The relevance of physical forces on land-use change and planning process

Abstract

This study analysed the importance of physical forces on land-use change, on the planning framework in a Portuguese periurban area. A temporal matrix showing the trajectories of land transformation was obtained. A multivariate redundancy analysis explored the importance of physical parameters on temporal and spatial land-use change. A content analysis on urban or municipal master plans was made framing the importance of physical parameters on the planning process. The results highlighted a consistent trajectory of profound land-use changes with distinctive trajectories, with increasingly complex patterns with a limited dependence on physical variables. The trajectories were more related to the planning framework, where political actors and planning managers seemed to be most important. A theoretical model balancing three main components – physical forces, actors, and land transformation (DFA-C model) is proposed, reflecting the informal relationships between physical parameters and actors during the planning process.

Keywords:

• land-use change
• physical parameters
• planning framework
• RDA

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank E. Marchante and C. Morais for their help with statistical analysis. We also thank E. Rodrigues for her help with GIS. The authors are grateful to the two anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions which helped improve the quality of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.