Land-use management and the path towards sustainability

Land-use changes have received major attention within the global environmental change debate (see Meyer and Turner II, 1994; Nijkamp, 1997; Ostrom, 1990; Parry, 1990). Major reasons for this renewed interest are the threats imposed by climate change, deforestation, desertification and in general the loss of biodiversity. In this context, sustainable land use has become an important analytical and policy issue (see Finco and Nijkamp, 1997). Land use has a peculiar economic feature in that it has a derived nature: human action (e.g., production, consumption, investment, recreation etc.) requires for its operation the use of geographical space, which in a strict sense does not have a value in itself (except as a capital asset). Economic activities are projected on geographical space in various manifestations, depending on the economic functions concerned (e.g. housing, facilities, infrastructure, agriculture, green space etc.). This spatial mapping has immediate consequences for the environmental quality conditions of an area, as there are in general spatially distinct, and hence conflicting, land-use possibilities (see also Frederick and Rosenberg, 1994; Walker, 1993). Land use also offers glaring examples of spatial environmental externalities, which in many cases may be seen as distorted and unbalanced land use, biased in favour of specific environmentally non-benign activities. These considerations justify the position of the land-use management debate at the heart of the sustainability debate (see also Turner II et al., 1995).