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The growing pressure on natural resources and biodiversity has led to a widespread acknowledgement of the services nature provides for humans. The appropriate representation of the benefits of sustainable land use in decision-making is still a challenge and tools that facilitate land use planning processes are needed. The dissertation presents a multicriteria assessment approach for a qualitative estimation of regional potentials to provide ecosystem services. This approach has been applied in several case studies in Saxony, Eastern Germany and Brasil. The ecosystem services concept builts the methodological framework for the assessment as it offers a universal approach to evaluate the impact of Land use/ Land cover change (LULCC) on human well-being. Since standardized methodical approaches for ecosystem services assessment at the landscape level are lacking, a particular requirement was to conceive a method that is easily transferable to other case study areas. Further the method should enable the use of existing and easily available environmental data, and it should be transparent for stakeholders and decision makers. The results of our study show that the combination of selected ecosystem services and land cover data such as CORINE Land Cover (CLC) can contribute to regional planning by communicating the effect of LULCC on ecosystem services, especially when applied as an evaluation basis in the tool GISCAME. The approach supports also the assessment of the performance of a region to provide ecosystem services and the comparison of regions towards this aspect. In the discussion section, the limitations of the developed approach are discussed. Main sources of uncertainty are related to coarse land cover data, lacking knowledge on the provision of ecosystem services at a landscape scale, and the difficulty to make relevant the ecosystem services concept in regional planning processes.

Thesis (DPhil (Geography and Environmental Studies))—University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / The use of average energy aircraft noise contours as the sole means for guiding aircraft noise-based planning around airports is being questioned increasingly. A growing proportion of residents who live in neighbourhoods adjacent to airports are dissatisfied with the averaging procedure that is employed. In their experience of exposure to aircraft noise, particularly in the evening and at night when they are at home, the average energy aircraft noise descriptors are misleading. In order to effectively analyse the socio-spatial interaction of annoyance at and interference by aircraft noise, an alternative approach has been suggested – a supplemental noise perspective. Conventional approaches to aircraft noise land use planning based on average energy noise descriptors run the risk of being ineffectual, or even counterproductive, because they do not consider the central aspects of disturbance, namely the loudness of an event and the number of times events are heard. Consequently, an alternative measure to ameliorate the limitations of average energy noise contours is needed by which airport neighbours, the aviation industry and town planners can better understand the nature of the problem. Although supplemental noise analysis is not new, this study applies it to a South African international airport (OR Tambo) for the first time. The airport’s operations are typical of many busy airports close to large urban areas, serving domestic, regional and international routes. Reportedly, there have been few complaints about noise emanating from the airport, but when they are made they are usually about evening and night-time aircraft noise events. In the context of South Africa as a developing society in transition, where growth of urban settlements continues apace, average energy aircraft noise information must be enhanced by providing supplemental noise information. This study investigated the broad issue of land use planning around airports by employing two aircraft noise prediction models, namely the Integrated Noise Model and the Transparent Noise Information Package, to establish the various potential effects and consequences of night-time aircraft noise in noise zones demarcated according to supplemental aircraft noise information. The effects and consequences examined include annoyance, disturbance of sleep, telephone conversations, watching television and work or study, and the likelihood that people will move away to escape night-time aircraft noise. The perceptions of residents living in neighbourhoods around the airport were surveyed and the responses analysed according to noise zones classified as supplemental noise information. The results show that the airport’s neighbours are annoyed by aircraft noise and that aircraft noise interferes with normal household activities. This annoyance and interference decreases with increasing distance from the airport. Furthermore, reported annoyance and interference is greater in those areas where higher numbers of noise events are encountered, even at relatively low noise levels of 60 LAmax – something not evident from average energy noise contours. This finding strengthens the argument that it is insufficient to provide only average energy aircraft noise information when studying the impact of aircraft noise. To understand the situation more fully, supplemental noise information is essential. The study concludes with a framework constructed to apply supplemental aircraft noise information to the abatement and mitigation measures normally used to deal with aircraft noise.

