This paper examines several concepts and applications that influence city and urban development. The purpose is to explore the limits to city and urban growth. These urban expansions are reflected in the growth of Charleston SC and Portland OR through their changes in night light expression. These concepts include carrying capacity, growth or cordon boundaries, agglomeration, technological change and

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) are considered an important policy tool for promoting forest conservation and restoration. The effectiveness of PES programs is typically evaluated by their capacity to reduce deforestation within and around parcels receiving these payments. Larger, landscape-scale, impacts of these programs on processes such as forest fragmentation and connectivity, and payment

Agricultural land fragmentation (ALF) is one of the main challenges of developing countries including Iran. ALF could affect agricultural production, rural development, labor supply, food security, and land use change. Therefore, ALF management should be one of the main components of the land policy and decision-making systems regarding agricultural lands. In Iran (similar to many other countries)

Fragile ecosystems of the Himalayas have seen rampant land-use changes in recent times due to proliferation of hydropower development promoted as a climate change mitigation strategy for global energy transition. Further, in order to mitigate the loss of forest lands diverted for hydropower projects, countries like India have compensatory afforestation policies, which have meant more physical interference

Malawi embarked on a long and arduous journey of adopting comprehensive and transformative land reforms from the mid-1990s. These reforms seek to promote equitable land access, tenure security and efficient land use. Land reform, however, is replete with competing interests and competing objectives by its originators. Using the concept of land governance, this paper explores the extent to which the

Under the banner of a "New Green Revolution for Africa," agricultural intensification programs aim to make smallholder agriculture more productive as well as "climate smart". As with Green Revolutions in Asia and Mexico, agricultural innovations (hybrid seeds, agronomic engineering, market linkages,and increased use of fertilizer and pesticides) are promoted as essential catalysts of agriculture-led

•The deregulation process played a key role in terms of airport efficiency.•The technical efficiency of 32 Italian airports has been evaluated•The methodological approach has been twofold: DEA and Tobit model•The main results show that efficiency is independent of an airport's size.•The findings highlight the decisive role of public shareholders in small airports.

China has launched an ambitious strategy to develop a national high-speed rail (HSR) system with a total distance of 38,000 km by 2025. The massive development of HSR has not only facilitated the improvement of interregional accessibility, it also substantially stimulated urbanization and urban expansions across various cities. This paper investigates fundamental questions pertaining to change in land

Land underpins most social, economic and an environmental activity, because of this, there was an urgent need in Turkey for the completion of a cadastre to be used by government decision-makers, landowners and real estate practitioners. For many years technical, financial, and social problems affected the execution of many land-related projects in Turkey. In 2005, a land cadastre project was designed

In urban contexts land-use planning can play a central role to promote adaptation and mitigation strategies to climate change. Limiting soil consumption, improving urban greening and restoring abandoned areas are three of the most important strategies towards a sustainable land use. . The extent to which these three actions can be effectively implemented depends on the specific biophysical and cultural

Rapid changes that are taking place in the urban environment have significant impact on urban growth. Most cities and urban regions all over the world compete to increase resident and visitor satisfaction. The growing requirements and rapidity of introducing new technologies to all aspects of residents’ lives force cities and urban regions to implement "smart cities" concepts in their activities. Real

Scientific interest across the fields of historical landscape research and historical land use has grown in connection with the dynamic changes in the current landscape. Various historical sources are used for gathering information on historical land use and its reconstruction. These sources are then the subject matter of the research with respect not only to their contents but also to the quality

The conceptualization of farmland fragmentation varies across different scientific disciplines and units of analysis. Although a large body of literature on this phenomenon exist, yet there is no comprehensive understanding about the underlying reasons behind this conceptual variety and how it affects the management of different fragmentation scenarios. Consequently, policy makers and research scholars

After thirty years of the framework legislation for parks, their effect on the territories and social communities that created new national park institutes in 1991 was investigated. Some significant indicators were used, such as demography, the structure of records and income conditions, and it emerged that the National Parks did not lead to a clear separation from the dynamics that were already in

