Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Land use optimization'

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005.
Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiv, 2-9, 9-126, 131-145 p.; also includes graphics (some col.). Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-145). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

This thesis investigates the effects of urban land use on transportation system performance in terms of various land use factors such as density, mixed or single land use, jobs-housing balance, street patterns, transit accessibility. Reviewed studies show that urban land use has considerable effects on transportation system performance measures which are average travel distances per person, level of service, air quality, gasoline consumption etc. Based on the obtained results, it is concluded that one of the basic reasons behind increasing auto dependency and outcoming problems in recent years is lack of coordination between land use and transportation system. The obtained results are used to analyze land use impacts on transportation system of Ankara. Urban transportation planning decisions, deficiencies in implementation and resulted problems are discussed in terms of land use and transportation interaction. Possible land use regulations which can contribute to relieve transportation problems of Ankara are proposed.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Mississippi, 2006.
Typescript. Vita. Major professor: Dr. Mustafa Altinakar "December 2006." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 217-239). Also available online via ProQuest to authorized users.

The main objective of this study is an assessment of the potential of applying land use optimization methods for minimizing the sediment yield from catchments. The study area is the Siran watershed, a subwatershed of the Tarbela watershed in Pakistan which drains directly into the Tarbela reservoir. It has an area of 4Ub sq. miles and receives 47.82 inches annual average precipitation. The main land use practices on the Siran Watershed are agriculture, rangeland grazing and forestry. A stochastic model for simulating daily precipitation and another for simulating daily maximum temperatures are developed for the area. The synthetic daily precipitation events are transformed into daily streamflows by the soil moisture counting streamflow model using the synthetic daily maximum temperatures as input. The streamtlow model, called the Generalized Streamflow Simulation System, is modified and used for simulating baseflow recessions. The stochastic precipitation model, the stochastic temperature model and the deterministic streamflow models were combined with the deterministic sediment yield model for simulating sediment yield from the watershed. The modified Universal Soil Loss Equation was used for simulating sediment yield. Parameters at these models were determined from data taken on the Siran Watershed. A linear program was used for land use optimization to minimize sediment yield and maximize watershed production. Both optimization processes ended up with the same land use areas allocating the Maximum area for forests. The expected sediment yield was reduced by 2.5 times and production of watershed was doubled. Optimization of crops was accomplished by maximizing the production of agriculture lands. This resulted in the allocation of major agriculture land areas for apple orchards. By adopting the final optimized land use practices, the sediment yield can be reduced to half and watershed production can be increased six times. The results of the present study are encouraging and indicate that application of land use optimization methods for reducing sediment yields nave great potential on the study area and on other subwatersheds of the Tarbela and Manyla Watersheds. The methodology developed in this study can provide a useful tool for watershed managers to reduce sediment yields and increase the income of the local inhabitants by maximizing the agriculture production in other parts of the country.

In this dissertation, we study the effects of emerging biomass markets on land use changes between alternatives of agricultural production, conventional timber production, and forest woody biomass production for energy use. Along with the uncertainty associated with woody biomass prices and rents, transaction costs incurred to land use play an important role in land allocation decisions and make this study distinct from other work. In Chapter 1, we introduce the background and objectives of our study. In Chapter 2, we analyze the behavior of a risk-neutral private landowner and social planner under uncertainty of woody biomass prices, assuming that there is a market emergence at some unknown time point in the future. Market emergence is characterized by a price jump and a certain timing of the price jump. Six different price jumps and five different timings of bioenergy market emergence are adopted to study their collective effects on land use change between agriculture and forestry. Chapter 3 studies this problem for a risk-averse private landowner. Two measures of relative risk aversion are used to examine how a landownerâ s preference may affect his or her land use decision. In Chapter 2, we find that, for three different quality categories of land, land rents from forestry increase significantly for higher price jumps and decreases in the length of time until bioenergy market emergence. One of the most important results is concerned with the presence of transaction costs. Here, we find that these costs may require unrealistic market emergence scenarios to lead to bioenergy adoption on any large scale. This result is even more likely with nonlinear transaction costs. Land allocation decisions in Chapter 3 are distinctly different from those in Chapter 2, due to the introduction of landowner risk aversion. In certain market emergence cases, some land units retain in agriculture entirely when the landowner is risk averse . The Chapter 4 studies a stochastic optimization problem of land use, assuming that woody biomass rents follow a stochastic diffusion called geometric Brownian motion that is later discretized by a binomial option pricing approach. The problems in Chapters 2 and 3 assume that the landowner must make all decisions at the beginning of his or her time horizon. This assumption is relaxed in Chapter 4. Now, the landowner is allowed to revise his or her land allocation decision among three alternatives over time as information about market emergence is collected. We observe that the different forms of transaction costs are not as significant as in Chapters 2 and 3. However, different values of volatility of forest biomass rents give rise to different land allocation decisions, especially for the land of high quality.
Ph. D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005.
Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xvii, 180 p.; also includes graphics (some col.). Includes bibliographical references (p. 156-171). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

The selection of sites for biodiversity conservation is best done if it anticipates future challenges and efficiently accomplishes targets, given limited funding for such efforts. The first chapter of this thesis discusses how conservation practitioners might manage and enhance long-term survival for species whose ranges must shift as climate changes, across regions that present significant mobility barriers. I describe recommendations highlighting connectivity, refugia from climate change, adaptation, and restoration within agricultural landscapes in North America, but these recommendations are transferable elsewhere. The second chapter examines patterns of change in agricultural intensity and land price within Canada’s species-rich farmland between 1986 and 2011, and creates sequential cost-efficient plans to conserve resident species-at-risk within that time period, to determine how environmental and cost changes erode the efficiency of conservation plans. While sites initially selected as cost-efficient remained so through time, total plan costs increased, decreasing each plan’s ability to represent all species for a given budget. This emphasizes the urgent need for conservation within Canada’s farmland.

