Pimp Your Landscape: A Tool for Qualitative Evaluation of the Effects of Regional Planning Measures on Ecosystem Services

The article presents the platform “Pimp your landscape” (PYL), which aims firstly at the support of planners by simulating alternative land-use scenarios and by an evaluation of benefits or risks for regionally important ecosystem services. Second, PYL supports an integration of information on environmental and landscape conditions into impact assessment. Third, PYL supports the integration of impacts of planning measures on ecosystem services. PYL is a modified 2-D cellular automaton with GIS features. The cells have the major attribute “land-use type” and can be supplemented with additional information, such as specifics regarding geology, topography and climate. The GIS features support the delineation of non-cellular infrastructural elements, such as roads or water bodies. An evaluation matrix represents the core element of the system. In this matrix, values in a relative scale from 0 (lowest value) to 100 (highest value) are assigned to the land-use types and infrastructural elements depending on their effect on ecosystem services. The option to configure rules for describing the impact of environmental attributes and proximity effects on cell values and land-use transition probabilities is of particular importance. User interface and usage of the platform are demonstrated by an application case. Constraints and limits of the recent version are discussed, including the need to consider in the evaluation, landscape-structure aspects such as patch size, fragmentation and spatial connectivity. Regarding the further development, it is planned to include the impact of land management practices to support climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies in regional planning.     

A Case Study of Ecosystem Services in Urban Planning in Finland: Benefits,Rights and Responsibilities

The concept of ecosystem services is entering the agenda of land-use planning and scientists optimistically expect it to inform planners and decision-makers about the benefits that ecosystems provide. While tools and methods have been developed for mapping and valuing ecosystem services, only little attention has been paid to the practical application of the approach or its institutional preconditions and implications. We empirically analysed two urban planning processes for building residential areas in the outskirts of growing population centres in Finland. Our analysis of documents and interviews with planners focused on the benefits provided by ecosystems as well as the associated rights and responsibilities. We found that the concept ‘ecosystem service’ was not used, yet various benefits were identified. The rights of different stakeholders to ecosystem services were not explicitly identified, but many ecosystem services were perceived as public goods and particularly access to recreation was highlighted as an important justification for green areas. The results show that while the ecosystem services approach introduces new insights to land-use planning, it is still not embedded in the current practices or institutions. Operationalizing ecosystem services requires institutional adaptation, case-specific tailoring of methods, and deliberation among practitioners and stakeholders.     

Urban Sprawl and Rural Landscapes: perceptions of landscape as amenity in Portland, Oregon

In the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan region, an urban growth boundary (UGB) was established in 1979 to protect farm and forest lands from urban encroachment. Most of the literature on the impact of Oregon's land-use legislation has been on the urban side of the issue--primarily the relative success Portland has had in containing urban sprawl. The landscape component of this rural transformation is typically considered only as a passive backdrop to urban expansion. Portland provides an excellent site to examine the relationship city-dwellers have to nearby agricultural areas. Rapid urban growth in the 1990s pushed suburban development to the edge of the UGB creating stark contrasts between urban and rural land uses in parts of the metropolitan area. This study examines the impact of the UGB on rural landscape change in Portland. We combine findings from land-use analysis and surveys of urban and rural residents to suggest ways to merge the amenity values of landscape with planning policy regarding the UGB.     

Urban Sprawl and Rural Landscapes: Perceptions of landscape as amenity in Portland,Oregon

In the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan region, an urban growth boundary (UGB) was established in 1979 to protect farm and forest lands from urban encroachment. Most of the literature on the impact of Oregon's land-use legislation has been on the urban side of the issue—primarily the relative success Portland has had in containing urban sprawl. The landscape component of this rural transformation is typically considered only as a passive backdrop to urban expansion. Portland provides an excellent site to examine the relationship city-dwellers have to nearby agricultural areas. Rapid urban growth in the 1990s pushed suburban development to the edge of the UGB creating stark contrasts between urban and rural land uses in parts of the metropolitan area. This study examines the impact of the UGB on rural landscape change in Portland. We combine findings from land-use analysis and surveys of urban and rural residents to suggest ways to merge the amenity values of landscape with planning policy regarding the UGB.     