Land reform is an important socio-political strategy in many countries. Despite the importance of ecosystem health in attaining land reform objectives, human-nature interactions have been largely absent from contemporary land reform discussions. In this perspectives paper, we highlight why land reform programmes could benefit from considering ecosystem services in their planning processes, to better

Effective agri-environmental management of peatlands requires co-ordinated implementation action beyond that on a farm level due to the ecological functioning of the water system at the watershed level. We assess how farmers perceive different co-ordinating institutions and which farm and farmers’ characteristics determine differences in the perception. We consider different institutions facilitating

Land uses such as forestry are concerned with applying standardized management schemes to meet management goals and serve the interests of various actors. As a consequence of differences in actors' power to influence forest management, certain goals and silvicultural ideals will be promoted at the expense of others and thereby homogenize forest management. At the same time, “ideal” outcomes are often

The new European Green Deal has the ambition to make the European Union the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The European Commission presented an ambitious package of measures within the Biodiversity Strategy 2030, the Farm to Fork and the European Climate Law including actions to protect our soils. The Farm to Fork strategy addresses soil pollution with 50 % reduction in use of chemical pesticides

The transition to sustainable energy in a neighbourhood is not a trivial process and current efforts attempt to garner support and engagement from local stakeholders through public participation processes. This paper presents a game-based decision support system specifically designed to include a relevant (yet often overlooked) group of stakeholders: the children of an area. Combining the principles

This paper identifies the relationship between an active use of EU investment support programs by Polish farmers, on one side, and the local conditions for socioeconomic development and natural and structural characteristics of agriculture, on the other. The research was illustrated by the example of Poland, a country with a remarkably fragmented and territorially heterogeneous agrarian structure.

The importance of land delivery institutions (LDIs) in facilitating access to land by providing different land delivery channel (LDCs) has long been established in literature. However, understanding of the nature of LDIs has been in piecemeal with focus on either the organisational structure of the LDIs, institutional mechanism or the characteristics of land being supplied by the formal or informal

The watershed, a dynamic and integrated social, economic, and biological system, plays an important role in the growth and development of the economy. Watersheds as a basis to support natural life and human activities have been heavily damaged over the past few centuries. One of the major causes of which is the inappropriate land-use allocation. Studies on land-use allocation mostly investigate optimization

Land use change results from top-down drivers, such as policies, trade, and migration. Land use change may also result from community-based responses. In Mexico, rural communities govern most of the country's forests. This study aimed to assess how socio-economic and biophysical factors affected the landscape trajectories of rural communities in southern Mexico. It also aimed at evaluating the role

The rate of land urbanization has grown rapidly in recent decades in China, and a growing body of literature has investigated the driving forces behind it. The dual nature of China’s land ownership system, in which top-down and bottom-up land development form two separate tracks, is frequently cited in these studies. While top-down land development is dominant, bottom-up land development, which has

Urban development of land in historically rural areas which contain high-pressure gas pipelines increases risks to public safety. Pipeline organisations identify local planning authorities as key stakeholders in planning to mitigate risks posed by land use changes. However, neoliberal reforms that have both privatised pipelines and centralised strategic planning decisions have reduced the decision-making

Public lands in the United States are managed to conserve environmental resources. Serving as regional natural, historic, and/or cultural amenity endowments, these lands produce recreational opportunities for residents and exist as important regional attractants for visitors and residents thus serving as important stimuli for local retail and service sector firms. In this study, we examined associations

Recent Amazon fires fuelled a media narrative combining politics with an already emotive story linking deforestation to extensive cattle ranching and global meat consumption. Scrutiny of the reasons for the 2019 fires suggests that the perceived link between deforestation and extensive land use for beef production is not as clear as commonly supposed. Indeed, land sparing through sustainable intensification

Reservoirs constructed for multiple water and land use changes alter the hydro-sedimentological dynamics of drainage basins, intensifying erosion and silting of water bodies. To ensure water and soil conservation, environmental fragility analysis is a notable tool in land use planning. Potential environmental fragility (PEF) is the dynamic equilibrium of the environment, understood as the natural susceptibility

As policies of agricultural land preservation, regulatory tools and payment ones usually operate independently or complementarily. However, under the policy of the dynamic balance of total cultivated land and taxes/fees of agricultural land conversion in China, there is a substitution relationship between the regulatory and payment tools. This article reviews this substitution mechanism, theoretically