This thesis presents an investigation of a new three-dimensional urban form where walking distances are less than a half-mile and congestion is minimal. The car-free urban form investigated herein is a city composed of skyscrapers massively interconnected with skybridges at multiple levels. The investigation consists of optimizing space use arrangement, skybridge presence or absence, and elevator number to simultaneously minimize total travel time, skybridge light blockage, and elevator energy usage in the city. These objectives are evaluated using three objective functions, the most significant of which involves a three-dimensional, pedestrian-only, three-step version of the traditional four-step planning model. Optimal and diverse designs are discovered with a genetic algorithm that generates always-feasible designs and uses the maximum fitness function. The space use arrangements and travel times of four extreme designs are analyzed and discussed, and the overall results of the investigation are presented. Conclusions suggest that skybridges are beneficial in reducing travel time and that travel times are shorter in cities wherein space use is mixed vertically as well as horizontally.

A city is considered as a complex system. It consists of numerous interactivesub-systems and is affected by diverse factors including governmental landpolicies, population growth, transportation infrastructure, and market behavior.Land use and transportation systems are considered as the two most importantsubsystems determining urban form and structure in the long term. Meanwhile,urban growth is one of the most important topics in urban studies, and its maindriving forces are population growth and transportation development. Modelingand simulation are believed to be powerful tools to explore the mechanisms ofurban evolution and provide planning support in growth management. The overall objective of the thesis is to analyze and model urban growth basedon the simulation of land-use changes and the modeling of road networkexpansion. Since most previous urban growth models apply fixed transportnetworks, the evolution of road networks was particularly modeled. Besides,urban growth modeling is an interdisciplinary field, so this thesis made bigefforts to integrate knowledge and methods from other scientific and technicalareas to advance geographical information science, especially the aspects ofnetwork analysis and modeling. A multi-agent system was applied to model urban growth in Toronto whenpopulation growth is considered as being the main driving factor of urbangrowth. Agents were adopted to simulate different types of interactiveindividuals who promote urban expansion. The multi-agent model with spatiotemporalallocation criterions was shown effectiveness in simulation. Then, anurban growth model for long-term simulation was developed by integratingland-use development with procedural road network modeling. The dynamicidealized traffic flow estimated by the space syntax metric was not only used forselecting major roads, but also for calculating accessibility in land-usesimulation. The model was applied in the city centre of Stockholm andconfirmed the reciprocal influence between land use and street network duringthe long-term growth. To further study network growth modeling, a novel weighted network model,involving nonlinear growth and neighboring connections, was built from theperspective of promising complex networks. Both mathematical analysis andnumerical simulation were examined in the evolution process, and the effects ofneighboring connections were particular investigated to study the preferentialattachment mechanisms in the evolution. Since road network is a weightedplanar graph, the growth model for urban street networks was subsequentlymodeled. It succeeded in reproducing diverse patterns and each pattern wasexamined by a series of measures. The similarity between the properties of derived patterns and empirical studies implies that there is a universal growthmechanism in the evolution of urban morphology. To better understand the complicated relationship between land use and roadnetwork, centrality indices from different aspects were fully analyzed in a casestudy over Stockholm. The correlation coefficients between different land-usetypes and road network centralities suggest that various centrality indices,reflecting human activities in different ways, can capture land development andconsequently influence urban structure. The strength of this thesis lies in its interdisciplinary approaches to analyze andmodel urban growth. The integration of ‘bottom-up’ land-use simulation androad network growth model in urban growth simulation is the major contribution.The road network growth model in terms of complex network science is anothercontribution to advance spatial network modeling within the field of GIScience.The works in this thesis vary from a novel theoretical weighted network modelto the particular models of land use, urban street network and hybrid urbangrowth, and to the specific applications and statistical analysis in real cases.These models help to improve our understanding of urban growth phenomenaand urban morphological evolution through long-term simulations. Thesimulation results can further support urban planning and growth management.The study of hybrid models integrating methods and techniques frommultidisciplinary fields has attracted a lot attention and still needs constantefforts in near future.

QC 20130514

The Mara River Basin (MRB) is endowed with pristine biodiversity, socio-cultural heritage and natural resources. The purpose of my study is to develop and apply an integrated water resource allocation framework for the MRB based on the hydrological processes, water demand and economic factors. The basin was partitioned into twelve sub-basins and the rainfall runoff processes was modeled using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) after satisfactory Nash-Sutcliff efficiency of 0.68 for calibration and 0.43 for validation at Mara Mines station. The impact and uncertainty of climate change on the hydrology of the MRB was assessed using SWAT and three scenarios of statistically downscaled outputs from twenty Global Circulation Models. Results predicted the wet season getting more wet and the dry season getting drier, with a general increasing trend of annual rainfall through 2050. Three blocks of water demand (environmental, normal and flood) were estimated from consumptive water use by human, wildlife, livestock, tourism, irrigation and industry. Water demand projections suggest human consumption is expected to surpass irrigation as the highest water demand sector by 2030. Monthly volume of water was estimated in three blocks of current minimum reliability, reserve (>95%), normal (80–95%) and flood (40%) for more than 5 months in a year. The assessment of water price and marginal productivity showed that current water use hardly responds to a change in price or productivity of water. Finally, a water allocation model was developed and applied to investigate the optimum monthly allocation among sectors and sub-basins by maximizing the use value and hydrological reliability of water. Model results demonstrated that the status on reserve and normal volumes can be improved to ‘low’ or ‘moderate’ by updating the existing reliability to meet prevailing demand. Flow volumes and rates for four scenarios of reliability were presented. Results showed that the water allocation framework can be used as comprehensive tool in the management of MRB, and possibly be extended similar watersheds.

