al. [2]. References to individual respondents and spatial locations of markings were removed. The data are useful in evaluating the relationship between people's values and biodiversity.

EFISIENSI PEMANFAATAN LAHAN PADA SISTEM TUMPANGSARI DENGAN BERBAGAI JARAK TANAM JAGUNG DAN VARIETAS KACANG HIJAU

[EFFICIENCY OF LAND USE IN MULTIPLE CROPPING SYSTEM WITH VARIOUS CORN PLANT AND MUNG BEAN VARIETIES]. This study aims to find out the precise planting distance of corn with mung bean varieties that are suitable for increasing the efficiency of land use in terms of ecology and agronomy. Research has been carried out in the agricultural land in September 2018-January 2019 using a split-plot design. The main plot of planting spacing of corn which is 60 cm x 30 cm, 90 cm x 30 cm, and 120 cm x 30 cm, subplots ie mung bean varieties (Kutilang, Vima-1, Vima-2, Vima-3). As a comparison of intercropping systems, monocultures are cultivated by corn and mung beans. The results showed that in general intercropping of maize and mung bean NKL> 1, ecologically and agronomically efficient. However, this efficient level can be distinguished based on the spacing of corn and mung bean varieties. The best ecological efficiency at 120 cm x 30 cm corn spacing, while the best agronomic efficiency in Virna-3 mung bean varieties.

Monitoring and Prediction of Land Use Land Cover Changes and its Impact on Land Surface Temperature in the Central Part of Hisar District, Haryana Under Semi-Arid Zone of India

Abstract Land use Land cover have significance in relation to Land, the most vital and fundamental resource pertaining to the urban development. Unprecedented urban growth has a noteworthy impact on natural landscape by converting natural land-cover in Haryana. Hisar, an area recognized for rapid urban growth is less explored in terms of research. The present research has shown a significant change in land use in terms of expansion of built-up area from 3.7 % (1991) to 5.0 % (2001) and 6.2 % (2011) by encroaching into agricultural land. Despite the clear difference between average land surface temperature for built up and non-built up area, grazing land and sandy waste, bare land in the rural surrounding possess higher temperature compared to the city core which contradicts the reported impact of urbanization earlier. Such contrary pertains to sparse vegetation cover leading to reduced evaporative cooling during dry pre-monsoon summer in the rural surrounding. On the other side, green parks and plantation in the city contribute to lower mean temperature because of high rates of evapotranspiration and produce ‘oasis effect’ in the present study area located in semi-arid climatic zone. Regression analysis between temperature and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Built-up Index exhibited a strong negative and positive correlation respectively (Pearson’s r: between -0.79 to -0.87 and between 0.79 to 0.84 respectively). Future land use prediction project an increase (1.3 %) in built-up area from 2011 to 2021. This study recommends urban plantation and prohibition to overgrazing to check the heat effect.

Interactive Relationship among Urban Expansion, Economic Development, and Population Growth since the Reform and Opening up in China: An Analysis Based on a Vector Error Correction Model

Based on cointegration analysis, a vector error correction model (VECM), and the impulse response function method, this paper empirically analyses the interaction among urban expansion, economic development, and population growth in China from 1980 to 2016. The results show that (I) there is a long-term equilibrium relationship among urban expansion, economic development and population growth, but there is an imbalance in the short term. When urban expansion deviates from the long-term equilibrium, it cannot be restored to equilibrium in the short term. However, when economic development and population growth deviate from equilibrium, they will adjust back to equilibrium with strengths of −0.1770 and −0.0217, respectively. (II) From the results of the impulse response, there is an interactive statistical relationship between urban expansion, economic development, and population growth; In the short term, both economic development and population growth will cause urban expansion. In the long term, economic development will inhibit urban expansion, and economic development will be less dependent on land. Also, population growth has a long-lasting positive effect on urban expansion. (III) The results of variance decomposition show that urban expansion and economic development were most affected by the structural impact of population growth, and the relative variance contribution (RVC) rate was stable at 29.2% and 42%, respectively. However, economic development contributes the least to the RVC of urban expansion and population growth, and only stabilizes at 12.3% and 8.0% after 30 periods. Finally, the paper proposes that the Chinese government should maintain stable and healthy economic growth and promote sustainable land use in terms of improving land use efficiency, improving human capital levels, and promoting industrial structure.