This study proposes a novel method to assess the overall economic effects of agricultural droughts using a coupled agronomic-economic approach that accounts for the direct and indirect impacts of this hazard in the economy. The proposed methodology is applied to Italy, where years showing different drought severity levels were analysed. Agricultural drought stress was measured using the fraction of

Mediterranean coastlines are undergoing a strong process of urbanization due not only to demographic growth, but also to the development of tourism. Moreover, municipalities have become more dependent on residential tax income, which creates a vicious circle for local urban planning. The Var department, in south-eastern France, can be considered as a relevaznt example of these dynamics, where residential

Conservation agriculture has been promoted in sub-Saharan Africa to address land degradation, which jeopardizes farmers’ livelihoods. However, the low adoption rate of this technology raises the question of its suitability for smallholders. The aim of this study is to assess the factors influencing the tryout and disadoption of conservation agriculture thanks to a qualitative and econometric analysis

Three tenets of sustainable intensification should guide the fourth agricultural revolution: people, production, and the planet. Thus far, narratives of agriculture 4.0 have been predominately framed in terms of benefits to productivity and the environment with little attention placed on social sustainability. This is despite the fact that agriculture 4.0 has significant social implications, both potentially

Urbanisation has significantly influenced socioeconomic development while land transfer, as a carrier, has played an important role in the process of urbanisation. However, urbanisation has led to an unbalanced development of regional cities and a widening gap between rich and poor. We explored the influence mechanism of land transfer on urban development by quantitative and qualitative investigations

In order for urban development to take place, there is need for policies, institutional and statutory frameworks that guide it. These frameworks provide way forward and direction to be followed to achieve the set goals. The paper aims to review the different policies adopted by Zimbabwean and Zambian governments, institutional frameworks and statutory frameworks that guide their urban development.

The construction of high-speed rail in China was initiated to answer increasing demand for fast and convenient transportation systems connecting large economic centers. After the first high-speed rail was open for operation and the initial adjustment period, access to high-speed rail starts to bring fundamental changes in regional economic operation modes in China and drastically increase interconnectivity

This work investigates the implementation of the European Union (EU) Floods Directive (FD) in Lithuania. First, it analyzes the requirements set in the EU law for the correct and effective implementation of the directive. Second, it addresses the implementation of the FD in the national law of Lithuania and the practical application of it, particularly in regard to the amendments of the land use regulations

Some marginalized Spanish forest areas view the circular bioeconomy proposal as an alternative solution and an opportunity required by both global and local challenges. This article aims to contribute to decision-making and to a forest-bioeconomy proposal design from a qualitative perspective by analysing resilience strategies in the south of the aragonese region on three levels, namely private forest

Protected areas (PAs) are the most effective public policy instruments to protect natural ecosystems and the services these ecosystems provide. Nevertheless, several PAs present a funding deficit because governments allocate fewer financial resources than those required to cover PA management costs. The variation in funding deficits within countries is not well documented because information about

Past and ongoing research shows that African cities remain one of the vulnerable zones of climate change, yet the least prepared. With an expected increase in climate change impacts coupled with rapid urbanization in African cities, this paper inquires: what if more attention is devoted to urban planning in the efforts towards addressing climate change issues and building resilient urban futures in

This study was undertaken to examine local perceptions of the impacts of small-scale tree plantations, notably of Acacia decurrens (J.C. Wendl.) Willd., in Ethiopia’s Upper Blue Nile Basin. A particular focus of our study was on the different dimensions of livelihood sustainability centering on economic, social, human, physical, and natural capital. The unprecedented expansion of small-scale tree plantations

Understanding house price appreciation benefits place-based decision makings and real estate market analyses. Although large amounts of interests have been paid in the house price modeling, limited work has focused on evaluating the price appreciation rate. In this study, we propose a data-fusion framework to examine how well house price appreciation potentials can be predicted by combining multiple