[EN] In the last decade, there has been an increase in demand for biofuels, fostered by public policies. In the European Union, Directive 2009/28/EC (RED) establishes a 10% target for renewable energy use in the transport sector by 2020, in order to reduce overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In view of the land use change (LUC) that has recently occurred on a global scale as a consequence of bioenergy expansion, environmental considerations are more frequently incorporated into biofuel policies in order to promote only those biofuels delivering substantial GHG savings. The aim of the present thesis has been to analyze the environmental effects of the introduction of biodiesel for transport in the context of Spain, by applying different methodologies under a life cycle perspective, in order to address controversial issues, such as indirect LUC. First of all, the environmental and economic benefits brought about by an integrated process for waste management have been analyzed; biodiesel is obtained from the treatment of used cooking oil (UCO). The evaluation of the environmental performance has been carried out by means of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, while the financial assessment has been performed by applying a Life Cycle Costing (LCC). Both methodologies are based on a holistic approach and are crucial for a more thorough understanding of the sustainability of the proposed system. The combined study shows that the process has the potential to cause significant environmental benefits (subject to methodological assumptions), but this comes at the expense of the profits generated when the analysis is carried out from a municipal point of view. LCA has been subsequently applied to different systems for biodiesel production under a consequential approach, as the only way to measure indirect effects. There are different methodologies to carry out a consequential LCA, and all of them require the application of economic concepts. The first one consists of performing system expansion in order to include the additional functions provided by the co-products, since indirect effects arise from co-product interactions with other life cycles in the international market. This has allowed for the biodiesel domestically produced from UCO to be compared with the soybean biodiesel imported from Argentina. Furthermore, a mathematical programming model has been proposed based on the biodiesel sector's nameplate capacity in Spain. Its aim is to determine the optimal feedstock mix according to economic criteria, in order to meet the target demand for 2020; the biodiesel resulting from the mix must also fulfill the environmental requirements in the RED. The model allows for an LCA to be simultaneously carried out, in order to calculate the emissions associated with each production pathway. Indirect emissions from LUC in the Spanish agriculture can also be estimated. Finally, a general equilibrium model has been used to analyze the global environmental consequences, in terms of GHG emissions and LUC, of increasing the demand for biodiesel in the EU to meet the RED targets, in combination with recent anti-dumping measures on biodiesel imports from some specific countries. The outcomes from these studies have allowed for emission factors to be determined for different biodiesel production pathways in the Spanish market. Not only global warming has been taken into account but also other impact categories, which may be equally critical. In addition, pros and cons of the methodologies applied have been identified, depending on the goal and scope of the study; they should be applied in a complementary manner for a better understanding of the global phenomenon of bioenergy, increasing the confidence in GHG emission results. Reducing uncertainty in LUC estimates is crucial to enhance the applicability of future biofuel policies.
[ES] La demanda de biocombustibles ha aumentado progresivamente en los últimos años, fomentada por políticas públicas. En la Unión Europea, la Directiva 2009/28/EC (RED) establece un objetivo del 10% para el uso de energías renovables en el sector del transporte en 2020, con tal de reducir los gases de efecto invernadero (GEI). Ante la evidencia del cambio en el uso del suelo (CUS) a escala global a consecuencia del auge de los biocombustibles, se han incorporado consideraciones ambientales para promover únicamente aquellos biocarburantes que causen un ahorro sustancial de GEI. El objetivo de la presente tesis ha sido analizar los efectos ambientales de la introducción de biodiesel en el contexto español, aplicando distintas metodologías bajo una perspectiva del ciclo de vida, con el fin de abordar cuestiones controvertidas como el CUS indirecto. En primer lugar, se han evaluado los beneficios ambientales y económicos derivados de un proceso integrado de tratamiento de residuos donde se produce biodiesel a partir de aceite de cocina usado (ACU). La evaluación ambiental se ha realizado mediante la metodología de Análisis de Ciclo de Vida (ACV), mientras que la evaluación financiera se ha llevado a cabo mediante el cálculo del Coste del Ciclo de Vida. Ambas metodologías comparten el mismo enfoque holístico y son esenciales para una comprensión más completa de la sostenibilidad del sistema propuesto. El análisis combinado revela que, si bien éste presenta el potencial de generar importantes beneficios ambientales (sujeto a supuestos metodológicos), esto ocurre a costa del beneficio económico cuando el análisis se hace desde el punto de vista municipal. A continuación, se ha aplicado el ACV a distintos sistemas de producción de biodiesel bajo un enfoque consecuencial, como la única forma de estimar el CUS indirecto. Existen diferentes metodologías para la realización de un ACV consecuencial y todas ellas requieren la aplicación de conceptos económicos. La primera consiste en aplicar la expansión del sistema para incluir las funciones adicionales desempeñadas por los coproductos, ya que los efectos indirectos surgen de las interacciones de éstos con otros ciclos de vida en el mercado internacional. Ello ha permitido comparar la producción de biodiesel de ACU frente a la importación de biodiesel de soja de Argentina. Se ha propuesto también un modelo de programación matemática basado en la capacidad nominal del sector del biodiesel en España. Su objetivo es determinar la combinación de materias primas óptima, desde el punto de vista económico, para cumplir con de la demanda proyectada para 2020 pero que cumpla a su vez con las exigencias ambientales de la RED. El modelo incorpora un módulo para realizar un ACV de forma simultánea, que permite estimar las emisiones asociadas a las distintas vías de obtención de materias primas. Se pueden calcular incluso las emisiones indirectas por CUS en la agricultura española. Finalmente, se ha aplicado un modelo de equilibrio general para el análisis de las consecuencias ambientales globales (en términos de emisiones de GEI y CUS) de un aumento en la demanda de biodiesel en la UE según la RED, en combinación con las recientes medidas arancelarias sobre las importaciones de determinados países. Todo ello ha permitido calcular factores de emisión para diferentes alternativas de producción de biodiesel destinado al mercado español, no sólo en relación al calentamiento global sino también a otras categorías de impacto que pueden ser igualmente críticas. Además, se han identificado ventajas e inconvenientes de las metodologías aplicadas, dependiendo del objetivo y el alcance de estudio; lo ideal es aplicarlas de forma complementaria para una mayor comprensión del fenómeno global de la bioenergía, contribuyendo a una mayor solidez en los resultados de GEI. Reducir la incertidumbre en las estimaciones de CUS es fundamental para asegurar la a
[CAT] La demanda de biocombustibles ha augmentat progressivament els darrers anys, fomentada per polítiques públiques. En la Unió Europea, la Directiva 2009/28/EC (RED) estableix un objectiu del 10% per a l'ús d'energies renovables en el sector del transport en 2020, amb l'objectiu de reduir els gasos d'efecte hivernacle (GEH). Davant l'evidència del canvi en l'ús del sòl (CUS) a escala global a conseqüència de l'auge dels biocombustibles, s'han incorporat consideracions ambientals per promoure únicament aquells biocarburants que causen un estalvi substancial de GEH. L'objectiu de la present tesi ha estat analitzar els efectes ambientals de la introducció de biodièsel en el context espanyol, mitjançant l'aplicació de diferents metodologies sota una perspectiva del cicle de vida, amb la finalitat d'abordar qüestions tan controvertides com el CUS indirecte. En primer lloc, s'han avaluat els beneficis ambientals i econòmics derivats d'un procés integrat de tractament de residus on es produeix biodièsel a partir d'oli de cuina usat (OCU). L'avaluació ambiental s'ha realitzat mitjançant la metodologia d'Anàlisi de Cicle de Vida (ACV), mentre que l'avaluació financera s'ha dut a terme mitjançant el càlcul del Cost del Cicle de Vida. Ambdues metodologies comparteixen el mateix enfocament holístic i són essencials per a una comprensió més completa de la sostenibilitat del sistema proposat. L'anàlisi combinada revela que, si bé aquest presenta el potencial de generar importants beneficis ambientals (subjecte a supòsits metodològics), això ocorre a costa del benefici econòmic quan l'anàlisi es fa des del punt de vista municipal. A continuació, s'ha aplicat l'ACV a diferents sistemes de producció de biodièsel sota un enfocament conseqüencial, com l'única forma d'estimar el CUS indirecte. Existeixen diferents metodologies per a la realització d'un ACV conseqüencial i totes elles requereixen l'aplicació de conceptes econòmics. La primera consisteix a aplicar l'expansió del sistema per incloure les funcions addicionals exercides pels coproductes, ja que els efectes indirectes sorgeixen de les interaccions d'aquests amb altres cicles de vida al mercat internacional. Això ha permès comparar la producció de biodièsel d'OCU amb la importació de biodièsel de soia de l'Argentina. S'ha proposat també un model de programació matemàtica basat en la capacitat nominal del sector del biodièsel a Espanya. El seu objectiu és determinar la combinació òptima de matèries primeres, des del punt de vista econòmic, per complir amb de la demanda projectada per 2020 però que complisca al seu torn amb les exigències ambientals de la RED. El model incorpora un mòdul per realitzar un ACV de forma simultània, el qual permet estimar les emissions associades a les diferents vies d'obtenció de matèries primeres. Es poden calcular fins i tot les emissions indirectes per CUS en l'agricultura espanyola. Finalment, s'ha aplicat un model d'equilibri general per a l'anàlisi de les conseqüències ambientals globals (en termes d'emissions de GEH i CUS) d'un augment en la demanda de biodièsel en la UE segons la RED, en combinació amb les mesures aranzelàries recents sobre les importacions des de determinats països. Tot això ha permès calcular factors d'emissió per a diferents alternatives de producció de biodièsel destinat al mercat espanyol, no només en relació a l'escalfament global sinó també a altres categories d'impacte que poden ser igualment crítiques. A més, s'han identificat avantatges i inconvenients de les metodologies aplicades, depenent de l'objectiu i l'abast d'estudi; l'ideal és aplicar-les de forma complementària per a una major comprensió del fenomen global de la bioenergia, per contribuir a una major solidesa en els resultats de GEH. Reduir la incertesa en les estimacions de CUS és fonamental per assegurar l'aplicabilitat de les polítiques de biocombustibles en el futur.
Escobar Lanzuela, N. (2015). Contribution to the environmental impact assessment of biodiesel in the context of Spain [Tesis doctoral]. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/52027
TESIS

