Can Strategic Spatial Planning Contribute to Land Degradation Reduction in Urban Regions? State of the Art and Future Research

Abstract

Abstract:Land degradation is becoming a serious environmental issue threatening fertile agricultural soils and other natural resources. There are many driving forces behind land degradation. The expansion of artificial surfaces due to various economic activities, such as housing, industry, and transport infrastructure, known as soil sealing, constitutes one of the most intensive forms of land degradation in urban regions. Measures to halt and reverse land degradation require both strong land-use management policies, as well as effective spatial planning mechanisms. In this regard, strategic spatial planning has been increasingly practised in many urban regions worldwide, as a means to achieve sustainable land-use patterns and to guide the location of development and physical infrastructures. It is reasonable, therefore, to expect that strategic spatial planning can counteract the outlined undesired land degradation effects, specifically those resulting from soil sealing. In this paper, we review strategic spatial planning literature published between 1992 and 2017. The focus is on the phenomena causing land degradation that are addressed by strategic spatial planning literature, as well as on the mechanisms describing the role of strategic spatial planning in land degradation reduction. Results show that sustainable development and environmental concerns have become core objectives of strategic planning in recent years, yet references to the drivers of land degradation are rare. The mechanisms that exist are mainly intended to address environmental issues in general, and are not aimed at reducing particular forms of land degradation. The paper concludes by sketching future research directions, intended to support strategic spatial planning and land-use policymaking related to coping with the global phenomenon of land degradation.

A Geographically Weighted Regression Analysis of the Underlying Factors Related to the Surface Urban Heat Island Phenomenon

“…Indeed, whereas the global fraction of population living in the urban areas was just 30% in 1950, by 2014, that figure had passed 54% [3]. Urbanization involves increases in both population and developed space, and certain planning and management strategies significantly influence the landscape pattern and the environment [4][5][6][7]. The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, which refers to the phenomenon of an urban area's atmosphere exhibiting higher temperatures than surrounding rural areas [8], has become a well-researched topic Sources: (1) Inquired or calculated by the authors in ArcMap based on the projection system "WGS 1984 UTM Zone 14N".…”

Do we care enough? revisiting land subsidence and coastal spatial planning policy in Semarang, Indonesia

“…A qualitative method focused on document screening, skimming, and understanding is called content analysis or literature review. It used to assess operationalization of theoretical concept into policies [28], defining conceptual framework of solving the specific problem [29], understanding current issues and confirming other sources of information [30], and assessing integration of SEA and spatial planning [31].…”

“…This research is conducted in five steps, adapted from [29]. The first step is identifying main research problem by reviewing previous studies and reports.…”

“…Despite this, the SEA itself had no power to enforce the incorporations, and it indirectly impacted the land use regulations. As what have known in the literature, strategic environmental assessment is a tool used to integrate environmental considerations into the planning process and policy [29,42]. Also, in the Indonesian Republic Constitution Number 32/2009 about Environmental Management and Protection mandated in Article 17 that whenever the carrying capacity identified exceeded, the spatial planning programs should rely on SEA results and recommendations.…”

Spatial identification of conservation priority areas for urban ecological land: An approach based on water ecosystem services

“…Urban expansion would often transform the original natural ecosystem into impervious surface with fundamental change of material and energy flows (Alberti, 1999) and thus bringing significant degradation of habitat quality (Bajocco, Angelis, Perini, Ferrara, & Salvati, 2012;W. Li, Wang, Li, & Liu, 2017;Oliveira, Tobias, & Hersperger, 2018). The quantity and quality changes of ecosystem services have led to urban eco-environmental problems such as urban heat islands, air pollution, and flood disasters (Cheng, Chen, Sun, & Kong, 2018;H.…”