Land Use Analysis

Lecture 1 Final Term

by Engr. Mansoor Khan

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 Land Use Analysis
Land use is the human use of
land. and land use analysis is
the ranking or prioritization of
human use of land.
 Human activities
(employment, recreation,
reside e)→ li ked to la d.
 A land use study is one way
of understanding these
activities.

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Land Use Analysis
Different activities on land has
 different requirements
 different impact.
 LUA if a piece of land suitable for a
given activity
 For residential area the slope should be 5%
and for other projects slope should not
increase 25%.
 (Park on dump site). YES or NO
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LUA

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 LAND DATA

Imp terminologies
 Location: spatial coordinate system.
 Activity: purpose, use of land.
 Natural qualities: Surface, subsurface characteristics.
 Improvements: Human modification of land.
 Intensity of land use: activity per unit area.
 Land tenure: ownership of a piece of land.
 Land price: land market activity.
 Interrelations: no piece of land stands alone. (The
access to a piece of land may affect the activity on it).

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Land cover and land utilization

 Land cover: natural/ human

altered land surface.
 land utilization: the actions
on the land.

Because of the close

connections between land
and human activities, LUA is
carried in an area where a
change is expected
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Purpose of LUA
The purpose of LUA is to help answer the
questions????
 What should be built?
 Where should it be built?
 When and how should it be built?
 What impact will it generate?

and much more…

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Comprehensively

LUA is a set of tools that helps to understand

 How land is currently used?

 What land use changes can be brought?

 What are the impacts of land use change?

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Land value
Land value is often a reflection of its
direct usefulness to humans.
In land use analysis, human activities can
be divided into three major categories —
 Residential (where people live).
 Employment (where people work).
 Non-residential and non-employment
activities.
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 Human modification of land
 Material and energy .
 Flow from land to humans.
 Human activities modify the
nature of the land.
 For example, people clear
natural vegetation to plant
crops for food, to build
houses for shelter, to level
hills or dig tunnels for roads.

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 Human modification of land
 People can easily see the
benefit of withdrawing
resources from land and
modifying land.
 After a new road is built
people can start to enjoy
the improved travel right
away.

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 Human modification of land
 On the other hand, it is less obvious and more
difficult for people to realize that the changes on
land can actually harm people.

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 Human modification of land
 As an example, the increased
area of impervious surface as
a result of a new road may
contribute to loss of property
and human lives in a storm
event.
 Increased water consumption
due to growing population
↔shortage or exhaustio of
water resources in a city.
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Human modification of land

 However, it is difficult to link such damage

to any particular development.
 It is often the result of an accumulation of
many development activities.
(a number of activities combine to effect the
nature so it is difficult to identify a single
activity)

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 Summarizing

To ensure high quality

land development that
maximizes benefits and
minimizes damage to
humans, we require
careful planning .

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Land Use Suitability Analysis

Factors considered in LUSA

 Physical constraints, such as slope, soil,
groundwater aquifers and flood plains;
 Access, such as distance to roads, surface
waters, sewer lines or water lines; and
 Costs and benefits of the development.

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 Level of suitability
 A land suitability analysis
examines selected land
characteristics to determine
the level of suitability,
 Ranks available land
accordingly.
 The most suitable land will be
used for development first.

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Set of factors for ranking (the 8 steps)
The study of selection/ ranking of land for a
specific project consist of 8 major steps:

 Select a land use type for analysis.

 Select factors to be considered and attribute
values of each factor.
 Determine a score for each factor attribute.
 Weigh the factors.

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the 8 steps
 Calculate a composite score from the attribute
values and weight it for each factor;
 Rank the combined scores to establish
suitability levels
 Identify available land based on existing land
uses;
 Compare with comprehensive plan, zoning or
other land use controls that further remove
unavailable land.
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 Step 1) Select a land use type for analysis

 A land suitability analysis

focuses on one type of
land development at a
time.
 Normally, the
development can be
grouped as commercial,
industrial, or residential
use.
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 Step 2: Select factors to be considered and
attribute values of each factor

 The purpose of a land suitability

analysis is to analyze the physical
and location attributes of land in
relation to a particular land use.
(for e.g to establish cement
industry in cherat)
 Review the local situation.
 Involve stakeholders.
 Environmental degradation.

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 Step 2: contd
Normally 5 factors are considered
1. Slope .

2. Flood plains.

3. Soil features.

4. Distance to sewer.

5. Distance to highway/ roads.

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Step 2: contd

 For example flat land more desirable for

industrial construction (>5% not acceptable).
 Safety: no residential construction on steep
slope (land slide).
 Steep slope ►increase in runoff ► soil loss.
 Simillar is the case for flood and sewer plus
distance from road.

