Multi-attribute preference modelling and regional land-use planning

Forest management policy decisions are complex due to the multiple-use nature of goods and services from forests, difficulty in monetary valuation of ecological services and the involvement of a large number of stakeholders. Multi-attribute decision techniques can be used to synthesise stakeholder preferences related to regional forest planning because it can accommodate conflicting, multidimensional, incommensurable and incomparable objectives. The objective of this paper is to examine how the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) can be used to incorporate stakeholder preferences in determining optimal forest land-use choices. The Australian Regional Forest Agreement Programme is taken as an illustrative case for the analysis. The results show that the AHP can formalise public participation in decision making and increase the transparency and the credibility of the process.

The increasing importance of serviced offices as a competing land use in global cities

Once considered a relatively low key land use in central business districts, the number of serviced offices has increased dramatically in recent years. The factors driving the demand for serviced offices have changed, and the suppliers of this service have reacted quickly to meet these needs. This trend has been assisted by the expansion of a select number of multi-national companies that specialise in the provision of serviced offices, available in a flexible range of office types and costs.
This paper considers the reasons behind the rapid growth in the serviced office market, and examines the role of both the user and the provider. Attention is focused on the global marketplace and how these changes have been transformed into the Australian central business districts. The information will be of benefit to property analysts, developers and investors, especially when seeking an alternative use of existing traditional office accommodation.

Land use change and impacts on nutrient loads using GIS

Land use change and its impacts on nutrient loads were investigated for the Glenelg-Hopkins Catchment in south-west Victoria, Australia. The study involved a cross-disciplinary approach comprising of remote sensing, Geographical Information Systems, spatial and statistical modelling to identify relationships between land use and stream water quality over a large regional catchment of 27,000 square kilometers.

Integrative catchment modelling of land use, turbidity, flow and geology

The thesis outlines and demonstrates the various aspects that contribute towards water quality management systems and the important use of storage/water quality models. The application of models is demonstrated through the functions that modelling components have on sustainable regional development, and through linkage with water quality systems.

Relationships of land use mix with walking for transport : do land uses and geographical scale matter?

Physical activity and public health recommendations now emphasize the creation of activity-friendly neighborhoods. Mixed land use in a neighborhood is important in this regard, as it reflects the availability of destinations to which residents can walk or ride bicycles, and thus is likely to contribute to residents’ active lifestyles that in turn will influence their overall health. Relationships between land use mix (LUM) and physical activity have not been apparent in some studies, which may be because geographical scale and the specificity of hypothesized environment–behavior associations are not taken into account. We compared the strength of association of four Geographic Information Systems-derived LUM measures with walking for transport and perceived proximity to destinations. We assessed physical activity behaviors of 2,506 adults in 154 Census Collection Districts (CCDs) in Adelaide, Australia, for which ‘‘original’’ LUM measures were calculated, and then refined by either: accounting for the geographic scale of measurement; including only the most-relevant land uses; or, both. The refined (but not the ‘‘original’’) LUM measures had significant associations with the frequency of walking for transport (p < 0.05) and area-corrected measures had significant associations with the duration of walking for transport. All LUM measures had significant associations with perceived proximity to destinations, but stronger associations were seen when using the refined measures compared with the original LUM. Identifying the LUM attributes most strongly associated with walking for transport is a priority and can inform environmental and policy initiatives that are needed to promote health-enhancing physical activity.

Land use change and nutrients simulation for the Siah Darvishan basin of the Anzali wetland region, Iran

The Anzali Ramsar Convention wetland is located in an ecologically and economically important region in Iran. The wetland is largely surrounded by agriculture, natural forests and rangelands (approximately 36% and 63%, respectively). Urban areas consist of less than 1% of the total area. Urban land use produces the highest rates of nutrient transfer into the lake as TN, TP and BOD5 equal to 24, 2.4 and 79 Kg/ha/year, respectively, whilst, natural land use produces the lowest rate as 10, 1.3 and 27 kg/ha/year. These results will inform the future sustainable management of this important wetland in this ever increasingly water stressed region in Iran.

Preserving the environment and traditional communities : a land use change modeling approach

Human populations can cause serious damage to the natural environment. This, however, depends on the type of society and its size. Many traditional communities have a balanced relation with the environment, using practices for managing the soil, water and natural resources in order to satisfy their needs that are compatible to the general goals of environmental preservation.

The most usual approach to environmental conservation in the world sees human beings as intruders, potentially destroyers of the nature and, as a consequence, generally requires local population to be expelled from the protected regions. This situation has generated social conflicts because many protected areas, particularly in developing countries, are inhabited by indigenous or other traditional communities.

The disagreement about expelling or maintaining traditional communities in environmental conservation areas is strengthened by the lack of diagnostics on which changes are produced or suffered by communities in the region where they live. This paper presents a methodology developed to analyse land use dynamics in region with environmental conservation and traditional communities. We seek a better understanding of the way traditional communities use their space, the spatial pattern of land uses, which factors drive land use change, which impacts can be seen in those regions and identify the effects of conservation policies on land use dynamics.

The application of the method to the National Park of Superagui, Brazil, has successfully performed characterisation, analysis and simulation of land use dynamics in a region of environmental importance. Testing different scenarios has suggested that the adoption of a less restrictive policy for environmental conservation would have resulted in less social conflict with the same environmental efficiency than the established current policy.

Aged care, Warrnambool and Bendigo, 2021 ,estimating land-use, connectivity

Ratios which correlate aged care places with Land-use requirements are developed by analysing the existing aged care facilities in the regional Victorian Local Government Areas of Greater Bendigo and Warrnambool. These ratios are used in conjunction with the government's population based measures to model scenarios of future aged care infrastructure requirements for Greater Bendigo and Warrnambool. Strategies correlating additional residential aged care facilities with at-home based aged care are explored using a Land-use and accessibility matrix governed by size and configuration. Variations in these two aspects appear to have a significant influence on location options for future facilities as well as case load demands and staffing requirements for community support teams.