Modeling the co-evolution of natural, economic and governance subsystems in integrated agri-ecological systems: Perspectives and challenges✰

Current agri-ecological systems face the twin challenge of providing sufficient food for a growing global population and of mitigating severe negative environmental impacts from agricultural land-use in terms of biodiversity loss, greenhouse gas emissions, nutrient run-off, soil degradation, and water pollution. Disciplinary research provides detailed answers to specific questions related to the challenges faced by agri-ecological systems. However, it fails to consider the complex interrelationships and dynamics of the different economic, natural and governance subsystems of which agri-ecological systems consist and that need to be considered to address these challenges. In principle, it is possible to develop models that integrate knowledge from the fields of ecology, economics and governance, and consider dynamic system features such as feedbacks between subsystems as well as tipping points. In this viewpoint article, we scrutinize selected integrated agri-ecological system models and find that only very few models address the challenges mentioned above. We suggest further research in three areas: (I) in-depth integration of the governance subsystem in integrated models, (II) more comprehensive inclusion of tipping points in integrated models, and (III) integration of cascading effects where one system change stimulates another system change. Finally, we briefly discuss the challenges of complex integrated modeling in relation to computational power and the necessity to gather expertise from different disciplines.

New landscapes of the post-industrial city

This paper attempts to analyze modern urban space in the context of intercepting the effects of biopolitical production by means of a conceptual apparatus taken from urban landscape studies. Among the discussed sections of urban space, which illustrate the issue undertaken in this text, there are first and foremost places that focalize and intertwine practices of urban design, landscape architecture, design and media initiated by local governments, institutions, and private investors. All of these practices strive to create a new type of urban landscapes, characterized by their simultaneous functioning as sights and as “urban stages.” Following from the above findings, this paper aims to describe the listed forms of land use in terms derived from cultural concepts of landscape, considering the latter to be a useful tool for explaining the relations between modern urban subjects and the environment they exist in.

A spatial-temporal gender and land use analysis of bikeshare ridership: The case study of Baltimore City

Bikeshare programs are growing in popularity across the United States as cities aim to provide an alternative mode of transportation that addresses last-mile needs while promoting recreation and tourism. In fall 2016, Baltimore Bikeshare System (BBS) launched with 20 stations. Using trip data for over 17,000 trips from October to May, this study explores the temporal and spatial patterns of bikeshare use in the city. The current study has two main goals: first, exploring the influence of socio-demographic factors on travel patterns of Baltimore's bikeshare ridership, and second, evaluating possible relationships between gender and land use in terms of origin/destination stations of their trips. The methodology of this study was based on statistical analysis including ANOVA, and binary and multinomial logistic regression models. The results of the study include several findings. First, the travel pattern of riders differs according to the status of their memberships, the day of week, and the land use of where they started and ended their trip. Second, there is a large gender difference among BBS membership users, and males are the dominate users. Finally, females tended to have more recreational trips and start and end their trips from/to the same station when compared to male riders.

A data-driven approach for clustering scatter values in hybrid-polarimetric SAR images

ABSTRACTIn this article, we discuss clustering of hybrid-polarimetric SAR images using finite mixture model framework. We use, particularly, Gaussian mixture model to fit the distribution of data. As features of clustering technique, we use three decomposition techniques of hybrid-polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data, namely, , , and decompositions. The three pseudo-power components that are derived from these decompositions are clustered using data-driven multivariate Gaussian modelling. These clustered images would give an idea of land use in terms of three broad classes, viz., surface, volume, and dihedral, which are defined with reference to SAR scattering characteristics. We show the efficiency of this technique by successfully clustering the data where dominant scatter-based clustering could not properly distinguish the scattering phenomenon. We also discuss an incremental directional smoothing for speckle suppression of polarimetric SAR images. For experiments, we use hybrid-polarimetric C-band SAR data from Indian Space Research Organisation’s Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1). We also show the results on a simulated hybrid-polarimetric SAR image from Advanced Land Observing Satellite’s (ALOS-1) full-polarimetric SAR data. From our experiments, it is seen that the proposed technique performs consistently and satisfactorily in clustering hybrid-polarimetric SAR data on different decomposition techniques.