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Step 3: Determine the score for each
attribute of each factor:
After determining the factor ► attributes
need to be determined
Attribute ► variation ► at any 4 levels
 Nominal.

 Ordinal.

 Interval.

 Ratio.

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Step 3:How it works?
Flood level
► at nominal level with 2 values.
 Inside or outside 100-year flood plain
Soil data (regarding construction suitability) ► 3
values at ordinal level
 Severe, moderate and slight
Slope measured in degree is an example of ratio
level of measurement.
Any numerical value between 0 and 90.
 Sewer factor ► inside or outside
 Road distance ► measured in Km.
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Land suitability score for
residential development
Factors Attributes Score

Slope ≤5% 5

5% to ≤ 5% 4

5% to ≤ 5% 2

› 5% 1

Flood plain Inside 100- year flood plain 1

Outside 100- year flood plain 5

Soil Slight 5
Classification
Moderate 3

High 1

Distance to ≤ K 5
major road
to ≤ K 4

to ≤ 5 K 3

› 5Km 2

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Step 4: Weigh the factor
 Relative importance of each factor is reflected in the
weights assigned to each factor.
 Different weights assigned to different factors.
 When weights are expressed as % age, the total of
all factors must be equal to 100%.

For example the most important factor for

residential projects is Slope and the least important
are roads. Thus they are represented by a weight
of 30% and 10% respectively.

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Step 4:
Weights of land suitability factors

FACTORS WEIGHT

Slope 30%

Flood plain 20%

Soil classified based on restriction to on- 15%

site septic system

Sewer districts
25%
Distance to major roads
10%

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Step 5:
Calculate Composite Score and weights
S = ∑ si . w i
S= sum of product of individual weights wi and score si for
each factor i.
For instance, for a piece of land
 With a slope of 20%, (si =2, wi =0.3).

 Outside the 100-year flood plain, (si =5, wi =0.2).

 Within the sewer district, (si =5, wi =0.25).
 Soil has moderate restrictions, (si =3, wi =0.15).

 Major roads are 2 km away, (si =4, wi =0.1).

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 Composite Score and weights
The composite suitability score for this land would be
S= (Slope score x slope wt.) + (flood plain score x flood
plain wt) + (sewer score x sewer wt.) + (soil score x soil
wt.) + (highway score x highway wt.)

S= (2 x 0.3) + (5 x 0.2) + (5 x 0.25) + (3 x 0.15) +

(4 x 0.1)
= 0.6 + 1+ 1.25 + 0.45 + 0.4
= 3.7
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 Step 6:
Rank the combine score to establish
suitability levels
 After calculating composite scores, the
land can be compared and ranked
based on scores,
 The highest score ► the more suitable
land for the proposed project.
 The least score ► the least suitable
land for the proposed project

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Suitability levels
 The suitability scores can be sued as a guide for land use
decision making.
 The most suitable land has a value above 4 and least suitable
has a value of 0.
Composite Score Land suitability class

0 to 1 Least Suitable

1.1 to 2 Less Suitable

2.1 to 3
Moderate Suitable
3.1 to 4
More Suitable
4.1 to 5
Most Suitable
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Suitability levels
The lowest possible scores for the five factors
discussed above are,
1 for slope, 1 for flood plain, 1 for soil, 2 for sewer
service district and 2 for distance to major roads,

Thus the minimum possible composite score is,

S = 1x 0.3 (Slope) + 1x 0.2 (flood plain) + 1x 0.25 (soil)

+ 2x 0.15 (sewer) + 2x 0.1 (roads)
= 0.3+0.2+0.25+0.3+0.2
= 1.25 34
 Step 7:Identify the available land

 Land use vary in intensity.

 Different land use can be based
on human impacts.
 Undeveloped/ forest/ barren
land ► less human impact ►
new development likely there.
 Generally we never convert a
higher intensive land use to
lower intensive land use.

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Step 7:Identify the available land

Generally we never convert a higher intensive

land use to lower intensive land use
1. It’s the ope spa es, arre la d that a e
chosen for residential projects and not the
agricultural land
2. Land suitability is taken into consideration

From 1) and 2) we can identify the available land.

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Step 8: comprehensive plans/
zoning/regulations
 Development to occur in permitted areas as
per regulations, zoning.
 If area reserved for conservation purpose ►
no residential or developmental projects
allowed.
 For instance in US law, no residential
development within 400m of major highways.

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Summarizing
The main advantage of LUSA is
 Choose the most suitable area.

 Exclude the unsuitable areas.

 Helping tool in zoning.

 Helping tool for future development.

 Conserve environment and help in

sustainability.

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