Intensive extraction of forest resources lowers biodiversity and endangers the functioning of forest ecosystems. As such, alternative management regimes have emerged, aspiring to promote forest biodiversity and nature protection in managed forests. Among them, continuous cover forestry, (i.e. selective logging), has received considerable attention and is being promoted by some researchers and NGOs

In Europe and often worldwide, national and local government authorities utilise different means to stimulate economic development and environmental protection of the land through the application of land consolidation. The direction of these efforts should take into consideration the fact that some administrative regions may have a higher potential for land consolidation than others. This is supported

With increasing pressures on scarce land and natural resources, responsible governance of tenure to protect rights and right holders of these resources becomes pivotal. Especially if the livelihoods of these right holders is directly linked to having access to and control over these resources. A human-rights based approach for the responsible tenure governance is needed, recognizing, respecting and

Formal regulation of private property and exploration of “risk transmission” across ownerships are two popular means for addressing wildfire management at landscape scales. However, existing studies also indicate that a number of barriers exist for implementing formal regulations surrounding wildfire risk, and that few efforts gauge influences on the resident support that serves as an important antecedent

In constantly changing complex social-ecological systems conservation organisations need to take steps toward adaptive co-management if they want to be effective in their conservation activities. In the surroundings of the soda pans of the Kiskunság region in Hungary, a participatory process was initiated with the local national park directorate to understand the socio-economic context of the sodic

Land titling programs are introduced to create a stable and secure institutional environment that effectively resolves land conflicts. However, the process of land registration may also exacerbate latent conflicts or trigger new contestation, causing the opposite of what was intended – a largely conflict-ridden and non-credible tenure arrangement. To understand this apparent contradiction in more detail

The authors of this research paper have attempted to answer the question of whether the information about the commencement of a construction process, i.e. the official notification of having prepared a base map for design purposes, could be used to assess the correctness of local spatial policy. The research was carried out using a mixed method in which both quantitative and qualitative data were collected

Inner Peripheries is a recent concept based on both peripherality and marginality features, thus far from the commonly adopted geographical notion of periphery. Inner Peripheries are fragile territories covering rural Europe, which suffer from depopulation, low economic potential, and weak territorial cohesion. However, these territories are extremely important for the provision of goods and services

Sustainable land governance in a telecoupled world is currently a challenge. Distant actors, institutions, and interactions shape local land uses and are assumed to affect sustainable development in critical ways as they exert new and often additional claims on land and trigger adverse local impacts like displacement. Action towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is urgently needed

This article connects theoretical effects of the Land Tenure Regularization (LTR) and available evidence from Rwanda and Ethiopia. Based on a review of 26 quantitative and qualitative relevant and robust studies, the paper contributes to the understanding on what evidence exist to validate the LTR effects and how to gain long-term economic, environmental and social impacts. Results suggest a propensity

Land Use and Cover Changes (LUCCs) have been a cause of great concern for socio-environmental sustainability. Applied study in this field should take into account the history of the interaction between man and nature, and the effect on the landscape that this dynamic projects. This paper’s objective is to assess LUCCs with regard to the effect of a nature conservation policy and correlate such changes

Land consolidation projects (LCP) are the most effective method for quick amendment of poor land fragmentation parameters. At the same time, they are costly due to both a long time horizon and auxiliary projects, in particular, road construction and improvement of field drainage or irrigation systems. The range of changes in parcel arrangement after consolidation varies, as does the economic efficiency

Dachas (collective gardens with summer houses in post-Soviet countries) is one of the most common features of peri-urban landscapes within the region that is the erstwhile USSR, with dacha conglomerates constituting half of the areas in the exurbs of major cities. In Belarus, Russia and Ukraine dachas largely preserved their original form and function. Arguably, they are at the turning point now, and

In integrated watershed management, to identify efficient managerial responses, assessment of the status and dynamic of watershed health is crucial. This study focused on analyzing the main environmental problems for Gorganroud watershed health using the Driving force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework. The trend of each DPSIR index was also computed using 18 quantitative indicators during

Tourism development perspectives and land use planning often intersect in sustainable tourism management. However, the promised (advertised) sustainability and concrete communication practices in the tourism industry and destination management seem to be at a crucial point, especially considering the radical impact brought by social media technologies on tourists’ preferences and their destination