Land-use planning

Land-use planning is part of the broader comprehensive planning process that deals with the types and locations of existing and future land uses, as well as their impacts on the environment.

Land Use: Opportunities and Limitations

Land-use planning is a process that attempts to ensure the organized and wise use of land areas. Two things are certain: First, land has great value in modern society; second, there is only a limited amount of it. Land is indeed a valuable resource, deserving of careful management. It is also true that the physical environment influences the location and types of human settlements, transportation routes, and economic endeavors. The hills, ridges, valleys, and depressions of a landscape create potential opportunities and limitations for human use. It is important to realize that preexisting land uses likely will affect an area’s future possibilities. Land-use planning is part of the master-planning process: It deals with the types and the distribution of existing and future land uses; their relationship to other planning areas, such as transportation network; and the interactions between land use and the environment.

This last point deserves elaboration. While it is certain that existing physical and cultural aspects of a landscape affect land use, humans have an enormous capacity to alter their surroundings. The behaviors and ambitions of society greatly influence emerging land uses. Additionally, each land use affects not only the users but the nonusers as well. An industrial park, for example, may result in increased traffic, longer travel times for commuters through the area, and the eventual construction of a multilane highway requiring expenditure of public funds. Furthermore, the effects of land use tend to be cumulative: Even small changes can, over time, combine to produce large and long-lasting impacts.

Almost without exception, everyone is affected by growth, development, and changing land-use patterns. Plans may determine how far residents must drive to shop, where a new park or school is located, or where houses may be built. Land-use plans may be as simple as efforts to protect citizens from hazardous locations. Such plans might call for setback zones along eroding sea cliffs that prohibit construction, thus preventing structures from being destroyed as the cliff retreats. Conversely, plans may be very complex attempts to guide and direct the types, rates, and locations of change in an area. Such plans have the potential to influence the area’s economic and cultural characteristics, its environmental quality, and the way its residents will live in the near and distant future.

Goal Definition and Data Collection

In a report issued by the US Department of the Interior, Earth-Science Information in Land-Use Planning, William Spangle and others outline five separate phases of the land-use planning process: (1) the identification of problems and definition of goals and objectives; (2) data collection and interpretation; (3) plan formulation; (4) review and adoption of plans; and (5) plan implementation. At each phase, feedback occurs so that modifications can be made along the way. Even implemented plans are subject to review and redefinition as information accumulates.

Once the goals and objectives have been defined, the problems of the acquisition and interpretation of the plan’s basic data must be addressed. For example, Earth science information, in the form of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), is needed throughout the planning process. At least a basic understanding of the ecology, climate, hydrology, geology, and soils of the area is essential. A considerable amount of data may already be available and may need to be consolidated from existing sources, such as published reports. Most often, however, much of the necessary data must be collected specifically for the proposed plan. All data, whether already available or newly developed, must be evaluated and analyzed. Not all information is of equal quality or compatible with the needs of the plan. Some data may be of poor quality or outdated and must be eliminated. Although it may be of high quality, some data are not useful. For example, in an assessment of an area’s capability to support structures of various kinds, a list and discussion of the fossils found in the bedrock are not useful, whereas an account of the engineering properties is important. Other types of data may be incompatible with the needs of the plan because they were collected for different purposes, by different groups, or with different systems. EIS’s also must offer sufficient detail and feature the appropriate map scale.

Plan Formulation, Review, and Implementation

Once high-quality and appropriate data are accumulated, they can be used to produce maps that show the capability of the area to support each potential use. These land-capability maps are analyzed together with projections of future growth and with economic, social, and political factors to evaluate alternative land-use patterns. Maps are prime aids for land-use planning because they present the location, size, shape, and distribution patterns of landscape features. Specialized or derivative maps can be prepared by combining several environmental factors—such as geology, soil types, and slope—to illustrate the specific problems or best possible use of an area. Furthermore, maps can be used to guide further development by outlining areas reserved for particular land uses.

A suitable plan is formed based upon the most desirable and feasible courses of action for both immediate and future decisions. The plan must then be reviewed and adopted by the commissioning agency or governmental body. At this phase, the technical personnel responsible for the development of the plan must be available to answer questions, respond to criticism, and make any further changes.

The final and perhaps most critical phase is that of plan implementation. Plans that are adopted but not implemented serve little purpose. There must be ways in which the plan influences the formal and informal processes of decision making. Zoning ordinances, construction regulations, and building codes based on the plan should be in place and enforced. Responsibilities and guidelines for the preparation and evaluation of required reports, impact assessments, and proposals must be established. This requires a staff that not only reviews proposals but also requests additional information or modification of project proposals.

Data Collection Methods

Data are collected for land-use planning purposes in many ways. Some information can be obtained through mailed surveys or surveys conducted door-to-door. Often, technical personnel such as geologists or hydrologists will conduct field investigations in the area. Observations and measurements are made and recorded, and samples are collected for laboratory analysis. Water samples might be analyzed to determine the quality of the water resources. Rock and soil samples may be tested to yield information about engineering properties such as strength. Certain types of information, such as geology, soil, and climate data, may already exist in published form.

