Sustainable Regional Planning Research Articles

Spatial Interactions of a City-Region Using GIS and Survey-based Data

The concept of spatial interaction deduced from Newton’s first law of motion, which has been extended from interactions between two points of elements e.g., two cities to interactions between other points of other elements in a system, e.g., more than two cities, can be applied to elucidate settlements spatial interaction at the regional scale, particularly a city-region as a system. Elucidating the levels of spatial interactions in city-regions is crucial to support decision-making processes in regional development planning and policies, which in turn contributes to sustainable regional developments if implemented fully. The current study, therefore, combined Geographic Information Systems and survey-based data to evaluate the level of spatial interactions of a city-region as a system to support sustainable regional development planning and policies using the defined Abuja city-region as a case study. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey of residents, land cover maps that were produced using Remote Sensing processes of satellite image classification, and urban and regional land use plans. An integrated analysis was deployed, including descriptive statistics and spatial analysis through extraction, digitization, overlay, clipping, and geometrical calculation processes. Key findings showed that the work location for most residents in satellite settlements is Abuja city. Also, the study showed that while Lugbe, Kubwa, and Old Karu settlements have the highest level of spatial interaction with Abuja city, Kuje and Gwagwalada settlements have the lowest level of spatial interaction. The findings and their associated implications of the current study are useful to support decision-makers in planning and policies for the spatial distribution of urban infrastructures across settlements that make up defined city-regions in Sub-Saharan Africa in particular and in the Global South in general

Exploring the influence of sustainable regional planning on green economic growth: Evidence from Guangdong-Hong Kong- Macao Greater Bay Area and ASEAN+6

This study explores the influence of mining waste production on green economic growth in the ASEAN+6 and Guangdong-Hong Kong- Macao Greater Bay Area region spanning from 2000 to 2020. Employing ARDL (Autoregressive Distributed Lag) estimation and a comprehensive panel framework, the research reveals a notable adverse correlation: a 1% escalation in mining waste results in a 0.65% decline in green economic growth. Inefficient utilization of resources and inadequate waste management within the mining sector contribute to environmental deterioration, posing challenges to the sustainability of green industries. Furthermore, significant energy consumption from non-renewable sources during mining exacerbates the carbon footprint, obstructing advancements in green energy initiatives. The study also brings attention to a negative association between a 1% rise in inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) volume and a 0.39% decrease in green economic growth. To mitigate these unfavorable impacts, the research advocates for the promotion of sustainable FDI, the incentivization of green investments, and the implementation of rigorous environmental regulations.

Sequential action-based dynamic decision-support model for urban ecological planning

Decision-makers often encounter the challenge of efficient long-term ecological planning to consider economic and environmental trade-offs. This challenge becomes particularly complex while addressing dynamic ecological responses to ongoing urban development. Thus, we developed a sequential action-based dynamic decision-making model to simulate sequential action mitigation measures over time, while considering the dynamic ecological responses that emerge with urban development. We used a multi-objective optimization algorithm to identify optimal plans that maximize landscape connectivity and edge density, while minimizing the implementation costs per action. We focused on utilizing ecological corridors and habitat creation as mitigation measures from 1980s to 2010s. The results show that the initial low-investment strategy adopted in 1980s and sequential planning led to significantly improved ecological benefits beyond the 2000s when compared to the single-action planning approach implemented in 2010s. In contrast, an initial high-cost investment in the 1980s gradual declined the ecological benefits starting from 1995. We have demonstrated that adopting sequential planning provides valuable insights into effective urban ecological planning, especially when analyzing time-series data. This sequential approach enables decision-makers to make informed choices, thereby ultimately facilitating sustainable urban and regional planning.