Land use optimization is a multifaceted process that entails complex decision-making which involves the selection of activities, the percentages to allocate, and where to allocate. It will also add a whole extra class of variables to the problem when combined with the inevitable consideration of spatial optimization. The related applications by linear programming (LP), "Pareto Front Optimal" based methods, heuristics methods and integration of GIS etc. for spatial multi-objective land use optimization are reviewed and analyzed on their advantages and disadvantages in this thesis. Accordingly, due to the nonlinearity and the complexity caused by the multiple objectives and increasing variables during the optimization process, the efficiency and effect would be the issues to be considered. The need for effective and efficient models for land use optimization is evident from the above discussion as the core content. In order to comprehensively fulfill all the requirements, the understanding of the sustainability of land use is translated into eight objectives to form the Multi-objective Optimization of Land Use (MOLU) model. Furthermore, an efficient model named Boundary based Fast Genetic Algorithm (BFGA) using goal programming is employed in the multi-objective optimization in Tongzhou Newtown. This algorithm is especially efficient for land use optimization problems derived from its special boundary based operators. Furthermore, considering the characteristics of planning support process and these two models mentioned above, the interactive spatial land use optimization prototype with a friendly interface and a simplified 3D visualization module could be established, thus yielding good effects and potential to support the planning process in the study area. Finally, in light of the study results and limitations, some directions are also provided for future research.
Land use optimization, a kind of resource allocation, can be defined as the process of allocating different land use categories (e.g., residential, commercial, and industrial, etc.) to specific units of area within a region. As one of the most popular words nowadays, sustainable development can be viewed as a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investment, the orientation of technological development and institutional change are all harmonized. Sustainability is, hence, an important and imminent societal goal for land use planning. Land use optimization involves the active planning of land for future use by people to provide for their needs. In this thesis, the central goal is to develop a sustainable land use optimization prototype to enrich the field of planning support with regard to sustainability.
Cao, Kai.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-04, Section: A, page: .
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-139).
Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Abstract also in Chinese.

