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Integrated Approach to Land Use Change Assessment

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A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 23419

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Olaf Bastian

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Guest Editor

Environmental Office, 01069 Capital City of Dresden, Saxony, Germany
Interests: spatial planning; biotope mapping and biotope assessment; landscape diagnosis; natural potentials and ecosystem services
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. František Petrovič

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Constantine the Philosopher University, 949 01 Nitra, Slovakia
Interests: land use changes; landscape planning; mapping; natural resource management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Zita Izakovičová

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Guest Editor

Institute of Landscape Ecology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, SK-814 99 Bratislava, Slovakia
Interests: nature and landscape conservation; land use; sustainable development; landscape ecological planning; ecosystem services
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Changes in land use are reflected not only in changes of land cover; they are also the cause of changes in landscape structure and are the main initiator of many environmental problems – qualitative and quantitative degradation of natural resources, decline in natural ecosystems, increasing anthropization of the landscape, negative impacts from deserted agricultural fields on landscape biodiversity, desertion of land, increase in synanthropic species, etc. From this perspective, it is important to modify landscape–ecological research is conducted. It is no longer possible to focus only on studying land use forms and land cover but to also study relations in landscape (e.g., cause–consequence). Identifying the causes and casualties of these changes is crucial for the implementation of rational landscape utilization. It is essential to apply an integrated approach to the assessment of land use change. The scientific basis of this approach is the understanding of landscape as a geosystem and, in particular, the proper interpretation of the mutual relations of primary, secondary, and tertiary landscape structure and their role in assessing conflicts of interest. It is also necessary to implement landscape–ecological principles in spatial planning, which represents the main tool for sustainable utilization of resources and potentials of the territory.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to invite researchers to submit proposals for papers that deal with sustainable landscape management. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

Land use changes induced by human activities and its environmental impacts
Conflicts of interest in land use
Multifunctional use of landscape
Landscape ecosystem services
Integrated assessment of land use
Utilization of new progressive information and communication technologies in spatial planning
Implementation of landscape ecological principles in spatial planning processes
Decision support tools for sustainable landscape management and planning
Role of stakeholders and decision-makers in territorial planning
Case studies—examples of good practice in the landscape management

Dr. Olaf Bastian
Prof. Dr. František Petrovič
Prof. Dr. Zita Izakovičová
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

landscape management
land use conflicts
sustainable land use
landscape ecological planning
spatial planning
global changes

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 5876 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Visibility Analysis to Enhance Landscape Protection: A Proposal of Planning Norms and Regulations for Slovakia

by Daniele La Rosa and Zita Izakovičová

Land 2022, 11(7), 977; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11070977 - 26 Jun 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2262

Abstract

The visibility of a landscape is an important aspect of landscape protection planning because different rules or norms can be defined to regulate land-use and human activities depending on the degree of landscape visibility. Viewshed analyses are common GIS-based approaches to evaluate which parts of the landscape can be seen from certain points or by people located or moving in the landscape. In this work, the visibility of the entire landscape of the Slovak Republic is assessed from the network of major national roads. The results of the landscape visibility analysis are then used to propose appropriate planning norms and regulations to protect the identified visibility values and avoid potential visual obstructions from new buildings or infrastructure development. Particularly, the proposed norms indicate allowable changes to the landscape and the maximum height of new or existing buildings and other urban infrastructure. Maps of the spatial distribution of the proposed norms identify possible situations of consistency or conflict with potential urban development trends, to support landscape protection planning processes at the national level. On average, the most visible land-use/land-cover categories are glacial mountains relief, plane depressions, and wide alluvial plains, while the planning indications/prescriptions to protect landscape visibility have been proposed for irrigated land and forests. Thanks to the limited use of geographic datasets, the method ensures high transferability to other different geographic contexts, and allows to derive planning indications for large national contexts. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated Approach to Land Use Change Assessment)

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20 pages, 2819 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development of Land Cover Naturalness in Lithuania on the Edge of the 21st Century: Trends and Driving Factors

by Daiva Juknelienė, Laima Česonienė, Donatas Jonikavičius, Daiva Šileikienė, Daiva Tiškutė-Memgaudienė, Jolanta Valčiukienė and Gintautas Mozgeris