From project-based to community-based social impact assessment: New social impact assessment pathways to build community resilience and enhance disaster risk reduction and climate action

Social impact assessment can greatly contribute to sustainable regional and urban planning. However, social impact assessment is used primarily in the context of pre-determined projects, while social impact assessment’s role in informing regional and urban plans before projects are even conceived is under-estimated. Moreover, a narrow understanding of the social impacts of projects leads social impact assessment practitioners to consider such impacts as being the outcomes only of the technical characteristics and risks of projects and their implementation, rather than also of broader social, cultural and political-institutional processes. In this article, we reflect on these gaps in social impact assessment. We expand the conceptualization of the social impacts of projects to better consider how social impacts are also influenced by the social dimensions of risk and resilience, and by the knowledge processes and governance strategies that inform and regulate projects. We conceptualize these processes and strategies and design new conceptual models to derive the social impacts of projects. Finally, we reflect on the strategic role social impact assessment can have in enabling social learning and sustainability transformation in localities (i.e. community resilience) and across multiple governance levels (i.e. social resilience). With this article, we contribute to building a key role for social impact assessment in disaster risk reduction, climate action and sustainable development.

Development of land value algorithm for establishing an effective cadastral system in Erbil City

Land value is one of the economic issues of cadastral systems which is the base of sustainable urban and regional planning. The current paper concerns the estimation of the land values according to many essential factors, which are adopted as ten variables generally. Among these ten parameters, the frontage of the parcel (width), the value of rent, the width of streets, and the level of services represent the most effective parameters that play the main role in process of land price estimation over the Erbil City. The current research introduces the nature of land values and their homogeneous distribution and evaluates the suggested algorithm of land price estimation as one of the efficient factors that affect the national economic situation. The data collection was done for 100 parcels in different locations within the Erbil city boundary, which is being selected to apply the linear multiple regression equation to find the coefficients of the effective factors and to define the correlation between them. The obtained results of the linear multiple regression equation show that the level of existing services and the value of the rent have the maximum effect among these four factors, and they have the maximum correlation with the land price, whereas the road’s width has the minimum correlation among them. The worked-out algorithm for land price estimation (which is a vital issue of the modern cadastral systems), is recommended to be applied by the institutions and organizations concerning the land prices and land taxes task.

Predicting municipal solid waste gasification using machine learning: A step toward sustainable regional planning

The gasification process can treat and valorize municipal solid waste (MSW) in an environmentally and economically friendly way. Using this process, MSW can be safely disposed of and sustainably converted into bioenergy as part of regional planning. Experimental laboratory data is a key component in designing, optimizing, controlling, and scaling up MSW gasifiers. However, most researchers lack the resources and time to conduct experiments. Machine learning (ML) technology can resolve this issue by detecting patterns and hidden information in published data. Hence, the present study aims to construct an inclusive ML model to predict and understand the MSW gasification process. The objective is to establish a consistent and homogeneous database containing MSW sources under different gasification conditions, followed by an analysis of the database using statistical methods. Three ML models are used to predict the distribution of syngas, char, and tar and the quality of syngas in MSW gasification using feedstock characteristics and gasification parameters. When a gradient boost regressor is used to model the process, the prediction accuracy is highest (R2 > 0.926, RMSE <6.318, and RRMSE <0.304). SHAP analysis is successfully used to understand the significance and contribution of descriptors on targets in the modeling process.

Sustainability in Regional Planning: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract Challenges in sustainable regional planning have been a hot topic of discussion in the past few decades. In this article, we analyze different approaches to regional development planning and explore their relevance to achieving sustainability in the area, while emphasizing the importance of the bottom-up approach in regional planning. We performed a bibliometric analysis to detect the state of research of the regional development planning and examined the program of forming a system for ensuring a region’s sustainability. We concluded that it is crucial to create national development plans utilizing a regional approach, which involves local projects and programs that benefit not just the economy and ecological state of the regions but also the inhabitants of those regions.

Potential business-shed model for spatial economic land use planning: towards regional economic resilience

ABSTRACT Economic resilience is the ability of a region’s economy to withstand urgent economic shocks. To plan for regional economic resilience, the key lies in the spatial economic power of areas of interest (AOIs) and in the city-region concept as the basis for the sustainable regional planning. This study aims to develop guidelines for ‘resilienizing’ the regional economy by proposing a Potential Business-Shed (PBS) Model based on the Huff-Gravity Model, a tool for economic planning, incorporated with sustainable growth strategies, socio-economic factors and GIS. The study is applied on the Northern Region of Jordan, where the guidelines are enriched by the consultation of the public residents. The results of a survey (2332 at random) reveal an economic resilience plan with the locations of three AOIs: Regional Commercial Business (RCB), greenheart, and refugee settlements. The proposed RCB received 41% of the market share in the area and covered an area of (307,740 m2). 84% of the residents want an accessible RCB and 97% think the region needs it. The study provides a model that ‘resilienizes’ similar regions with sudden shocks in their economic structure.