Tese de doutoramento em Engenharia Civil, no ramo de sistemas de transporte, apresentada ao Departamento de Engenharia Civil da Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra
This thesis explores the potentials of optimization for land-use/transportation policy-making purposes. Fundamentally, the research aimed to design an approach that generates efficient maps (solutions) to respond to specific land-use/transportation policy objectives. In this context, unlike simulation based land-use/transportation models which vastly employ trial and error, the purpose was to design an optimization approach which directly guarantees the efficiency of solutions. The mixed-integer optimization model upon which the approach is based has multiple objectives and is aimed at determining land use allocations and transportation infrastructure developments taking into account current form and future demographic changes at municipality level. The objectives of the optimization model are defined to address issues such as accessibility of population to jobs and services, suitability of land units to particular land-use types, compatibility of adjacent land-use types and utilization of existing infrastructure. The model makes special emphasis to the interactions between transportation and land-use. In addition to the development of the model, this thesis explores potential solution methods. Initially, the optimization model is solved using a branch and bound method. In general, the computational effort requirement for this method is high. For that reason, a heuristic method, genetic algorithm, is developed. The quality of algorithm parameters and that of solutions are assessed. The heuristic method provides optimum and near optimum solutions with much smaller computational efforts. The proposed approach was tested for hypothetical cities as well as for the municipality of Coimbra (Portugal). Results suggest that the approach can be of great practical utility as planning support tool in land-use/transportation policy-making processes, in the search for efficient solutions that also care for equity concerns in spatial development.
Esta tese explora as possibilidades da otimização para ajudar no estabelecimento de planos integrados de usos de solos e transportes. Fundamentalmente, a investigação em que se apoia teve por propósito definir soluções (mapas) eficientes para responder a objetivos específicos em matéria de usos de solo e transportes. Ao contrário do que acontece com abordagens de simulação, cuja aplicação envolve processos de tentativa e erro, a otimização permite obter diretamente as referidas soluções para as hipóteses adotadas. A abordagem proposta tem por base um modelo otimização inteiro-misto que permite determinar a utilização a dar aos solos de uma cidade e as evoluções da respetiva rede de transportes que mais bem permitem responder as crescimento demográfico esperado tendo em conta três objetivos: a adequação dos usos do solo às características físicas dos terrenos; a compatibilidade do uso dado a cada parcela de terreno com o das parcelas adjacentes; e a acessibilidade agregada aos empregos e serviços disponíveis na cidade. Para resolver o modelo, que é do tipo inteiro linear, recorreu-se inicialmente ao método de branch-and-bound. No entanto, verificou-se que o esforço computacional correspondente seria muito elevado, tornando impossível a utilização do modelo em muitas situações reais. Assim, para estas situações, foi desenvolvido um algoritmo genético. O algoritmo e os respectivos parâmetros foram avaliados, concluindo-se que através da respectiva aplicação é possível encontrar soluções ótimas ou quase-ótimas com um esforço computacional muito mais reduzido. A abordagem desenvolvida foi testada em cidades hipotéticas e no município de Coimbra (Portugal). Os resultados obtidos sugerem claramente que ela pode ser de grande utilidade como instrumento de apoio em processos de planeamento de usos de solo e transportes, na procura de soluções eficientes que também tenham em conta preocupações de equidade no desenvolvimento do território.
FCT - SFRH/BD/33742/2009

碩士
朝陽科技大學
環境工程與管理系碩士班
94
Limited land resources and expensive land cost in Taiwan has made managers to search cheaper lands to reduce their investment. Rapid development in hillsides resulted in a series natural disasters. Facing the problems, the government in Taiwan is searching the strategies for optimal land management. This research used Techi reservoir as a case and proposed a systematic methodology based on U/L ratio evaluation, geographic information system(GIS) and linear programming to provide an integrated planning for sustainable land use. In which U/L ratio evaluation and GIS were used for the identification of degraded lands, and then the linear programming was proceeded to achieve an optimal management plan.