Land 2022, 11(3), 339; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11030339 - 25 Feb 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2397

Abstract

Landscape naturalness is an important indicator for supporting sustainable development-driven policies and suggesting associated decisions in land management. This study used CORINE Land Cover data to estimate the changes in land cover naturalness in Lithuania since 1995. All the land cover types were ranked according to naturalness level, ranging from purely anthropogenic to natural landscapes. Spatial patterns of the increase or decline in landscape naturalness were investigated at the level of municipalities. Then, publicly available geographic data were mobilised to explain the reasons behind the trends observed. A minor increase in land cover naturalness in the whole area of Lithuania was observed; however, this increase was statistically insignificant. Nevertheless, statistically significant clusters with both increasing and decreasing levels of land cover naturalness were identified when moving to the level of municipalities. The trends in the development of landscape naturalness were associated with the specificity of agricultural and forestry activities in the municipalities. The suitability of lands for agriculture due to soil, terrain, current land use specifics, and related drivers, such as the availability of land reclamation installations and the intensity of land use, were the main drivers for the declining level of land cover naturalness, usually concentrated in northern and central Lithuania. The land cover naturalness did increase in less suitable areas for agriculture, i.e., in the more forested southeastern municipalities. The study emphasised the need for a systematic and spatially explicit monitoring of the land cover patterns and their changes as well as elaborated proposals for land management policies over the next decade, which were mostly in the line with current European Union and national strategies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated Approach to Land Use Change Assessment)

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18 pages, 4420 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Positive Socio-Economic Phenomena in Territorial Systems of Ecological Stability (Case Study)

by Renáta Rákayová and Milena Moyzeová

Land 2022, 11(1), 120; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11010120 - 12 Jan 2022

Viewed by 1789

Abstract

One of the active tools that increase the ecological stability of a country are projects related to territorial systems of ecological stability (TSES). An important part of the elaboration of TSES projects is also the evaluation of positive socio-economic phenomena (PSEP). Their evaluation is important for the design of measures that will ensure its proper functioning. The PSEP enter, the spatial system as elements that fulfill important ecological functions and help preserve the natural resources, gene pool, ecological stability and diversity of the landscape. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain their functions in the future. The theoretical and methodological basis for the evaluation of PSEP within TSES is the LANDEP methodology. They are not unique in the area, and they can occur in various combinations. Based on varied combinations of positive phenomena ensuing from nature conservation, protection of water sources, forest and soil sources, mineral resources and cultural or historical resources there are various types of territories with different landscape ecological significance and different ecological stability. The resulting combinations are a limiting input for the proposed activities and must be respected when processing ecostabilization measures within TSES projects. The presented study presents a landscape ecological evaluation of socio-economic phenomena of nature protection and natural resources in a project of the local system of ecological stability which was developed for the agriculturally intensively used area of Dolný Lopašov. It assesses the legal status of the territory and specifies and spatially expresses areas with different representations of important landscape elements which come under legislative protection. Based on the occurrence, abundance, character and combinations of PSEP occurring in the cadastral area of the commune Dolný Lopašov, this specifies 8 degrees of landscape ecological significance. Significance categories form the basis for the overall classification of the territory required for the processing of TSES projects at the local level. The obtained results must be applied to the proposals of measures to increase ecological stability, especially in the central and southern part of the cadastral area of the commune Dolný Lopašov. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated Approach to Land Use Change Assessment)

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15 pages, 4998 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Perception of the Values of the Biocultural Landscape Types of Slovakia by the Population

by Zita Izakovičová, Jana Špulerová, Zuzana Baránková and Andrej Palaj

Land 2022, 11(1), 72; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11010072 - 4 Jan 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2133