Preface

International Conference on Geospatial Science for Digital Earth Observation (GSDEO 2021) The international conference on “Geospatial Science for Digital Earth Observation” (GSDEO) 2021 was successfully held on a virtual platform of Zoom on March 26th and 27th, 2021. The conference was jointly organized by the Indian Society of Remote Sensing (ISRS), Kolkata chapter, and the Department of Geography, School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Adamas University. Due to the non-predictable behaviour of the COVID-19 second wave, which imposed restrictions on organizing offline events, the GSDEO (2021) organizing committee decided to organize the conference online, instead of postponing the event.Remotely sensed data and geographic information systems have been increasingly used together for a vast range of applications, which include land use/land cover mapping, water resource management, weather forecasting, environmental monitoring, agriculture, disaster management, etc. Currently, intensive research is being carried out using remotely sensed data on the geoinformatics platform. New developments have led to dynamic advances in recent years. The objective of the international conference on Geospatial Science for Digital Earth Observation (GSDEO 2021) was to bring the scientists, academicians, and researchers, in the field of geo-environmental sciences on a common platform to exchange ideas and their recent findings related to the latest advances and applications of geospatial science. The call for papers received an enthusiastic response from the academic community, and over 100+ participants from 50+ colleges, universities, and institutions participated in the conference. In total 50+ research papers had been presented through the virtual Zoom conference platform in GSDEO 2021.The conference witnessed the presentation of research papers from diverse applied fields of geospatial sciences, which include the application of geoinformatics in geomorphology, hydrology, urban science, land use planning, climate, and environmental studies. There were four sessions namely, TS 1: Geomorphology and Hydrology, TS 2: Urban Science, TS 3: Social Sustainability and Land Use Planning, and TS 4: Climate and Environment. Each session was further subdivided, into two parts, namely Technical Session 1-A and 1-B. Each sub-session had been designed with one keynote speech and 5 oral presentations. Oral sessions were organized in two parts and offered through live and pre-recorded components based on the preference of the presenters. The presentation session was followed by a live Q&A session. The session chairs moderated the discussions. Similarly, poster sessions were organized in three parts and offered e-poster, live, and pre-recorded components. The best presenter of each sub-session received the best paper award.Dr. Prithvish Nag, Ex-Director of NATMO & Ex Surveyor General of India delivered the inaugural speech, and Dr. P. Chakrabarti, Former Chief Scientist of the DST&B, Govt. of West Bengal delivered a special lecture after the inaugural session. Eight eminent keynote speakers, Prof. S.P. Agarwal from the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Prof. Ashis Kumar Paul from Vidyasagar University, Prof. Soumya Kanti Ghosh from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Prof. L. N. Satpati from the University of Calcutta, Prof. R.B. Singh from the University of Delhi, Dr. A.K. Raha, IFS (Retd), Prof. Gerald Mills from the University College Dublin and Prof. Sugata Hazra from Jadavpur University enriched the knowledge of participants in the field of geoinformatics by their informative lectures. The presentations and discussions widely covered the various spectrums of geoinformatics and its application in monitoring natural resources like vegetation mapping, agricultural resource monitoring, forest health assessment, water, and ocean resource management, disaster management, land resource management, water and climate studies, drought vulnerability assessment, groundwater quality monitoring, accretion mapping and the use of geospatial science in studying morphological, hydrological, and other biophysical characteristics of a region etc. Application of geoinformatics in predicting urban expansion, urban climate, disaster management, healthcare accessibility, anthropogenic resource monitoring, spatial-interaction mapping, and, sustainable regional planning were well-discussed topics of the conference.List of Committees, photos are available in the pdf.