The spatial planning of land use is the process of allocating different uses or activities to specific areas in a region and is the core content of land use planning systems. Land use planning is increasingly becoming complex because of the multifaceted problems it faces, such as guaranteeing economic growth, maintaining social equity, and preserving the environment. These objectives present conflicting demands from various land use groups and interest groups. The increased inclusion of objectives leads to different demands on the expected results. Moreover, the increased complexity of land use planning problems is influenced by the involvement and definition of multiple objectives. These objectives may be unstructured, nonlinear, and difficult to handle. Within this context, computer-based techniques have been developed to assist planners in decision making. Among all of the techniques, multi-objective optimization (MOO) approaches are the most well-known techniques in addressing multi-objective problems in land use planning. MOO approaches have successfully accomplished significant achievements. However, literature shows that some spatially-related environmental objectives, such as carbon emission, non-point source pollution, and soil erosion, are missing because of the difficulty in evaluating, analyzing, and measuring such complex land use objectives.
The land use planning process in China is divided into a series of land use plans at different levels. Among these plans, the municipal overall land use plan and the urban master plan are involved in managing the land use resources in a city. The municipal overall land use plan administers the urban and non-urban areas in an administrative scope, whereas the urban master plan focuses only on the development of urban areas. These two types of land use plans are conducted by two different government departments. These plans are usually inconsistent, particularly in terms of space.
Considering the spatial inconsistency between the municipal overall land use plan and urban master plan in China, a MOO-based two-level spatial planning of land use is conducted. The spatial planning aims at managing and coordinating the land use at different geographic extents and involves spatial layouts and structures of land use at different levels. In spatial planning, the geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) are used to evaluate, analyze, and measure environmental, economic, and social issues with regard to the spatial land use change. The quantitative relationships between these objectives and spatial land use allocation are then used as rules in the MOO process to simulate environmental conditions under different spatial land use allocation scenarios.
Shenzhen, a rapidly developing city in China, is selected as the case study area to validate the proposed approach. The objectives and constraints in the spatial planning of land use are defined at two different levels based on the land use principles, local and national policies in China, and characteristics of Shenzhen. At the first level, nine objectives are proposed, namely, maximizing economic benefit, maximizing ecosystem services value, minimizing soil erosion, minimizing non-point source pollution, minimizing carbon emission, maximizing compatibility, minimizing change cost, maximizing accessibility, and minimizing landslide susceptibility. The objectives of spatial planning of land use at the urban level are subsequently proposed, as follows: maximizing housing capacity, maximizing employment capacity, minimizing changing cost, minimizing pollution from industrial lands, maximizing mixed land uses, maximizing green space, maximizing accessibility, maximizing compatibility, and maximizing spatial equity. The proposed spatial-related objectives are quantified by GIS.
Results indicated that the MOO-based two-level spatial planning can create trade-offs among the conflicting objectives, and a set of Pareto solutions is provided as options for decision makers or planners. Moreover, the MOO-based two-level spatial planning can generate a consistent land use planning system for Shenzhen.
土地利用空間規劃通過對土地的空間位置及結構的調配以達到土地資源的合理利用.一個良好的土地利用規劃需滿足各方面的要求及目標,例如確保經濟增長的同時,保證社會公平,同時也保護環境的可持續發展.但由於社會各界對土地利用有不同的利益訴求,導致規劃中出現眾多相互衝突但不矛盾的目標.此外,土地利用規劃目標常常是空間相關的,這些空間相關目標具有非結構性,非線性的特點,使得整個土地利用規劃過程更加複雜.在這種情況下,電腦支援技術成為實際規劃中不可或缺的工具之一.在所有技術中,多目標優化模型已經被廣泛的應用于解決土地利用規劃中的多目標問題.多目標優化模型已經在土地利用規劃領域取得了大量有意義的成果.然後,現有研究往往關注土地利用結構,而忽視複雜而難以定義的土地空間問題,例如城市熱島,非點源污染,土壤侵蝕.
在中國,土地利用規劃系統由一系列不同空間層次的規劃組成.在中國土地利用規劃系統中,市(地)級土地利用總體規劃和城市總體規劃主要關注某個城市的土地資源配置佈局問題.市(地)級土地利用總體規劃管理整個市(地)行政範圍內的土地資源,包括城市用地及非城市用地;然而城市總體規劃僅關注建成區及規劃區範圍內的土地資源.同時,這兩種規劃由不同的政府部門設定並統籌實施,這導致了兩規劃在空間範圍的不一致性.
考慮到市(地)級土地利用總體規劃和城市總體規劃在空間上的不一致性,本研究提出了一個基於多目標優化的兩層土地利用空間規劃模型,並主要關注土地資源的空間佈局.在空間規劃中,地理資訊系統及遙感技術被用來評價,分析和衡量在土地利用變化下的環境目標.不同目標與空間土地利用變化之間的量化模型將作為多目標優化模型中的規則,用以類比不同土地利用情景下的各種目標實現情況.
深圳作為一個高速發展並經歷土地利用迅速變化的城市被選為本研究的案例研究區.深圳市土地利用空間規劃的目標和限制條件被分為兩個層次,一個市(地)級土地利用總體規劃層次和另一個城市總體規劃層次.這些目標和限制條件基於已有的土地利用規劃方法,中國土地利用相關法律法規及深圳市發展背景來確定.在市(地)級土地利用總體規劃層次,定義了九個目標,分別是經濟利益最大化,生態服務價值最大化,土壤侵蝕最小,非點源污染最小,碳排放最小,地塊之間相容性最大,土地利用變化最小,可達性最大及滑坡危害最小. 在城市總體規劃層次,定義了如下目標:住房最大化,就業最大化,綠地最大化,可達性最大,城市土地利用地塊見相容性最大,公平性最大.所有這些目標可通過統計模型,地理資訊系統技術實現其量化.
研究結果表明,本研究所提出的兩層次土地利用規劃能夠協調各個相互衝突的目標,並且為決策者和規劃師提供一系列Pareto解.同時,基於多目標優化的兩層次空間土地利用規劃能夠為深圳提供一個保持一致性的土地利用系統.
Zhang, Wenting.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 169-184).
Abstracts also in Chinese.
Title from PDF title page (viewed on 16, November, 2016).
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.