Abstract

The perception of the landscape by society is becoming an integral part of many studies in terms of the quality of the living environment, sport and recreation and building and developing social relationships. To evaluate the perception and appreciation of individual landscape types by society, we used an online questionnaire as a form of sociological survey. We used the statistical method of non-metric multidimensional scaling NMDS in R package to determine the variability of responses in relation to respondents. The relationship between demographic factors and landscape perception and landscape type preferences was evaluated. The results of multidimensional scaling show a strong relationship between young men and a preference for recreation over agro-tourism. The middle generation with university education looks more frequently for cultural monuments. University-educated middle-aged men perceive the natural landscape as degraded and endangered, and middle-aged men with secondary education understand the need for the protection of traditional agricultural landscapes. It is important to integrate people’s preferences and needs into the landscape planning and decision-making processes, so that they can contribute to the creation of development plans and other strategic documents. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated Approach to Land Use Change Assessment)

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20 pages, 5661 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of the Selected Regulating Ecosystem Services Using Ecosystem Services Matrix in Two Model Areas: Special Nature Reserve Obedska Bara (Serbia) and Protected Landscape Area Dunajske Luhy (Slovakia)

by Ivan Laco

Land 2021, 10(12), 1401; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10121401 - 18 Dec 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2322

Abstract

In this paper we are analyzing the potential of land cover features to provide three regulating ecosystem services (ESs), ES Local climate regulation, ES Water quality regulation and ES Biodiversity promotion, in two case study areas: Special nature reserve (SNR) Obedska bara (Serbia) and Protected landscape area (PLA) Dunajske luhy (Slovakia). Regulating ESs are not only important for proper functioning of ecosystems, but they are also crucial for the existence of human society. To assess the potential of land cover features to provide regulating ESs, we used biophysical methods. The maps of land cover potential to provide regulating ES are the result of the analyses. The results indicate that forests are the most important ecosystems that provide ES Local climate regulation and ES Water quality regulation. For ES Biodiversity promotion, the most important ecosystems were natural and seminatural meadows, wetlands, natural and seminatural rivers and water bodies as well as forests. Overall SNR Obedska bara has higher potential to provide all three regulating ESs than PLA Dunajske luhy. These findings point to the importance of natural areas in ensuring the provision of regulating ESs. Properly selected landscape management is the key for maintaining or improving the potential of land cover features to provide regulating ESs. The research can help local authorities in decision making and in creating conservation strategies for selected protected areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated Approach to Land Use Change Assessment)

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20 pages, 11056 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Royal Land Use and Management in Beijing in the Qing Dynasty

by Yao Xiao and Lian Liu

Land 2021, 10(10), 1093; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10101093 - 15 Oct 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2349

Abstract

Management is an important factor affecting the formation and development of a landscape. This study concludes that royal land use is planned by specifying the land type, while the economic benefits and landscape value are also taken into account. The royal land has landscape value, with the core being the royal garden, the background being farmland, and the connecting line being water. Meanwhile, the royal garden management organization has a high level of authority. Based on the rules of the Imperial Household Department (Neiwufu) of the Qing Dynasty, the present paper extracts the royal land use and management records. This paper discusses the characteristics of royal land management from the spatial distribution and utilization of types of land. It analyzes the specific revenue, expenditure, and fund flow of land in detail and summarizes the land management model. Land management is based mainly on directional revenue and expenditure as well as quota revenue and the expenditure system. The management system is established to support the gardens’ construction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated Approach to Land Use Change Assessment)

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17 pages, 4302 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Compensation for the Lack of Measured Data on Decisive Cultivation Conditions in Diversified Territories without Losing Correct Information

by László Miklós, Dušan Kočický, Zita Izakovičová, Anna Špinerová and Viktória Miklósová

Land 2021, 10(9), 940; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10090940 - 7 Sep 2021