Effect of Land-Use Patterns on Total Nitrogen Concentration in the Upstream Regions of the Haihe River Basin, China

Nutrient loading into rivers is generally increased by human-induced land-use changes and can lead to increased surface water pollution. Understanding the extent to which land-use patterns influence nutrient loading is critical to the development of best-management practices aimed at water-quality improvement. In this study, we investigated total nitrogen (total N) concentration as a function of land-use patterns and compared the relative significance of the identified land-use variables for 26 upstream watersheds of the Haihe River basin. Seven land-use intensity and nine landscape complexity variables were selected to form the land-use pattern metrics on the landscape scale. After analyzing the significance of the land-use pattern metrics, we obtained five dominant principal components: human-induced land-use intensity, landscape patch-area complexity, area-weighted landscape patch-shape complexity, forest and grassland area, and landscape patch-shape complexity. A linear regression model with a stepwise selection protocol was used to identify an optimal set of land-use pattern predictors. The resulting contributions to the total N concentration were 50% (human-induced land-use intensity), 23.13% (landscape patch-shape complexity), 14.38% (forest and grassland area), and 12.50% (landscape patch-area complexity), respectively. The regression model using land-use measurements can explain 87% of total N variability in the upstream regions of Haihe River. The results indicated that human-related land-use factors, such as residential areas, population, and road density, had the most significant effect on N concentration. The agricultural area (30.1% of the study region) was not found to be significantly correlated with total N concentration due to little irrigative farmland and rainfall. Results of the study could help us understand the implications of potential land-use changes that often occur as a result of the rapid development in China.     

Combining land-use planning and tenure security: a tenure responsive land-use planning approach for developing countries

There is tenure insecurity around land ownerships and land rights in most developing countries. There are also many land-use planning projects being implemented in these countries. Often, land-use planning exists in these countries but is not formally linked with tenure security. This study argues that combining them by conducting land-use planning in a way that promotes tenure security presents a new approach. A central premise for the rationale of this intervention is that processes of land-use planning may inadvertently increase tenure security. By way of methodology, it evaluates land-use planning case studies from Africa, Asia and South America. It uses the three case study examples to build a case for making tenure security one of the major planned outcomes of a land-use planning process and provides a detailed framework for operationalising the concept. Its main contribution to the literature is that it introduces the concept of tenure responsive land-use planning.     

Landscape Changes in the Mullica River Basin of the Pinelands National Reserve,New Jersey,USA

In 1979, the Pinelands Commission was established as a regional land-use planning and regulatory agency charged with the implementation of a Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) for the Pinelands National Reserve (New Jersey, USA). The CMP was created to balance land preservation and development interests in the Reserve. Because water-quality degradation from developed and agricultural landscapes is associated with changes in the composition of biological communities, monitoring landscape changes provides one of the most direct measures of the impact of land-use policies on the Pinelands ecosystem. In this study, we prepared detailed, land-cover maps within randomly selected aerial-photograph plots for a major watershed in the Reserve. We used these land-cover maps to quantify changes in landscape composition and structure (i.e., patch size, patch area, and number of patches) and characterize land-cover transitions in the basin between 1979 and 1991. Because the study period represented the first 12 years of the regional-planning effort in the Reserve, we evaluated the relationship between land-cover transitions and Commission management-area designations which permit different land-use intensities. Although the landscape composition was similar in 1979 and 1991, we found an increase in the total area and number of developed-land, managed-grassland, and barren-land patches. An increase in the number of patches and a decrease in the total area and median and third-quartile patch sizes for forest land and for all patches regardless of cover type indicated that fragmentation of forest land and the landscape as a whole occurred during the study period. The major land-cover transitions that occurred during the period were the loss of forest land to development and associated cover types and the conversion of one agricultural type to another. Overall, land-cover transitions during the period were found to be consistent with the Commission management-area designations, which indicated that the regional-planning effort has been successful in directing human activities to appropriate areas of the basin.     