碩士
國立東華大學
自然資源管理研究所
85
A number of mathematical models have been developed to estimate thesoil erosion and sediment yield. The Agricultural Non-point Source Pollution Model (AGNPS) is one useful model that has been employed to predict erosion, sediment yield and water quality indices such as nitrogenous and phosphatic concentration. The main purpose of the study is to simulate the soil erosion of land use changes in the Shuli watershed.In addition, the optimal allocation of land use are analyzed under the constraints of allowable soil erosion and economic benefits of crop production. There are four given situations in my simulation. Firstly, if the forest covers the entire slope areas (over 45%), the soil erosion and sediment yield will decrease by 79.6% and 67%, respectively, comparing with current state. Secondly, when the area of slope greater than 45% is covered with bentel nut, the soil erosion will increase 161% more than current state, while the net sediment yield increases 42%. Thirdly, the restricted area in Shuli watershed is not totally covered with forest. If the whole area is covered with forest, the magnitude of soil erosion would be decreasing by 70%, and net sediment yield would be decreasing by 45%. Finally, although the area of reservoir buffer strip have quite a small portion comparing to the whole Shuli watershed, it is important to the watershed in terms of sedimentation prevention. If the reservoir buffer strip is covered by bentel nut, the magnitude of soil erosion would be increased by 32%, and net sediment yield would be increased by 14% than current states. Therefore, if the areas of the slope greater than 45%, the restricted area, and reservoir buffer strip would be covered with forest, the watershed management in Shuli watershed would have a significant improvement in soil erosion and sediment yield. An integer programming is employed for maximization analysis. Total crop benefits, subtracting from on-site erosion costs are set objective function, constrained by allowable soil erosion. As the result, the most significant factor that decides the optimal land use allocation is the contemporary crop benefits.

abstract: In the recent past, Iraq was considered relatively rich considering its water resources compared to its surroundings. Currently, the magnitude of water resource shortages in Iraq represents an important factor in the stability of the country and in protecting sustained economic development. The need for a practical, applicable, and sustainable river basin management for the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Iraq is essential. Applicable water resources allocation scenarios are important to minimize the potential future water crises in connection with water quality and quantity. The allocation of the available fresh water resources in addition to reclaimed water to different users in a sustainable manner is of the urgent necessities to maintain good water quantity and quality. In this dissertation, predictive water allocation optimization models were developed which can be used to easily identify good alternatives for water management that can then be discussed, debated, adjusted, and simulated in greater detail. This study provides guidance for decision makers in Iraq for potential future conditions, where water supplies are reduced, and demonstrates how it is feasible to adopt an efficient water allocation strategy with flexibility in providing equitable water resource allocation considering alternative resource. Using reclaimed water will help in reducing the potential negative environmental impacts of treated or/and partially treated wastewater discharges while increasing the potential uses of reclaimed water for agriculture and other applications. Using reclaimed water for irrigation is logical and efficient to enhance the economy of farmers and the environment while providing a diversity of crops, especially since most of Iraq’s built or under construction wastewater treatment plants are located in or adjacent to agricultural lands. Adopting an optimization modelling approach can assist decision makers, ensuring their decisions will benefit the economy by incorporating global experiences to control water allocations in Iraq especially considering diminished water supplies.
Dissertation/Thesis
Doctoral Dissertation Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering 2019

碩士
國立中央大學
土木工程學系在職專班
101
Owing to the limitied available land resources in urban areas, urban land develoment needs to be well planned in order to make the most land resources in a best efficient use of what is available. When decision makers make judgement calls based on their own experience, it can result in decreased effiency of land develoment .They should instead use proper scientific models to achieve maximum profitability of land development objectives. Through this research, we hope to find a way to plan overall development to maximize the benefits which can help land development decision-making. Various incentive programs should be utilized to allow,also personnel assigned to and working on these projects to enjoy the largest gains possible in investment returns conducted under the assignment of personnel and for decision-making process sequence optimization.The applicability of the model is verified.This study used EXCEL to formulate floor area of development locations, land acquisition cost, total floor area of building, cost of construction per pin, and sales price to input into LINGO 12 to obtain solution for optimal development result. and price per pin, etc. , Using a mutiple development project as an example with personnel and land resources invested. Calculations are carried out with a mathematical optimization model to obtain maximum benefit from volume incentives for the development projects as our goal., The test results are then compared with the simulation experience and decision-making sensitivity analysis and useing various simulation programs.Therefore,this study can help decision makes control land development and decide on award conditions, in development decisions when determining with project participation strategies for land development.

碩士
國立成功大學
都市計劃學系碩博士班
101
Due to the global climate change, momentarily high intensive rainfalls happened frequently in the recent years, and it further resulted in the higher flood risk in the mountain areas. Recently, under the global climate change, it is more difficult to keep the land stable, in addition to the geographical location, the high flood risk areas are more easily threatened by natural catastrophes than the plains. Considering the importance and complexity of the land use in these areas, it needs a new land use planning approach which is different from those applied in the general areas. In that way, not only the existing socio-economic level in these areas can be maintained, but also the impact of natural catastrophes can be reduced. In the past, there were a lot of researches on the land use in high flood risk areas. But most of them focused merely on one or two aspects, few had considered comprehensively the constructing framework of land use planning in these areas. On the other hand, though we often use traditional mathematic planning to construct the model of land use as an optimal approach, the results can not be reflected to geographical map, so that the outcomes of this optimal approach are not practical for the land use planner. Therefore this study tries to combine the geographic information system and mathematical programming to construct a multi-objective spatial optimization model. This study constructs a multi-objective spatial optimization model and the case study of this model is in Tsengwen Reservoir Watershed. According to urban development, this study creates three scenarios to find the difference of land use pattern. The result shows that each scenario can improve the total values and indicators well. Through transforming rate, it also can adjust the land use pattern. Additionally, through mapping overlay, we can find that the built up area far from disaster area after optimization. Therefore, this multi-objective spatial optimization model can indeed improve existing land use pattern which can respond to the impact of climate change and human activities in the future.

