Multi-functional land use in a spatial context: development of a discussion support tool for multifunctional land use planning

Researcher: Wieteke Willemen

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Project runs from 01 January 2006 to 31 December 2009

Added on January 24, 2006

Introduction:

Land often has multiple functions at the same location, e.g., a spatial overlap of agricultural production and landscape preservation for natural and recreational uses. A land use function is the capacity of the land use system to provide goods and services that satisfy human needs, directly or indirectly. In analogy to the definition of ecosystem services by Millennium Ecosystem Assessment [2], different categories of land use functions can be distinguished: (i) production services, i.e., the goods and services produced by the land use system such as agricultural production; (ii) regulation services, e.g. the capacity of the land use system to regulate climate, hydrological and biological processes; and (iii) cultural services that relate to the benefits people obtain from ecosystems through recreation, cognitive development, relaxation, and spiritual reflection or the provision off attractive housing and living conditions. Especially for the densely populated rural area of the Netherlands, the multiple functionality of land is a key aspect in land use planning/policy. In view of expanding demands for rural space for, among others, residential building, infrastructure, recreation and nature development schemes, pressure on the current land area in the Netherlands can be expected to further increase in the coming decades. This means that the landscape is increasingly asked to fulfill a number of functions at the same time – and in the same location (e.g. agriculture – recreation – nature conservation – water storage). Therefore, there is a strong need to upgrade existing spatial support systems in order to deal with the multifunctionality of land use.

Aim:

We propose a study that develops spatial tools to explore changes in the multiple functionality of land use at the regional level. The central objective of the study is therefore to ‘analyze the spatial aspects of land use functions and multifunctionality, and to develop methodologies to include multiple functionality in spatially explicit models in order to allow for enhanced land use planning’. The proposed research will directly support decision-making on multifunctional land use by regional stakeholders

Research:

The ‘Gelderse Vallei’ region of the Netherlands will be used as case study. The study area is a hot spot of land use conversion due to the high functional diversity (residential, industrial, intensive agriculture, ecological connective zone between Heuvelrug and Veluwe, etc.) Many of these functions are currently conflicting while options for synergy exist. Changes in functionality might have tradeoffs on other functions of regional land use due to temporal and spatial feedbacks within the system. The study area is a ‘hot-spot’ of development of conflicting functions and the synergy of the proposed research with other projects in the study area allows for an integrative approach and efficient communication with stakeholders. The study area is therefore a good region for a ‘pilot project’ to develop and discuss new tools to enhance discussion on planning of land use functionality.

Web page

http://www.sil.wur.nl/UK/Research/Pprojects/Willemen/

Funding via University

Yes

External Funding Sponsors

"Spatial Development and Society" project, funded by WGS