Land Use-Based Landscape Planning and Restoration in Mine Closure Areas

Landscape planning and restoration in mine closure areas is not only an inevitable choice to sustain mining areas but also an important path to maximize landscape resources and to improve ecological function in mine closure areas. The analysis of the present mine development shows that many mines are unavoidably facing closures in China. This paper analyzes the periodic impact of mining activities on landscapes and then proposes planning concepts and principles. According to the landscape characteristics in mine closure areas, this paper classifies available landscape resources in mine closure areas into the landscape for restoration, for limited restoration and for protection, and then summarizes directions for their uses. This paper establishes the framework of spatial control planning and design of landscape elements from “macro control, medium allocation and micro optimization” for the purpose of managing and using this kind of special landscape resources. Finally, this paper applies the theories and methods to a case study in Wu’an from two aspects: the construction of a sustainable land-use pattern on a large scale and the optimized allocation of typical mine landscape resources on a small scale.     

Local government policies toward environmentally sensitive areas in British Columbia,Canada; Washington and Oregon,USA

While there has been sustained debate on the issue of provincial and state versus local government environmental planning, maintaining privately owned natural resources in the public interest is increasingly viewed as beyond the scope of local governments alone. This paper describes and compares province- and state-level mandates and options for local governments (i.e., city, county, or district) to regulate land uses of environmentally sensitive areas (ESAs) in British Columbia in Canada and in Washington and Oregon in the United States. We define ESAs as landscape elements or places that are vital to the long-term maintenance of biological diversity, soil, water, and other natural resources, especially as they relate to human health, safety, and welfare, both on-site and in a regional context. Underlying similarities are that all three jurisdictions legally express the need for land-use planning by local governments in managing ESAs. Although all three jurisdictions exhibit similar problems in their attempt to accomplish this, ESA planning by local governments is an optional process in British Columbia and Washington but mandatory in Oregon. Furthermore, actual processes prescribed by each of the three jurisdictions are quite different. The information base upon which local regulation of privately held ESAs depends is variable, both within and between the province- and statelevel jurisdictions. Other than for some specific water-related resources, standard definitions and inventory methods for ESAs are lacking, as is coordination among local governments or among the province- and state-level governments. This study concludes that there is a need for a regional environmental information system in the Pacific Northwest based upon an integrated and scientific approach toward ESA structures and functions.     

Coupling a settlement growth model with an agro-economic land allocation model for securing ecosystem services provision

Mountain landscapes are undergoing rapid land-use changes. Settlement expansion, the intensification of agricultural land-use practices, and farmland abandonment result in a decline of natural and semi-natural habitats and the related ecosystem services (ES). In this context, spatial planning has emerged as a key instrument for the management of ES provision. To better understand trade-offs and interactions between settlement growth and ES provision in a spatially explicit manner, we present a new modeling framework coupling an agent-based, agro-economic optimization model and a cellular-automata-based settlement growth model. The framework is applied in an inner alpine valley in the Valais, Switzerland, which experienced rapid settlement growth in recent years. Results demonstrate how the model framework allows support of local planning processes. Particularly cooperation among municipalities and an explicit consideration of ES can inform spatially explicit ES trade-off decisions under increasing demand for land. We conclude that better informed spatial planning processes support ES provision.     

An approach based on spatial multicriteria analysis to map the nature conservation value of agricultural land

Knowledge of the nature conservation value of agricultural land provides a useful input to land-use planning. However, the scarcity of suitable data causes this component to rarely play a role. The paper proposes a methodology based on commonly available data to assess the nature conservation value of agricultural landscapes, and to generate cartographic results to be used as decision variables in planning. The approach relies on landscape ecological indicators and on the application of multicriteria analysis in a Geographical Information System (GIS) context. Four criteria were selected: the agricultural landscape type, the cover of vegetation remnants and marginal features, the length of forest-agriculture ecotones, and the proximity to nature reserves. These criteria were assessed directly or by means of specific indicators, generating maps that were subsequently aggregated through spatial multicriteria analysis. The approach was tested in an alpine area located in Trentino (northern Italy).     