Viewed by 1832

Abstract

Sustainable precision agriculture requires site-specific management procedures. This needs appropriate information combining traditional measured data and mapped conditions, models, and specific interpretation. It is impossible to cover the entire variety of sites in the territory with measuring devices, and therefore the measured data are insufficient for a detailed description of changing conditions on each geographical unit. However, detailed data on the morphology and pedologic conditions are usually available, and their synthesis creates the basis for detailed interpolation of the entire area’s measured data and mapping. This article presents a procedure for the synthesis of morphometric and soil indices resulting in the definition and mapping of morpho-pedotops, the interpretation of their thermal–moisture condition, and, consequently, the comparison of these conditions with the condition on the sites with installed sensor stations. This procedure enables reasonable logic interpolation of the measured microclimatic data by sensor stations to the whole study area. The result is the definition of the thermal–moisture condition of the whole territory in comparison to the measured sites. Therefore, the results provide the basis for interpolation for the forecast of climatic events developed for the sites of sensor stations to the whole study area and the forecast of temporal disease events, and thus the basis for precise site-specific field management interventions, even in the case of the lack of the whole area covering measured data. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated Approach to Land Use Change Assessment)

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30 pages, 8539 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Industrial Land Change in Chinese Silk Road Cities and Its Influence on Environments

by Sidong Zhao, Yiran Yan and Jing Han

Land 2021, 10(8), 806; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10080806 - 31 Jul 2021

Cited by 39 | Viewed by 4341

Abstract

The “Belt and Road” has developed from a Chinese initiative to an international consensus, and Silk Road cities are becoming a strategic step for its high-quality development. From the perspective of industrialization, the “Belt and Road” can be regarded as a “spillover” effect of the industrialization process in China. With the spatial shift of Chinese industries along the “Belt and Road” and their clustering in Silk Road cities, the development and change of industrial land in Silk Road cities has become a new area of concern for governments and scholars. In this paper, the driving mechanism of industrial land change in 129 cities along the Silk Road in China is empirically studied by the GeoDetector method. The findings include: first, the development and changes of industrial land in Silk Road cities are significantly spatially heterogeneous, and the “Belt and Road” reshapes the town system and economic geography along the route by virtue of the differentiated configuration and changes of industrial land, changing the social, political, landscape and spatial relations in cities on the line. Second, the driving forces of industrial land change in Silk Road cities under the influence of the “Belt and Road Initiative” are increasingly diversified and differentiated, with significant two-factor enhancement and non-linear enhancement interaction between two driving factors, and growing complexity of the driving mechanisms, requiring policy makers to design policies based on key factors, comprehensive factors and their interaction. Third, the environmental effect of industrial land change is highly complex. The industrial land quantity has a direct impact on the ecological state parameter and plays a decisive role in the quality of the ecological environment and its changes in Silk Road cities. However, changes in the industrial land affect the ecological state change indirectly, mainly interacting with it through the coupling of pollutant and carbon dioxide emissions, energy use, ecological planning and landscape design and policy interventions. Finally, this study provides a new framework and method for Silk Road scholars to analyze the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of land use and coverage in cities along the “Belt and Road” and their influence mechanisms, and provides a basis for the government to make decisions on industrial land supply and layout planning and spatial governance policy design, which is of great theoretical significance and practical value. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated Approach to Land Use Change Assessment)

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12 pages, 2448 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Examining the Coupling Coordinated Relationship between Urban Industrial Co-Agglomeration and Intensive Land Use

by Qunxi Gong, Gengxuan Guo, Sipan Li and Xuedong Liang

Land 2021, 10(5), 499; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10050499 - 8 May 2021

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2590

Abstract

Exploring the dynamic relationship and coupling coordination between urban industrial co-agglomeration and intensive land use is vital to ensure high-quality urban development. Based on an industrial co-agglomeration model, a revised intensive land use model, and a coupling coordination model, this paper comprehensively measured the urban industrial co-agglomeration and intensive land use coupling coordination in eight cities in the Chengdu metropolitan area from 2004 to 2018. It was found that despite the structural adjustment of the secondary and tertiary industries during the study period, the industrial co-agglomeration in the Chengdu metropolitan area fluctuated, the intensive urban land use had spatial characteristics that were decreasing from the center to the periphery, and while the general coupling coordination level was increasing, the increase rate in each city was different. The coupling coordination between the urban industry co-agglomeration and the intensive land use was found to have “low-high-low” spatial characteristics from the southwest to the northeast of the Chengdu metropolitan area, which revealed the core position of Chengdu. Suggestions are provided to improve the industrial co-agglomeration and intensive urban land use coupling coordination. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated Approach to Land Use Change Assessment)

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