This dissertation investigates three economic aspects of the climate change issue: optimal allocation of investment between adaptation and mitigation, impacts on a ground water dependent regional agricultural economy and effects on global food insecurity. This is done in three essays by applying mathematical programming. In the first essay, a modeling study is done on optimal temporal investment between climate change adaptation and mitigation considering their relative contributions to damage reduction and diversion of funds from consumption and other investments. To conduct this research, we extend the widely used Integrated Assessment Model?DICE (Dynamic Integrated Climate Economy) adding improved adaptation modeling. The model results suggest that the joint implementation of adaptation and mitigation is welfare improving with a greater immediate role for adaptation. In the second essay, the research focuses on the ground water dependent agricultural economy in the Texas High Plains Region. A regionally detailed dynamic land allocation model is developed and applied for studying interrelationships between limited natural resources (e.g. land and groundwater), climate change, bioenergy demands and agricultural production. We find out that the effect varies regionally across hydrologically heterogeneous regions. Also, water availability has a substantial impact on feedstock mix. In terms of biofuel feedstock production, the model results show that limited water resource cannot sustain expanded corn-based ethanol production in the future. In the third essay, a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model is applied in an attempt to study potential impacts of climate change on global food insecurity. Our results show that climate change alters the number of food insecure people in a regionally different fashion over time. In general, the largest increase of additional food insecure population relative to the reference case (no climate change) is found in Africa and South Asia, while most of developed countries will benefit from climate change with a reduced proportion of food insecure population. In general, climate change affects world agricultural production and food security. Integrated adaptation and mitigation strategy is more effective in reducing climate change damages. However, there are synergies/trade-offs between these two options, particularly in regions with limited natural resources.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
Environmental planning is very cumbersome work for environmentalists, government agencies like USDA and NRCS, and farmers. There are a number of conflicts and issues involved in such a decision making process. This research is based on the work to provide a common platform for environmental planning called WRESTORE (Watershed Restoration using Spatio-Temporal Optimization of Resources). We have designed a system that can be used to provide the best management practices for environmental planning. A distributed system was designed to combine high performance computing power of clusters/supercomputers in running various environmental model simulations. The system is designed to be a multi-user system just like a multi-user operating system. A number of stakeholders can log-on and run environmental model simulations simultaneously, seamlessly collaborate, and make collective judgments by visualizing their landscapes. In the research, we identified challenges in running such a system and proposed various solutions. One challenge was the lack of fast optimization algorithm. In our research, several algorithms are utilized such as Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Learning Automaton (LA). However, the criticism is that LA has a slow rate of convergence and that both LA and GA have the problem of getting stuck in local optima. We tried to solve the multi-objective problems using LA in batch mode to make the learning faster and accurate. The problems where the evaluation of the fitness functions for optimization is a bottleneck, like running environmental model simulation, evaluation of a number of such models in parallel can give considerable speed-up. In the multi-objective LA, different weight pair solutions were evaluated independently. We created their parallel versions to make them practically faster in computation. Additionally, we extended the parallelism concept with the batch mode learning. Another challenge we faced was in User Modeling. There are a number of User Modeling techniques available. Selection of the best user modeling technique is a hard problem. In this research, we modeled user's preferences and search criteria using an ANN (Artificial Neural Network). Training an ANN with limited data is not always feasible. There are many situations where a simple modeling technique works better if the learning data set is small. We formulated ways to fine tune the ANN in case of limited data and also introduced the concept of Deep Learning in User Modeling for environmental planning system.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
Land use alterations have been major drivers for modifying hydrologic cycles in many watersheds nationwide. Imbalances in this cycle have led to unexpected or extreme changes in flood and drought patterns and intensities, severe impairment of rivers and streams due to pollutants, and extensive economic losses to affected communities. Eagle Creek Watershed (ECW) is a typical Midwestern agricultural watershed with a growing urban land-use that has been affected by these problems. Structural solutions, such as ditches and tiles, have helped in the past to reduce the flooding problem in the upland agricultural area. But these structures have led to extensive flooding and water quality problems downstream and loss of moisture storage in the soil upstream. It has been suggested that re-naturalization of watershed hydrology via a spatially-distributed implementation of non-structural and structural conservation practices, such as cover crops, wetlands, riparian buffers, grassed waterways, etc. will help to reduce these problems by improving the upland runoff (storing water temporally as moisture in the soil or in depression storages). However, spatial implementation of these upland storage practices poses hurdles not only due to the large number of possible alternatives offered by physical models, but also by the effect of tenure, social attitudes, and behaviors of landowners that could further add complexities on whether and how these practices are adopted and effectively implemented for benefits. This study investigates (a) how landowner tenure and attitudes can be used to identify promising conservation practices in an agricultural watershed, (b) how the different attitudes and preferences of stakeholders can modify the effectiveness of solutions obtained via classic optimization approaches that do not include the influence of social attitudes in a watershed, and (c) how spatial distribution of landowner tenure affects the spatial optimization of conservation practices on a watershed scale. Results showed two main preferred practices, one for an economic evaluation (filter strips) and one for an environmental perspective (wetlands). A land tenure comparison showed differences in spatial distribution of systems considering all the conservation practices. It also was observed that cash renters selected practices will provide a better cost-revenue relation than the selected optimal solution.