User pay financing of stormwater management: A case-study in Ottawa-Carleton, Ontario

Stormwater management upgrade and maintenance costs in the province of Ontario are significant. As capital grant programs decline, municipalities are exploring alternative means for financing the abatement of stormwater quantity and quality problems. User pay financing represents one such option. The economic, institutional and legal issues related to implementing user pay financing of stormwater management in Ontario are addressed using the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton (RMOC) as a case-study. The paper reviews the experience with user pay stormwater management programs in Canada and the USA, and recent stormwater issues and financing needs in the RMOC. The presented spreadsheet rate model is based on stormwater quantity and quality considerations and best management practices (BMPs) for various land-use categories. The modelling results vary depending on the inclusion or exemption of certain land-use categories and whether BMPs are implemented. Preliminary results indicate the monthly stormwater user charges are comparable with those charged in USA programs. In Ontario, existing statutes provide the enabling legislation for stormwater user charges, and there are no legal or regulatory barriers to implementing them. However, program we start-up costs and public perception could be significant obstacles to instituting user charges.     

The Control of Land-Use Patterns for Stormwater Management at Multiple Spatial Scales

While most research about the relationship between land use and watershed hydrological output has focused primarily on land-use types and their impact on hydrological processes, the relationship between characteristics of land-use patterns (such as pattern fragmentation, connectivity, and coherence) and hydrological processes has not been well examined. Using historical stormwater data, this study evaluates the hydrological effects of different land-use scenarios in the Qing-shui watershed in Beijing, China, at a variety of spatial scales. This study demonstrates that planning and managing land-use patterns can significantly reduce runoff under different scales, particularly for small storm events. In contrast to other aspects of land-use structure characteristics, such as the shape complexity of land-use patches, fragmented level of the patches of land-use types appear as dominant drivers of runoff. The results of the study suggest that land-use pattern management should be an important component of Best Management Practices to reduce the impacts of urbanization on natural hydrological processes.     

Spatial planning and changing landscapes: a failure of policy in peri-urban Victoria,Australia

Building on the scientific literature, this article first summarises the socio-environmental impacts of land-use change expected to occur in high amenity Australian peri-urban areas, involving in particular, the effects of land development on agriculture, biodiversity, landscape character, bushfire risk and social factors. Second, the current spatial planning framework and its distribution in seven municipalities in Victoria, Australia, is critically analysed, and records of approved planning permits are related to this framework to assess the challenges posed by peri-urban growth. We argue that the current planning framework supports a static approach which does not address foreseen challenges and lacks strategic power. Both the strategic framework and the development approval process lead to unanticipated, cumulative impacts and contestation. A more coordinated, less urban-centric approach to planning and the introduction of rural land-use plans would substantially address some of the issues encountered.     

A Hierarchical Approach to Forest Landscape Pattern Characterization

Landscape spatial patterns have increasingly been considered to be essential for environmental planning and resources management. In this study, we proposed a hierarchical approach for landscape classification and evaluation by characterizing landscape spatial patterns across different hierarchical levels. The case study site is the Red Hills region of northern Florida and southwestern Georgia, well known for its biodiversity, historic resources, and scenic beauty. We used one Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper image to extract land-use/-cover information. Then, we employed principal-component analysis to help identify key class-level landscape metrics for forests at different hierarchical levels, namely, open pine, upland pine, and forest as a whole. We found that the key class-level landscape metrics varied across different hierarchical levels. Compared with forest as a whole, open pine forest is much more fragmented. The landscape metric, such as CONTIG_MN, which measures whether pine patches are contiguous or not, is more important to characterize the spatial pattern of pine forest than to forest as a whole. This suggests that different metric sets should be used to characterize landscape patterns at different hierarchical levels. We further used these key metrics, along with the total class area, to classify and evaluate subwatersheds through cluster analysis. This study demonstrates a promising approach that can be used to integrate spatial patterns and processes for hierarchical forest landscape planning and management.     

