Assessing the fragmentation of construction land in urban areas: An index method and case study in Shunde, China

The fragmentation of construction land due to decentralised urban development, disorderly mixed land use, and large-scale transportation infrastructure poses a threat to urban integrity. There is a need to quantify the fragmentation level in a consistent way for inclusion in planning-related decisions. In the context of China's urban sprawl, this study develops a quantitative and intuitive index approach that planners can use to analyse multiple fragmentation features of construction land within urban areas. The approach can be used in planning policy reviews for timely land-use assessment and can be integrated into urban planning processes for developing strategic land-use scenarios. The method was applied in Shunde, a typical urban area in southern China, and construction-land fragmentation and its impacts on environmental quality were analysed. The results show that the entire built-up area in Shunde displays a high level of fragmentation. Patches of industrial and rural residence have been identified specifically higher fragmentation level. The shortage of available construction land makes land consolidation within built-up areas very important in planning Shunde's future development. Moreover, the land shortage requires the progressive reduction of construction land fragmentation. The results of the study also indicate that although land fragmentation has been affected by transportation infrastructure and the existence of rivers and hills in this region, decentralised decisions from hierarchical local governance regimes have greatly exacerbated this situation. Shunde provides examples of typical land-use problems associated with quasi-urbanised regions in China; construction-land fragmentation is a greater determinant for the sustainable development of urban and rural areas than construction-land growth.     

The urban transformation of Italy's Adriatic coastal strip: Fifty years of unsustainability

The study regards the processing of data on urban land conversion along the Italian Adriatic coast in the last 50 years. The results obtained show different aspects of the phenomenon: values were obtained for the average annual speed of transformation of the coastal strip; clustering, dispersion and statistical concentration of the data obtained were studied, which has made it possible to show unparalleled threshold values in the present levels of urbanization; geostatistical surveys were conducted to determine the distribution changes of urban concentration over time; analyses were developed to point out what landscape and morphological elements have emerged, and are tendentially confirming greater sensitivity to land artificialization; a number of comparisons based on specific indicators were produced that show the typological and geographic variations of development taking place in the time period studied; important information has emerged on the different territorial policies implemented by the regions over the long-term. This research has made it possible to investigate one of the largest and most intense land transformation phenomena in Italy which has led to the construction of an urban organism extending along more than 1470 km of coast with very few breaks which, together with railroad and motorway infrastructural elements, forms the longest urban stretch in southern Europe and one of the most extensive in the entire continent. A further result of the work carried out concerned the extraction of data on the remaining coastal stretches, i.e. those not yet affected by urban transformation and thus of extreme importance for policies focused on the preservation of community habitats and the preservation of coastal landscape. In conclusion, it has been possible to draw a map of management responsibilities at the municipal and regional levels for the revision of future urban planning trends in terms of sustainable governance.     

The potential effect of national growth-management policy on urban sprawl and the depletion of open spaces and farmland

The debate over the effectiveness of growth-management policies reinforces the importance of empirical studies in this field, which has become not just relevant but also crucial to many places. Israel, through its spatial national-level planning, experienced especially during the 1990s, presents an empirical example that may be used to address a complementary strategy to the one that is most commonly used, as this paper suggests. This strategy is based on an examination of the future potential impact of growth-management tools proposed by national plans on the depletion of open space and farmland versus the consequences expected from the continuation of current trends. Accordingly an appropriate methodology is introduced for implementing this strategy.     

How much green is needed for a vital neighbourhood? In search for empirical evidence

In this paper, we attempt to find empirical evidence for the proper size of the Polish eco-spatial index, known as the Ratio of Biologically Vital Areas (RBVA). The objective is to establish the minimal proportion of green space required for good environmental performance in neighbourhoods.Eighteen neighbourhoods (representing the most popular type of residential areas consisting of multi-storey buildings) located in Warsaw and characterised by different RBVA values (varying from ca. 20% to ca. 70%) were chosen as the study area. Different types of measurements and calculations were performed to verify the relationships between the size of the RBVA and selected environmental features (e.g., air temperature and humidity, floristic diversity, butterfly species richness, surface outflow, etc.). Based on these values, a threshold of 45% RBVA was recommended as the minimum, which guarantees environmental performance in the neighbourhoods to certain extent. Eco-spatial indices can be recommended as a useful planning tool for new projects and for evaluation and enhancement of existing urban structures, including residential areas. It should be stated that these indices are not the only measures for green space planning, because they do not refer to the major residents’ needs (e.g., social interaction, recreation).     

Assessment of regulation of legal relations of territorial planning: A case study in Lithuania

Land management is inevitably linked to the regulation of activities of its proprietor or operator stipulated by legislation and documents of territorial planning. In Lithuania, as in many European countries, territorial planning is a key measure for the formation of landscape and the alteration of its elements. With the help of territorial planning documents, governing authorities has the opportunity to orderly regulate the layout of long-term stable elements of landscape and the sustainable territorial development. However, in comparison with other European Union (hereinafter – EU) countries, territorial planning system valid in Lithuania until January 1, 2014 is still “young” and having specific features with former countries of the Soviet bloc legal regulation. The system did not provided a consistent and sustainable territorial development mechanism: there was the lack of measures allowing to manage the development processes of residential areas and implementation of territorial planning documents (especially the municipal master plans) solutions for the creation of a harmonious functional spatial system. The aim of the present paper is to assess the regulation of legal relations of territorial planning in Lithuania and the EU member states. The assessment summarizes processes of the formation of a landscape during the territorial planning, introduces new opportunities to more accurately predict the results of the current process of landscape planning, and highlights legal and sustainable elements of territorial planning system optimization. As can be seen from the assessment carried out, one of the most important territorial planning objectives was and still remains the balance of mutual relations (hierarchy of plans) of territorial planning documents in shaping the cultural landscape to ensure the rational distribution of the land fund, combining a variety of activities as well as often different land users’ and public interests. Therefore, the implementation of the territorial planning reform of Lithuania capacitates for the transition to an integrated territorial planning, ensuring sustainable development.     