Towards Sustainable Regional Planning: Potential of Commuter Rail in the Madrid Urban Region

In the extensive framework of the historiography on the relationship between railroads and cities that began in the second half of the 19th century, a new phase of thought and action emerged from the 1980s, driven by a transport-oriented development approach and the node–place model within the paradigms of New Urbanism and sustainable urbanism, respectively. This highlights the need to integrate railway planning and urban and territorial planning to take advantage of the development potential of the urban areas surrounding railway stations. In this context, a subject rarely analyzed in Spain is the urban areas around commuter railway stations and the opportunity they represent to rethink growth and development on an urban and metropolitan scale. This study explores and shows the roles that municipalities with commuter stations and their surrounding areas play and could play as a basis for leading an urban and territorial strategy based on a polycentric model in favor of more sustainable mobility and development in the Madrid urban region.

AN ANALYSIS OF THE LANDSCAPE STRUCTURE CHANGES AS AN ECOLOGICAL APPROACH TO ACHIEVE SUSTAINABLE REGIONAL PLANNING (CASE STUDY: LATIAN DAM WATERSHED)

The formation of modifications or conception in the landscape could possibly, be a procedure relative to its natural and non-disturbance process; and it could be hastened by the occurrence of disturbance regimes. The objective of this research is to survey the changes in a landscape structure, over a period of 30 years, to attain information, as to the current conditions of land use, utilizing landscape metrics in the watershed area of the Latian Dam, so as to analyze the results and the voids present, towards obtaining a specified sustainable regional planning for the abovementioned watershed. Land use was identified and reviewed by means of four Landsat satellite images for 1987, 1998, 2007, and 2017; and in this watershed, it was classified into four classes, (a) build-up areas, (b) vegetated areas, (c) bare lands and (d) water bodies. Subsequently, by taking advantage of 7 metrics at the landscape level and 8 metrics at the class level, the landscape structure in this watershed was quantified by utilizing the Fragstats 4.2 Software. The survey results illustrated an increment in the number of patches (NP), decrementing the mean area of the patches (AREA-MN), and increasing the Interspersion &amp; Juxtaposition Index (IJI) signifies amplified fragmentation at the landscape level in this watershed. Similarly, the NP has also incremented at the class level, and thus, the fragmentation of patches and fragmentation in the entire three classes of land use, namely, build-up areas, bare lands, and vegetated areas has occurred. The amount of patchiness for the build-up class, with due attention to the increment in the mean area of patches (AREA-MIN), which demonstrates the fact that, this class is inclined and has a tendency towards a coarse-grained structure and a metric decrement in the AREA-MIN in the vegetated areas, illustrates that this class is prone to the fine-grained structure.

Sustainable Development, Regional Planning, and Information Management as an Evolving Theme in Waqf Research: A Bibliometric Analysis

This study assesses the bibliometric analysis of sustainable waqf development that highlights new topics and provides insightful commentary for the waqf’s strategic growth and ongoing research. This work uses bibliometric analysis to count the number of studies that have been carried out in this domain and determine whether they have advanced knowledge on sustainable waqf development. The study specifically highlights the depth to which academics have investigated these relationships and maps to arrive at a conceptual framework of the area being studied. Bibliometric analysis within 30 years of a publication generally arises in three main areas, namely waqf fundamentals, analysis of cash waqf, as well as studies on the numerous waqf uses in Islamic social finance. Whereas analysis within 107 years shows publications concerning waqf increased after the year 2010, from 2017 onwards, despite the rising number of total publications, total citations decreased. Thus, this study focuses on the current ten years from 2011–2020 and dissects 281 papers to study the dynamic topic for current mass research. Three main areas are highlighted in the early study, namely, sustainable development, regional planning, and information management. At the end of the study, the findings show the state of development and the top trends in influence, as well as the major journals, articles, subjects, authors, and countries. Both scholars and practitioners can benefit from the analysis and graphical presentations since they will be able to better grasp the state of the art of waqf in the experiential and current digital eras.