Pola Sebaran Ruang Terbuka Hijau (RTH) Publik di Kota Balikpapan Berdasarkan Jenis dan Karakteristiknya

Balikpapan City has a population that continues to increase in 2010 to 2015. Population growth has resulted in population densification and rapid and uncontrolled settlements in parts of the city. Thus, the need for space to accommodate population growth will increase so that it is very vulnerable to changes in the use of green open space into settlements and built area. The Changes in land use functions will have a negative impact on environmental conditions if did not controlled. Thus, it is necessary to control land use in terms of green open space availability which begins with analyzing the distribution patterns, types and characteristics of each green open space. The purpose of this study was to analyze the distribution patterns of public green open spaces based on their types and characteristics. As for the analysis carried out to achieve this goal there are several stages. First, identification of the distribution of public green open space based on its type through field observation; second, an analysis of the distribution of public green open space related to the type is carried out through literature studies and field observations. Finally, analyze the characteristics of each public green open space using statistical descriptive method. Keywords: public green open space, types, characteristic

Disaster risk management and hydrographic basin analysis: the geotechnical map of suitability for the urbanization of Itapevi – São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract Geotechnical maps of suitability for urbanization can provide directives for land use in terms of susceptibility to disasters. This paper presents methodological innovations for the development of these maps by incorporating hydrographic basin analysis in a case study conducted in the municipality of Itapevi. The Shalstab (Shallow Slope Stability) model evaluated the susceptibility of an area to landslides and correlated events. Wet zones were mapped by combining the Hand (Height to the Nearest Drainage) model with floodplain mapping and proximity to concave slopes. Participatory mapping delineated critical flood areas and possible impacts of land use on sub-basins. Urbanization trends were modeled using multivariate kernel analysis. This study presents perspectives on disaster risk management integrated with those of basin management.

Geospatial assessment of tourism impact on land environment of Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.

India's tourism industry has emerged as a leading industry with a potential to grow further in the next few decades. Dehradun, one of the famous tourist places in India located in the state of Uttarakhand, attracts tourist from all over the country and abroad. The surge in tourist number paved the way for new infrastructure projects like roads, buildings, and hotels, which in turn affects the topography of the mountainous region. In this study, remote sensing and GIS techniques have been used to assess the impact of tourism on the land environment of Dehradun. Satellite images of the years 1972, 2000, and 2016 were analyzed using object-based image analysis (OBIA) to derive land use and land cover (LULC) and ASTER-DEM (Digital Elevation Model) was used to determine the topography of the study area. LULC classification includes built-up, vegetation, forest, scrub, agriculture, plantation, and water body. The slope of the region was categorized as gentle, moderate, strong, extreme, steep, and very steep. To assess the sprawl of built-up on high terrain land, built-up class of LULC was overlaid on slope classes. The overlay analysis reveals that due to increase in tourism, the land use in terms of the built-up area has been extended from gentle slope to very steep slope. The haphazard construction on the extreme, steep, and very steep slope is prone to landslide and other natural disasters. For this, landslide susceptibility maps have also been generated using multicriteria evaluation (MCE) techniques to prevent haphazard construction and to assist in further planning of Dehradun City. This study suggests that a proper developmental plan of the city is essential which follows the principles of optimum use of land and sustainable tourism.

Zooming in on coarse plant functional types—simulated response of savanna vegetation composition in response to aridity and grazing

Precipitation and land use in terms of livestock grazing have been identified as two of the most important drivers structuring the vegetation composition of semi-arid and arid savannas. Savanna research on the impact of these drivers has widely applied the so-called plant functional type (PFT) approach, grouping the vegetation into two or three broad types (here called meta-PFTs): woody plants and grasses, which are sometimes divided into perennial and annual grasses. However, little is known about the response of functional traits within these coarse types towards water availability or livestock grazing. In this study, we extended an existing eco-hydrological savanna vegetation model to capture trait diversity within the three broad meta-PFTs to assess the effects of both grazing and mean annual precipitation (MAP) on trait composition along a gradient of both drivers. Our results show a complex pattern of trait responses to grazing and aridity. The response differs for the three meta-PFTs. From our findings, we derive that trait responses to grazing and aridity for perennial grasses are similar, as suggested by the convergence model for grazing and aridity. However, we also see that this only holds for simulations below a MAP of 500 mm. This combined with the finding that trait response differs between the three meta-PFTs leads to the conclusion that there is no single, universal trait or set of traits determining the response to grazing and aridity. We finally discuss how simulation models including trait variability within meta-PFTs are necessary to understand ecosystem responses to environmental drivers, both locally and globally and how this perspective will help to extend conceptual frameworks of other ecosystems to savanna research.