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

Planning administration in the Western Cape is at a critical juncture. It is faced with having to address planning issues and housing needs whilst at the same time demonstrating through its practices the promotion of environmentally sustainable development. This paper will discuss planning and environmental legislation and the impact that the application of the legislation has on development proposals. Current legislation addresses issues of spacial development in developed areas and new development proposals but lacks the ability to address issues within informal settlements. Although socio-economic factors are not currently considered when assessing the viability of applications, the courts seem to consider these factors. Since new housing settlements are often developed for the poor and industrial developments in close proximity to these areas have direct impact on these individuals, planning could only gain if these factors are taken into consideration.<br /> <br /> If planning administration in the Western Cape is to continue successfully and without endless litigation against the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning administrators will have to find a balance between promoting development and protecting the environment. To promote environmentally sustainable developments will require closer cooperation between the land use planning and environmental management components. The loopholes, which permit incremental development in the present legislation, have to be identified and addressed. Guidelines, which will standardize the conditions under which applications can be approved or refused, will have to be drafted to ensure decision-making that is consistent and defensible. If having a liquor store within an affluent environment is not considered desirable such applications should not be considered within lower income areas. The same should apply when dealing with applications to establish factories or industry which will have an impact on the living conditions of communities in close proximity. The MEC will have to ensure that all decision taken are within the legal framework and that such decisions benefit entire communities and protect the rights of the poorest communities as well as that of the wealthy and influential.<br /> <br /> Environmental legislation and the growing importance of environmental protection is also having an impact on the way in which new settlements are planned and on the rights of property owners. Although, we are responsible for the preservation of the environment for the next generation, socio-economic conditions, HIV and a myriad of other considerations may have to take precedence over environmental concerns.

Le présent mémoire se penche sur la diminution des espaces ouverts en Israël, un problème environnemental considéré comme l’un des plus importants par les organisations environnementales de ce pays. La situation est particulièrement préoccupante depuis le début des années 1990 alors que la superficie occupée par ces espaces s’est réduite significativement. Les craintes liées à cette évolution se sont traduites par l’implantation de plans nationaux d’aménagement visant expressément à concentrer le développement futur du pays au sein des quatre principales régions métropolitaines (Tel-Aviv, Jérusalem, Haïfa, Beer-Sheva) de manière à préserver de façon optimale les espaces ouverts restants. Plusieurs facteurs sont responsables de cette perte d’espaces ouverts. Ainsi, l’un des objectifs cet ouvrage consiste à identifier ces facteurs de même qu’à analyser dans quelle mesure ils ont influé. Par ailleurs, ce mémoire fait le point sur l’évolution de la superficie des espaces ouverts au fil des années. Finalement, le dernier chapitre aborde les enjeux actuels quant à la conservation des espaces ouverts israéliens et souligne quelques solutions proposées afin d’accroître leur protection pour le futur. Afin de dresser un portrait complet de la situation, la période étudiée s’étend de 1948, année de fondation de l’État d’Israël, à 2010. / This research examines the loss of open space in Israel, one of the most acute environmental problems facing this country, according to several Israeli environmental organizations. This situation is peculiarly ominous since the beginning of the 1990s while the area occupied by open space has decreased significantly. Fears linked to the proliferation of built area have led to the implementation of national outline plans (NOP 31, NOP 35) which aim specifically to concentrate future development into the main metropolitan regions (Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Beersheba) to ensure that the remaining open spaces will be protected optimally. Several factors are responsible for the loss of open space in Israel. Thus, one of the research objectives is to identify and analyze how these factors have influenced the extent of open spaces. Furthermore, this research provides an update of the open spaces’ evolution over the years. Finally, the last chapter discusses the current issues regarding open space as well as some solutions to enhance its protection. In order to obtain a thorough picture of the situation, the temporal field of this study spans from 1948, founding year of the State of Israel, to 2010.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional and Community Planning / Eric A. Bernard / The Kansas High Plains region is a key global agricultural production center (U.S. G.S, 2009). The High Plains physiography is ideal agricultural production landscape except for the semi-arid climate. Consequently, farmers mine vast groundwater resources from the High Plains Ogallala Aquifer formations to augment precipitation for crop production. Growing global population, current policy and subsidy programs, declining aquifer levels coupled with regional climatic changes call into question both short-term and long-term resilience of this agrarian landscape and food and water security. This project proposes a means to simulate future irrigated agriculture land use and crop cover patterns in the Kansas High Plains Aquifer region based on coupled modeling results from ongoing research at Kansas State University. A Cellular Automata (CA) modeling framework is used to simulate potential land use distribution, based on coupled modeling results from groundwater, economic, and crop models. The CA approach considers existing infrastructure resources, industrial and commercial systems, existing land use patterns, and suitability modeling results for agricultural production. The results of the distribution of irrigated land produced from the CA model provide necessary variable inputs for the next temporal coupled modeling iteration. For example, the groundwater model estimates water availability in saturated thickness and depth to water. The economic model projects which crops will be grown based on water availability and commodity prices at a county scale. The crop model estimates potential yield of a crop under specific soil, climate and growing conditions which further informs the economic model providing an estimate of profit, which informs regional economic and population models. Integrating the CA model into the coupled modeling system provides a key linkage to simulate spatial patterns of irrigated land use and crop type land cover based on coupled model results. Implementing the CA model in GIS offers visualization of coupled model components and results as well as the CA model land use and land cover. The project outcome hopes to afford decision-makers, including farmers, the ability to use the actual landscape data and the developed coupled modeling framework to strategically inform decisions with long-term resiliency.