A Dynamic Simulation Model of Land-Use, Population, and Rural Livelihoods in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia

The dynamic interactions between society and land resources have to be taken into account when planning and managing natural resources. A computer model, using STELLA software, was developed through active participation of purposively selected farm households from different wealth groups, age groups and gender within a rural community and some members of Kebelle council. The aim of the modeling was to study the perceived changes in land-use, population and livelihoods over the next 30 years and to improve our understanding of the interactions among them. The modeling output is characterized by rapid population growth, declining farm size and household incomes, deteriorating woody vegetation cover and worsening land degradation if current conditions remain. However, through integrated intervention strategies (including forest increase, micro-finance, family planning, health and education) the woody vegetation cover is likely to increase in the landscape, population growth is likely to slow down and households’ income is likely to improve. A validation assessment of the simulation model based on historical data on land-use and population from 1973 to 2006 showed that the model is relatively robust. We conclude that as a supporting tool, the simulation model can contribute to the decision making process.     

A model of multi-purpose ecosystem management for degraded Mediterranean uplands

In order to reconcile the need for conserving and improving neglected Mediterranean upland ecosystems with socio-economic advancement, new concepts of integrated landscape management are required. For this purpose a mode of a closely interwoven network of multiple land-use patterns is suggested, based on vegetation management and manipulation of the soil-plant-animal complex and on multi-purpose environmental landscaping and afforestation. The latter is essential for revegetation of denuded slopes and for fire protection and buffer zones, and is aimed at the creation of semi-natural, multi-layered forests, parks and woodlands. From these, highest overall multiple use benefits can be expected for environmental and watershed protection, resistance to fire hazard, biotic diversity and wildlife, recreation amenity., and plant and animal production.For optimization and dynamic land-use planning such relative values of multiple use benefits should be expressed in quantitative data and applied in dynamic planning of multiple use strategies, which could be tested first in combined research and demonstration schemes.     

Wetland boundary and land-use planning in southern Ontario,Canada

There is a general lack of understanding of wetland processes and a general paucity of scientific research to predict the effects of development on wetland boundary. This paper presents the results of a survey of wetland managers as to how they delineate wetland boundaries, define compatible land uses, and restrict land uses adjacent to wetland boundaries. A major finding from the survey is that 75% of land-use planners and wetland managers failed to identify any compatible land use or restricted land use for development proposals that may affect provincially significant wetlands. The government agencies overwhelmingly lack adequate methodologies and/or criteria to delineate and protect wetland boundaries. The paper closes with a plea to consider dynamic hydrological factors in land-use planning.     

A methodology of characterizing status and trend of land changes in oases: a case study of Sangong River watershed, Xinjiang, China

Land change is often studied with Markov models to develop a probability transition matrix. The existing methods dependent on such matrixes cannot effectively characterize some important aspects associated with land change such as status, direction, trend and regional variations. This study presents mathematical models to quantify these elements, defining unbalanced, quasi-balanced and balanced status, one- and two-way transitions and the rising or falling trends. Using these models and remote-sensing imageries, the landscape was studied for a case area, the oasis of Sangong River in Xinjiang, Northwest China where typical arid conditions prevail. Land expansion and contraction among various land types and for the entire oasis were analyzed for the periods of 1978-1987, 1978-1998 and 1987-1998. The changes were closely related to a strong economic growth after the land-reform campaign and adoption of the market economy in China in the 1980s to early 1990s, a process not strictly Markovian that requires stationarity and randomness. Information on land-change status and trend is important for a better understanding of the underlying driving processes but also for land-use planning and decision-making.     

Forest planning across Europe: the spatial scale,tools, andinter-sectoral integration in land-use planning

New approaches to forest planning are needed to support the transition of European forests to sustainable management. The aim of this study is to review forest planning systems already in place throughout Europe by exploring a set of case-study countries reflecting the main silvicultural schools of Western Europe, including Belgium, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, and Slovenia.

A literature review and case-study data were used to assess the scale factors (vertical logic) as well as the relationships between forest planning and other environmental/land-use planning sectors (horizontal logic). The influence of EU policy on the development of forest planning is also discussed. As assessed using the vertical logic, the multi-scale and multi-topic planning approaches adopted in the countries studied here are highly heterogeneous. The horizontal logic shows that despite the importance of an inter-sectoral and harmonic relational framework between forest planning and the planning efforts of other sectors such as landscape and urban planning, the various plans are barely consistent with each other across the European countries studied here. Although interest is growing in the multi-functionality of forests, their sustainable management calls for the development of better integrated planning approaches across Europe.