An analysis of the Land Use Sustainability Index (LUSI) at territorial scale based on Corine Land Cover

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to propose a methodology based on the use of a simple and accessible database, such as Corine Land Cover (CLC), for providing an in depth evaluation of environmental sustainability. This evaluation has been carried out through the analysis of factors such as landscape and habitat composition, the level of biodiversity, the degree of anthropisation and soil sealing and the arable land availability.Design/methodology/approachStarting from the analysis of some of the existing approaches for the evaluation of environmental sustainability, this paper presents a GIS approach, based on the use of the Corine Land Cover (CLC), and other sources of geographical data, aimed at producing several thematic Environmental Sustainability Indicators, and one synthetic index.FindingsThe proposed methodology was found to enable a satisfactory assessment of the environmental state, at territorial scale, starting from an easy accessible land use data set. The adopted approach is tailored by the CLC, but can easily be adapted to other land cover/land use classification systems. The applications presented in this paper have been applied to a relatively small area, and other tests should be performed across Europe for a better evaluation of the methodology. However, the results obtained from the Emilia‐Romagna case study, showed a realistic and coherent picture of the environmental status in the area. Similarly to other successful sustainability indexes and/or indicators, the main advantage of the LUSI is the possibility of synthesizing, as a single value, the environmental sustainability of a given territory.Originality/valueThe application of the proposed methodology relies essentially on land use data and can be easily executed in batch mode, using simple models or script in a GIS environment. Contrary to other environmental sustainability indicators, where the land use data are only a sub‐set of the data required, LUSI core data set is represented by the Corine Land Cover, or other equivalent geographical database.

Development Assessment of the Singapore Land: A Gis Spatial-Temporal Approach Based on Land Cover Analysis

“…The 'Land Restriction for Development' is a weak factor for development and it is composed mainly of areas with very low capacity for development and society wellness. The areas considered for the correction factor were normalized from 0.5 (low impact) to 1 (high impact) following the Gardi et al (2010) approach. The nil values in this type of normalization were avoided due to the mathematical operations, but also because some land cover designation could be changed into another.…”

“…The network 1X1 km was used to create the equal units (cells) over the Singapore territory. The indicators were incorporated in each cell adopting the Gardi et al (2010) method. They divided the areas of the indicators in every unit to the area of the unit.…”

“…To incorporate the variation of land use in each province and the complexity of these provinces, the biodiversity index was used in their study. Using the mathematical formula, Gardi et al (2010) determined the Land Use favorability index for development at regional scale in Emilia-Romagna from Italy. In this study, the formula used by Gardi et al (2010) was adopted by replacing biodiversity with two correction factors which are more representative for the city development.…”

“…Holden (2006) carried out the urban indicators for the sustainability development in the Vancouver area, Canada. Gardi et al (2010) found an optimal index for the Emilia-Romagna region from Italy based on the CORINE Land Cover database. They propose four determinant indicators (urbanization, industrialization, agricultural, and agricultural intensity) and two state indicators (naturality and biodiversity).…”

“…They propose four determinant indicators (urbanization, industrialization, agricultural, and agricultural intensity) and two state indicators (naturality and biodiversity). The formula and the indicators calculation for the Land Use favorability index for development were established by Gardi et al (2010).…”