Environmental impact of dairy buffalo heifers kept on pasture or in confinement

In western countries buffaloes are emerging as an alternative species for dairy product differentiation. In the near future dairy enterprises will have to meet increasing environmental regulations. Life Cycle Assessment has been widely used to assess the environmental impact of different milk production systems. We aimed to examine the environmental consequences of two dairy buffalo heifer farming systems using the Life Cycle Assessment approach. The primary data were collected from 32 subjects aged 7–8months at the start of the experiment until they reached the age of puberty in about 12months (i.e. at the age of 19–20months). Sixteen animals were group-housed and confined in an indoor slatted floor pen (4m2/animal) with an outdoor paddock (4m2/animal); 16 others free-ranged on a Mediterranean natural pasture. The environmental charges for global warming potential expressed in terms of total emissions of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-eq) was 35.7% less in the free-ranging system as compared with the confined system. The main source of pollution for the confined system was biogenic methane (total amount produced=2012kg CO2-eq) followed by CO2 from fossil fuels (total amount produced=1006kg CO2-eq). The environmental charges for acidification potential, eutrophication potential and non-renewable energy use were 86.3%. 60.0% and 81.4% lower in the free-ranging system compared with the confined system, respectively. In the confined system the largest pollutant in terms of acidification potential was ammonia, whereas nitrate leaching in water (total amount produced=3311g SO2-eq) and the use of crude oil (total amount consumed=5684MJ-eq) were the most relevant for eutrophication potential and non-renewable energy use, respectively.Our results represent the first example of study comparing the environmental impact of an intensive dairy farming system with an alternative natural pasture based system in the Mediterranean region and suggest that the conduction of the unproductive part of the cycle on natural pasture can promote the reduction of several sources of pollution both in atmosphere and in water. Conversely, land occupation was higher in the free-ranging system as compared with the confined system (20,349 vs 1381m2year, respectively). However, the software and the database used for this calculation only considered duration of land use and yield per area unit, whereas no relevance was given to the quality of land use in terms of animal welfare promotion, contribution to biodiversity conservation, and maintenance of economically active social communities. Therefore, we suggest that the estimation of the impact categories related to land occupation would include aspects concerning the nature of the land.

Effects of Military activity and habitat quality on DNA damage and oxidative stress in the largest population of the Federally threatened gopher tortoise.

Department of Defense lands are essential for providing important habitat for threatened, endangered, and at-risk species (TER-S). However, there is little information on the effects of military-related contaminants on TER-S on these lands in field situations. Thus, this study examined genotoxicity and oxidative stress in gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) on Camp Shelby, MS-the largest known population of this species, which is listed as an "endangered species" in Mississippi and a "threatened species" by the U.S. government. Blood was collected from tortoises at 19 different sites on the base with different levels of habitat quality (high-quality and low-quality habitat) and military activity (high, low, and no military activity). Oxidative stress was quantified as lipid peroxidation and GSSG/GSH ratios, while DNA damage was determined using flow cytometry. Our results suggest that: (1) for tortoises residing in low-quality habitats, oxidative stress and DNA damage increased with increasing military activity, while in high-quality habitats, oxidative stress and DNA damage decreased with increasing military activity; (2) in the absence of military activity, tortoises in high-quality habitat had higher levels of oxidative stress and DNA damage than those in low-quality habitat, and (3) there were interactions between military activity, habitat quality, and landuse in terms of the amount of observable DNA damage and oxidative stress. In particular, on high-quality habitat, tortoises from areas with high levels of military activity had lower levels of oxidative stress and DNA damage biomarkers than on reference sites. This may represent a compensatory or hormetic response. Conversely, on low-quality habitats, the level of oxidative stress and DNA damage was lower on the reference sites. Thus, tortoises on higher-quality habitats may have a greater capacity for compensatory responses. In terms of management implications, it is suggested that low quality habitats should be a higher priority for remediation, and lower priority for conducting military activities.

Effects of aspect and changes in land use on organic carbon and soil properties in Uludere catchment, semi-arid region: Turkey

The aim of this research is to determine the effects of topographic aspect and changes in land use type and land cover (LUTLC) on soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil properties in Uludere catchment. Therefore, adjacent three land use types were chosen, including natural forest, grassland and cultivated area, to determine the effects of changes of LUTLC on SOC and soil properties in the upper soil layer (0–20 cm). The results showed that significant differences between types of land use in terms of bulk density (BD), soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN), and SOC. Soils from the grassland had the second highest levels of SOM and SOC. However, soils from the cultivated area had a very low amount of SOM, SOC and TN. It seems that agricultural practices have an extractive effect on soil properties and SOC accumulation. The soils of forest had the lowest BD values, whereas the soils of cultivated areas had the highest BD at both aspects. BD of the grassland was significantly higher than that of forest but lower than that of cultivated areas. The most appropriate land cover type to protect the soil qualities and to combat desertification in semi-arid region is natural vegetation.

