Land cover data as environmentally sensitive decision-making mediator in territorial and administrative reform

Abstract

This paper presents a multi-criteria conceptual framework for decision-making processes during Territorial and Administrative Reform (TAR) relying on sustainable development principles. In general, TAR processes highly consider socio-cultural and economic factors, but they lack responsiveness to environmental dynamics of the context. While this practice achieves a fair allocation of the new administrative units’ centers, the border defining criteria are indistinct. Thus, we turn a spotlight on the environmental factors as fundamental criteria in TAR decision-making processes, especially the boundary definition stage. Topography, watershed, land cover, and natural conservation areas are among the proposed environmental measures. The research makes a real case of land cover data utilization as environmentally sensitive decision-making mediator. First, the CORINE Land Cover (CLC) data of 2012 serves as an evaluation criteria of the recent TAR (2014) in Albanian territory, based on the landscape fragmentation caused by the new spatial division. Second, the CLC data generates an alternative municipal boundary of the Albanian capital. The results show that a TAR process not taking into account the environmental criteria leads to functionally disconnected territories which in the long run may lead to physically fragmented natural landscapes. Furthermore, the new alignment for municipal borders of Tirana shows a successful result in minimizing natural landscape fragmentation caused by local administrative boundaries. The proposed multi-criteria conceptual framework and the application via CLC utilization presents a methodical approach which may assist decision-making processes of TAR in other developing countries, conform sustainable territorial management principles.

Keywords:

• cross-border landscapes
• landscape fragmentation
• environmental conservation
• sustainable landscape management
• environmental boundary
• CORINE land cover
• Albania

Public Interest Statement

TAR is a crucial decision-making process, having direct impact on social, economic, and environmental aspects in both national and local levels. A tangible outcome of TAR is the territorial subdivision of the national lands into local administrative units. In general, during decision-making process of TAR, the social and economic factors are being highly considered, but the environmental ones are neglected. This practice leads to conflictual relationship between the administrative border line and natural landscapes. The split administrative competences, over the same natural surface separated by the border line, may cause landscape fragmentation, which leads to natural lands degradation. This study, first, analyzes the recent TAR in Albania quantifying landscape fragmentation caused by the current territorial subdivision. Furthermore, it presents a method to use land cover data as a guide to define new local administrative borders to minimize natural landscapes’ fragmentation.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the European Environment Agency, for providing the open source Corine Land Cover data utilized as the raw material of the presented model. Further on, the authors are grateful to Hayriye Eşbah Tunçay and B. Niyami Nayim for their continuous guidance. This research study has been made in support of the PhD thesis of the contact author in the Graduate School of Science, Engineering, and Technology at Istanbul Technical University.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no direct funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Artan Hysa

Artan Hysa is an architect by education. He is a PhD candidate at Istanbul Technical University, Department of Landscape Architecture, currently being at the very final stage of his doctoral studies. This article is prepared within the scope of his PhD dissertation entitled “Utilizing CORINE Land Cover in Diverse Spatial Decision Making and Management Processes.” His research activity is driven by an interest on the utility of cross-disciplinary knowledge in problem-oriented research.

Fatma Ayçim Türer Başkaya

Fatma Aycim Turer Baskaya is an associate professor at Istanbul Technical University, Department of Landscape Architecture. She is the coordinator of the landscape architecture master and PhD programs at the Graduate School of Science, Engineering and Technology, ITU. Her research areas are Coastal Landscape Planning and Design, Disaster Sensitive Landscape Architecture, Landscape Reclamation and Restoration, and GIS Based Landscape Studies.