MULTIOBJECTIVE ANALYSIS OF OPEN AREAS INVADED BY FOREST WITH OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE: THE CASE OF THE SATURN PROJECT

Abstract. In the last decades in Italian mountainous regions, forests are invading abandoned pastures and cultivated surfaces that often played a key ecological role for biodiversity conservation, a complex land-use change phenomenon. To improve sustainable regional planning and management it is increasingly important to quantify the phenomenon and classify those areas according their ecological vocation. This study explores multi-objective and multi-criteria assessment for the identification of the most suitable areas for agricultural purposes between those surfaces that have been invaded by forests. Free and Open-Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) software has been used to carry out the research. The work here presented has been funded by the EIT Climate-KIC SATURN project (2018-2021) and was carried out in the pilot areas of the Province of Trento (Italy). Geospatial data set was georeferenced and managed with GRASS and QGIS and the files were collected combining data freely available at the Autonomous Province of Trento geocatalogue as well as others self-produced during the project. The comparative analysis and methodology were carried out by means of QGIS 3.16 Geographic Information System which has been used to complete the analysis to develop a methodology that can be widely used by territorial operators and Public Administrations. To validate the model and verify the results, on-site inspections were carried out. The developed model can be used in different environmental assessments for territorial planning purposes.

Optimizing biomass energy production at the municipal level to move to low-carbon energy

In this article, we seek to analyze the regional energy policy in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, with a particular focus on the potential for developing renewable energy from biomass. The article aims to build a mathematical model of the regional energy system, related to the strategy of sustainable development in the region. Taking into account the potential for biomass development and the sustainability criteria, this paper presents a case study of sustainable regional energy planning and implementation in the selected region in Poland. An example of optimizing biomass for renewable use at the municipal level is valuable, as the use of biomass energy requires knowledge of landscapes, energy options, and different stakeholder perspectives. Thus, “energyscapes,” a complex spatial and temporary combination of energy supply, demand, and infrastructure within the landscape, can be very useful in this context. Ongoing research contributes to the development of knowledge on promoting renewable energy sources at the local level and supporting a fair transition to low-carbon energy through energy citizenship and the development of sustainable low-carbon communities at the regional level.

Observing the influences of climatic and environmental variability over soil salinity changes in the Noakhali Coastal Regions of Bangladesh using geospatial and statistical techniques

Climate change is an intensive threat to the coastal areas of Bangladesh. Low-lying coastal areas suffer from salinity intrusion, especially in the geomorphologically active central coastal areas of Bangladesh (CAB). The intrusion of soil salinity has been particularly evident from studies on the CAB, which exhibits the effects of climate change and salinity changes along the coast. On a local scale, studies like these are essential, but current, when dealing with climate-driven changes considering the field of study, it is rarely observed and recorded in the literature. Therefore, this present study focuses on observing the influence of climate and environmental variability over soil salinity changes trend in the Noakhali coastal regions (NCR) of Bangladesh using geospatial and statistical techniques. To achieve this goal, the present study analyzed the historical climatic data of Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) from 1987 to 2018, which showed that there were irregularities with deviation from normal distribution of temperature and rainfall data in the region. The study also shows maximum temperature raise of about 3°C and 1500 mm annual rainfall in the area. In addition, amplification of tides have been observed in the east and decreases in the west coast. On the other hand, the study suggested a significant reduction of about 22 dS/m in soil salinity data analysis from 1996 to 2019, which was a maximum of 2.27 dS/m in 2019 compared to 25 dS/m in 1996. However, in-depth observations of temperature and rainfall data revealed strong seasonal control over soil salinity levels. Abundance of rainfall is negatively correlated where tidal level is positively correlated with soil salinity level of the study area. There is a positive correlation between the soil salinity level and a minimum level of temperature change. The present study systematically focuses on the change in soil salinity of the NCR on climate and environmental changes, which provides information on historical influence. Finally, the study confirms that rainfall and tides are the main and temperature as the secondary soil salinity controlling factors of the CAB. The results of this study might be used scientifically to attain the sustainable agricultural practices, coastal development and regional planning of the country.