Optimization of land use in accordance with the general ekological criteria in contaminated

In the paper all the main positive and negative factors in particular the rational use and protection of land are analyzed. The system of common environmental criteria optimization of land use in terms of radiation contamination is presented. The order and sequence of application of common environmental criteria of optimal land use in terms of radiation contamination are determined. Rational use and protection of land large scientific-technical, social, economic, and environmental issue of our time, the solution of which depends achieve both economic and social goals of our society. This is primarily due to the exceptional role of land in the production of wealth, constraint, and the inability to replace land resources and anthropogenic environmental changes in large areas, causing activation of soil erosion, creating man-made landscapes, flooding, and flooding large areas of land pollution products and waste industrial production, radionuclides, chemicals. The feature of the land is also not the same quality and fertility of different plots, property continuously improved when used properly. The Chernobyl disaster a substantial part of the territory of Ukraine dangerous radiation situation, about 20% of the long term are the basis for the manifestation of small doses of radiation is created. This necessitates the analysis of areas of land for their suitability for agricultural production. Significant impact on agricultural production in many regions of Ukraine were consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. Thus, about 20% of Ukraine have a long-term basis for the display of small doses of radiation. Research methods of organizational systems, environmental, economic, and technological measures to ensure stable functioning of agro-ecosystems based radiation factor is carried out. In research still missing environmental and economic analysis of the relationship between the efficiency of land use and economic-economic factors, but some parts of this communication were studied in various aspects of individual experts (both soil scientists, surveyors, and economists). However, some previously developed land and security measures are based only on the results of fragmentary (in key areas) and the component (mostly soil and geo-botanical) studies. This approach to basic research in the field of sustainable land use, particularly in terms of radiation contamination, does not sound scientific foundations placement agricultural and industrial production, study land protection measures, is not conducive to the stability of the environment. Analyzing the system of generally defined environmental criteria optimization of land use should be noted that they are essential and should be used in the analysis of land use in terms of radiation contamination. It should only determine the order and sequence of their calculation. This will create a coherent methodology for optimizing land use in terms of radiation contamination. The order of calculation of main criteria defined on the PC provides: - Calculation of radionuclide transfer from soil to plants, taking into account the density of pollution. - Determination of eligibility agro-industrial groups of soils for growing crops, depending on the density of pollution. - Determining the fate of contamination of agricultural products relative to the control level, depending on the density of pollution. - Calculation washout of soils. A definite order and sequence of generally defined environmental criteria the optimum use of land in terms of radiation contamination allows to analyze the status of land use and recommendations for further land use. Methodological foundations are based on the current economic and mathematical methods and the use of electronic computer engineering, advanced research in the field of radiology, ecology, land use and so on. Key words: optimization, radiation pollution, land use, land protection, general environmental criteria.

Modelling of faecal indicator bacteria (FIB) in the Red River basin (Vietnam)

Many studies have been published on the use of models to assess water quality through faecal contamination levels. However, the vast majority of this work has been conducted in developed countries and similar studies from developing countries in tropical regions are lacking. Here, we used the Seneque/Riverstrahler model to investigate the dynamics and seasonal distribution of total coliforms (TC), an indicator of faecal contamination, in the Red River (Northern Vietnam) and its upstream tributaries. The results of the model showed that, in general, the overall correlations between the simulated and observed values of TC follow a 1:1 relationship at all examined stations. They also showed that TC numbers were affected by both land use in terms of human and livestock populations and by hydrology (river discharge). We also developed a possible scenario based on the predicted changes in future demographics and land use in the Red River system for the 2050 horizon. Interestingly, the results showed only a limited increase of TC numbers compared with the present situation at all stations, especially in the upstream Vu Quang station and in the urban Ha Noi station. This is probably due to the dominance of diffuse sources of contamination relative to point sources. The model is to our knowledge one of the first mechanistic models able to simulate spatial and seasonal variations of microbial contamination (TC numbers) in the whole drainage network of a large regional river basin covering both urban and rural areas of a developing country.