Urban expansion in contemporary China: What can we learn from a small town?

Rapid physical expansion of urban land use is widely observed in Chinese cities. Although there is a consensus that economic liberalization and decentralization of administrative responsibilities explain the urban changes, it is not clear whether or not actual economic and population growth is the only cause of urban expansion. By using a small town as a case study, this paper shows that urban expansion is a combined outcome of actual needs, planning preparations, profit-seeking, and more importantly, the approach used by local government to achieve economic ambitions. Findings show that local economic and demographic changes do contribute to land-use expansion, but a local development approach that uses urban expansion to improve the competitive edge of the locality plays a critical role. A pro-growth coalition consisting of top local government officials, state work-unit leaders, and developers, whose interests align for short-term gain in economic and political terms, guarantee the mobilization of resources for carrying out the rapid urban expansion, and a vision of the local economic success. These findings add in a new dimension that is not yet seen in the study of China's urban expansion.     

土地开发整理项目规划设计中引入生态风险评价的思考

生态风险评价是伴随环境管理和环境观念转变而逐渐兴起并得到发展的一个新的研究领域：土地开发整理项目规划设计阶段中引入生态风险评价是科学发展观的要求、新农村建设的客观要求、生态经济平衡的要求、土地开发整理项目投资科学决策的要求，因此在土地开发整理项目规划设计中应加强生态风险评价的分析。     

森林公园规划中土地利用兼容性控制

森林公园规划中对土地利用兼容性考虑缺失,常导致规划失灵。从森林公园规划中土地利用兼容性概念、类型、识别3方面进行系统阐述基础上,对森林公园规划中用地分类、土地评价、功能分区、项目策划等方面提出土地利用兼容性控制的具体方法与途径,以提高森林公园规划与管理的科学性。     

基本农田保护区规划环境影响评价方法

研究目的:探索一种基于GIS空间情景分析技术的基本农田保护区规划环境影响评价方法。研究方法:在GIS空间情景分析的基础上,提出基本农田保护区规划环境影响评价方法,并通过上海市实践验证该方法的可行性。研究结果:该方法可以在现有基本农田保护区规划方案的基础上,充分利用GIS的空间分析功能设定不同的环境影响评价情景,并通过对各情景下环境影响的定量比较分析,快速有效地评价基本农旧保护区规划方案的科学性和合理性。研究结论:该方法评价结果定量直观,具有一定的推广应用价值。     

Social metabolism,landscape change and land-use planning in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region

The present work explores the synergies between socio-metabolic energy use and landscape patterns, starting from the hypothesis that there is a complex and changing relationship between the efficiency in both the societal use of energy, and land-use, and the ecosystem functioning of the whole land matrix of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (BMR). It first compares changes in the social metabolism (i.e. the total energy or material throughput of the economy) and in landscape structure and function from 1850 to the present in three municipalities of the Vallès county (N of the BMR), as a first attempt to establish a link between the societal uses of land and energy together with their impact on landscape patterns. Secondly, the study explores the role of natural versus rural landscapes on the maintaining of basic functional properties such as connectivity in the whole BMR. We base our analyses on parametric methodologies that describe both structural and functional properties of landscapes, aimed at assessing the landscape efficiency of both energy-use and land-use planning. The first comparison reveals that the simultaneous loss of energy efficiency and land-use efficiency from the mid-19th century to present can be tracked by changes in the functional landscape structure. The second study shows the importance of the traditional rural landscapes in maintaining the ecological quality of non-built-up land. In consequence, the organized complexity of the land system necessary to host biodiversity and basic ecological processes cannot be guaranteed if the agro-forestry mosaic is not taken into account, together with the network of protected areas.     

基于模糊综合评判的土地利用规划实施评价方法

土地利用规划实施评价对于落实动态规划、强化实施具有重要意义。结合土地利用总体规划实施评价的特点和模糊方法要求,以探讨和实践一套系统科学的规划实施评价方法为目的,提出评价指标体系及其权重,对评价指标的量化方法和隶属函数具体化,并结合具体实例加以验证。研究认为,基于模糊综合评判的规划实施评价方法行之有效。     

层叠用海兼容性评估方法与模型研究

本文阐述了层叠用海兼容性评估的指导思想,构建了层叠用海兼容性评估的指标体系,选取海域自然契合度、海域需求空间、海域使用情况、投资收益能力及海域资源环境承载力五个方面的指标,论证了层叠用海兼容性评估方法,引用层次分析法进行评价因子的筛选,建立层叠用海兼容性评估指标体系模型,选择层次分析法软件计算各指标的权重并进行层次单排序和综合排序,以及阐述了层叠用海兼容性评估的量化处理方法。之后选择青岛市胶州湾为实证对象,对胶州湾用海项目的兼容性进行了实证分析。