Remote-sensing methods are among the most useful resources for collecting data that pertain to land-use studies. Remote sensing is a method of imaging the earth’s surface with instruments operated from distant points, such as airplanes or satellites. Many different types of remote-sensing instruments, such as aerial photography equipment and radar, are applicable to land-use purposes. Basically, remote-sensing systems collect and record reflected or emitted energy from the land surface. Aerial photography, for example, collects visible light reflected from the earth’s surface to produce images on film. Line-scanning systems can record a wide range of energy types. For example, infrared devices can be used to detect small differences in temperature, which reflect differences of soil, water, or vegetation on the earth’s surface. Another technique, side-looking airborne radar (SLAR), uses pulses of microwave energy to locate surface objects by recording the time necessary for the energy transmitted to the object to return to the radar antenna.

Remote-sensing techniques are applicable to many data-collection efforts. Inventories of existing land uses, crop patterns, or vegetation types can be accomplished relatively quickly. The location and extent of environmental hazards, such as floods or forest fires, can be delineated, and landscape changes—crop rotations, shoreline shifts, and forest clearings—can be documented over a period of time.

Data Analysis

Because they can store and manipulate large data sets, computers are ideally suited for comparing and combining many types of data into a final integrated or interpretive map. The application of a computer system for land-use planning is accomplished by changing EIS’s and other data into a form that can be entered into the machine. The data can be entered manually or by more sophisticated optical scanning methods. One straightforward method uses a grid system to enter data. Basically, maps portraying different types of information of the relevant areas can be subdivided into a grid formed by equally spaced east-west and north-south lines. The size of the grid squares depends on the purpose of the study and the nature of the data. The intersection points of the grid lines or the centers of the grid squares can be used as data entry locations. An illustration of this operation is the overlaying of a grid on a map of soil types and the entry of the soil type at each line intersection or the dominant soil type in each square. This kind of data is called raster data. Linear features like roads and streams are often easier to represent as a series of points; data of this sort are called vector data. Programs for analyzing spatial data can manipulate and combine both forms of data.

When all available types of data are in the computer, they can be analyzed, combined, and applied to indicate the areas best or least suited for a particular use. The information can also be used to make predictions. For example, a planner may need to suggest the location of future solid-waste disposal sites. Although such a task involves knowledge of waste sources, waste volumes, and transportation distances, the performance capability of various sites is a primary concern. The planner can select those data sets considered to be important to a site’s capability to contain waste effectively, and the computer will evaluate the area in terms of those factors. Bedrock geology, soil type and depth, distance to groundwater, distance from surface water bodies, and other factors may be selected. Each factor is assigned a weighted value, a measure of its relative importance to the specific purpose. Depth to the water table, for example, might be considered more important than the distance to surface water bodies. The computer incorporates the relative ranking of the variables into the data analysis to produce a composite map of favorable and unfavorable areas for solid-waste disposal. Such comprehensive systems, known as geographic information systems (GIS’s), are being developed widely for many purposes. A GIS consists of computer storage files of data, a program to analyze the data, and another program to map the stored data and produce several forms of output. Many public agencies have converted data to digital form to make it easily available for use with GISs.

Effective Land-Use Planning

Land-use planning attempts to ensure the organized and reasonable development of areas as the possibility of multiple uses mounts and the value of the land increases. Planning must be based on a thorough understanding of the environment, and of economic, political, and cultural factors, to produce a prediction of future land-use needs and ways to satisfy those needs.

An effective land-use plan consists of four basic parts. First, it includes a discussion of land-use issues and a statement of goals and objectives. This section provides the background and establishes what the plan seeks to accomplish. Second, there is a discussion of the methods of data collection, evaluation, and analysis. This will include not only a description of the collection techniques, methodology, and information sources but also a consideration of the limitations of the data used in the study. Third, a land classification map is produced. The classification used to complete the map will depend on the goals of the plan and on the needs of each area. This map will serve as the basis for many kinds of decisions, from the location of new facilities to regulatory policies and tax structure. Finally, a report is included that provides a framework for the plan and discusses sensitive issues. Any environmentally significant sites that may be adversely affected by change are considered, and appropriate policies are recommended.

Political Considerations

Land-use decisions are made by individuals, groups, industries, and governmental bodies. Individuals want the freedom to choose where they live and what to do with their property, but most do not want an incompatible land use located next door. Land-use plans based on high-quality data and sound interpretations of those data, with abundant public input during the formulation, adoption, and implementation of the plan, can help to avoid costly and time-consuming confrontations. There will seldom be unanimous agreement, but planning can facilitate a decision-making process that will have far-ranging effects.

Land-use planning or management is a controversial subject. Landowners, developers, environmentalists, and government agencies have very different views on the best use of land, and on who should make the decision. These are difficult issues of individual versus group rights and benefits. It is clear that as land resources dwindle and the pressures of land use increase, some form of planning or management is necessary. Similarly, it seems clear that while decisions among multiple uses will often be difficult, the best decisions are those based on high-quality data.

Principal Terms

derivative maps: maps that are prepared or derived by combining information from several other maps

geographic information system: a series of data collected and stored in an organized manner in a computer system

grid: a pattern of horizontal and vertical lines forming squares of uniform size

landscape: the combination of natural and human features that characterize an area of the earth’s surface

remote sensing: any number of techniques, such as aerial photography or satellite imagery, that can collect information by gathering energy reflected or emitted from a distant source

scale: the relationship between a distance on a map or diagram and the same distance on the earth

zoning ordinance: a legal method by which governments regulate private land by defining zones where specific activities are permitted

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