Evaluating the role of land use and transport policies in reducing the transport energy dependence of a city

In this paper a land use and transport model is presented to calculate an indicator of “Transport Energy Dependence” (TED) in order to support the delivery of sustainable urban and transport plans. The model is based on a mathematical description of the transport system, where transport mode choice follows ideal simple rules based on distance from origin to destination and transit network accessibility. For each transport mode unit energy consumption, capacity and load factor are considered. Flows of trips are optimally assigned between origin and destination zones in such a way that transport energy is minimised. Energy ideally required for home-to-school/university travel is assessed as these journeys contribute a significant number of daily trips within a city. In particular, the model was applied to the urban area of Catania, a medium-sized town in Italy, for different scenarios, including improvements in the transit system and in pedestrian/cycling accessibility. The methodology proved to be suitable to evaluate the potential impact of land use and transport policies in terms of transport energy dependence, separating it from behavioural considerations.

Projecting the Urban Future: Contributions from Remote Sensing

Mapping urban extent accurately with remotely sensed imagery is challenging. In addition to the inherent difficulty of defining urban land use in terms of land cover (LC) at fixed spatial scales, robust identification of LC using remote sensing has its own challenges. Many of these challenges are related to the fact that the physical properties and conditions that influence scattering and emission of radiation vary in time, space, geography, geometry and wavelength. A second set of difficulties arises in the process of discretizing multiple scales of LC that often vary continuously in abundance over the range of spatial scales at which sensors integrate responses into individual pixels. These factors underscore the importance of spatial and spectral resolution for mapping human settlements and urban extent. The evolution of urban remote sensing is discussed in the context of changes in spatial and spectral resolution and in the tools used to classify land cover. A multi-sensor approach to urban extent mapping acknowledges the limitations of individual sensors and uses the intersection of multiple physical criteria to distinguish the built environment from other types of land cover. A simple example of multi-sensor mapping combines decameter-scale reflectance, derived from Landsat imagery, with kilometer-scale emission of night light, derived from DMSP-OLS composites. Current availability of intercalibrated, accurately co-registered Landsat imagery extending back to the 1970s allows for retrospective analyses of a variety of human modified landscapes—including urban. Combined with continuous field representation of land cover at subpixel scales, many of the limitations of single image discrete classification can be avoided. Global availability of Landsat allows for comparative analyses of human settlements in different environments and cultures. To facilitate comparison in terms of physical properties of land cover, we use a standardized spectral mixture model to convert the Landsat surface reflectance spectra to areal abundances of Substrate, Vegetation and Dark fractions. Because many land uses result in time-varying land cover properties we characterize the Landsat response across multiple seasons within a single year in terms of the seasonal mean and variability of each spectral endmember. The results of the multi-sensor characterization quantify both consistencies and inconsistencies in the combined response of modified landscapes in a variety of environments worldwide.

The Hidden Potential of Sustainable Neighborhoods: Lessons from Low-Carbon Communities By Harrison Fraker

The Hidden Potential of Sustainable Neighborhoods: Lessons from Low-Carbon Communities By Harrison Fraker Island Press, 2013 Reviewed by Nicola Szibbo The terms “low-carbon” and “zero-carbon” are now frequently bandied about in planning dialogues regarding sustainable neighborhood development. These terms—used in the context of neighborhood design and planning—possess increasing currency given the problem of climate change. In the past, zero-energy goals have been perceived as desirable but lofty and difficult or even impossible for planners and designers to achieve. However, in an era of adaptation to climate change, resilient infrastructure and built form is both warranted and necessary. Harrison Fraker—a pioneer researcher and professor in passive solar, daylighting, and other sustainable design techniques—presents this imperative with striking resolve in his new book. Fraker attempts to raise awareness about the “hidden potential” of sustainable infrastructure through an analysis of several best practice case studies in Europe. Exploring progressive neighborhoods at the forefront of environmental design in Sweden and Germany, the book outlines how planners, architects, and urban designers can design and build zero-carbon neighborhoods. Fraker chooses the four German and Swedish case studies specifically because the energy and performance data were available for the purposes of comparative evaluation. The case studies ultimately indicate that low-carbon communities are no longer a futuristic fantasy, but are now a reality. It is clear that in order for sustainable neighborhoods to be realized, the relevant metrics and measurements need to represent the “three axes of sustainability”: environmental, economic, and social. Fraker’s book covers the environmental aspects in great detail. Chapters two through four are dedicated to the individual neighborhoods; each chapter is filled with benchmarks and metrics for sustainable infrastructure and design, based on performance data collected by Fraker and his students. Fraker thoroughly describes the coordinated operation of the various systems of water infrastructure, waste infrastructure, renewable energy generation, green space, land use, and transportation in terms of the estimated benefits and impacts. Often, these systems overlap and reinforce each other in terms of inputs and outputs from a cradle-to-cradle perspective, and