Evaluation of Outranking Border Region Sustainable Development in Papua Province – Papua New Guinea Using PROMETHEE

The border area of Indonesia - Papua New Guinea is one of the border areas of Indonesia which has complex characteristics. Apart from differences in geographical conditions, this border region also has characteristics of customary territories that are not owned by other border areas in Indonesia. This complexity causes high variations in the performance of regional or district development in the RI-PNG border area. This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of sustainable regional development through the PROMETHEE (Preference Ranking Organization Methods for Enrichment Evaluation) method. The results of the analysis show that areas that tend to be open with access to other areas in Indonesia such as Merauke and Jayapura tend to have better performance than other border areas. These results can be used as lessons learned in sustainable regional development planning in other border areas.

In remembrance of our colleague Evan Weissman: Scholar, community leader, mentor, and friend

First paragraphs: In the spring of 2020, we tragically lost our dear friend and colleague Evan Weissman, a food studies scholar and urban geographer, social justice advocate and activist, and renowned mentor and teacher. Evan was the first faculty member hired to start our intimate Food Studies Program, and an essential part of each of our individual careers and professional lives at Syracuse. It is difficult to impart the impact he had on our program, the discipline of food studies, and on us, as his coworkers and collaborators. Evan’s academic contributions, which focused on local food policy, community food systems, food system inequality, and urban agriculture, are beautifully reflected in this special issue. As can be seen here, the work he was engaged in has deep roots, which extend across topics and disciplines and con­tinue to grow in his absence. His impact on the fields of food justice and sustainable agricultural and regional planning will endure, due to the ways he connected radical social theory and community-based practice. . . .

Developing a Participatory Planning Support System for Sustainable Regional Planning—A Problem Structuring Case Study

In this paper, we report on the application of systems engineering in initiating the synthesis of a participatory planning support system (PSS) for sustainable regional planning. The systems engineering SPADE approach is applied in a model-based fashion to define and link sustainable development goals (SDGs) to regional and urban planning policies in a co-creative multi-stakeholder environment. The approach is demonstrated through a case study from the interregional climate, land-use, and transportation planning process (PAKT) in the Ålesund region in Norway. The work was performed using focus groups with planning stakeholders over a series of workshops to analyze, design, verify and validate the problem structure. Our study shows that the approach is useful for integrating and operationalizing the SDGs in a planning context. The methodology also brings clarity and structure to planning problems and provides a pedagogical frame to engage stakeholders in co-creative PSS synthesis. Further research is necessary to explore how structured elements may be exploited in PSS synthesis.

Urban and regional planning approaches for sustainable governance: The case of Addis Ababa and the surrounding area changing landscape

Uncontrolled urban growth, subsequent suburbanization, sprawling, and haphazard land development are the crucial urban development problems of Addis Ababa and the surrounding Oromia special zone causing environmental degradation and rural-urban land-based conflicts. In fact, this is mainly because of the lack of proper urban and regional planning approaches and methodology. Although different research works and planning attempts were made, there are still some openings to address interregional urban land development, a choice of regional planning approaches, and its implication on the growing local interest and urban-rural synergy. The objective of this study was to scrutinize approaches for sustainable urban and regional planning, management, and urban-rural synergy. Document analysis, observation, and interviews were employed to collect the data. The study identified top-down and non-participatory approaches of urban and regional planning, problems of good governance, and weak institutional frameworks. Therefore, an eclectic smart city-region planning approach is required for the sustainable rural-urban synergistic development not only in the study area but also in the country's urban system at large.

Sustainable regional energy planning: The case of hydro

AbstractThe study is dedicated to analysis of sustainable regional energy planning challenge's in order to reach carbon‐free economy in 2050. The case study of hydropower development in selected region of Poland provides good example how to deal practically with identified sustainable regional energy planning problems to address restrictions of environmental requirements and natural conditions on the least costs hydropower generation planning in a given region. The aim of the article is to develop a model for optimizing hydropower production and to apply this model for selected region. The West Pomeranian region was selected for this case study, and the time range for planning is from 2019 to 2030. The selected region is particularly predestined for the production of renewable energy sources. Constructed model and obtained results for optimization of hydropower development in selected region is useful for fostering usage of renewable energy sources in Poland and moving forward towards carbon‐free economy target set by European Union for 2050.