Land Use Planning and Management

Land use was once considered a local environmental issue, but it is now recognized as a force of global importance. In the course of providing food, water and shelter for more than six billion people worldwide, we inflicted significant damage to the planet’s forests, farmlands, waterways and air. Land use policy necessarily touches on every aspect of local government concern. Sustainable land use planning involves decisions on crosscutting and multi-layered issues that affect air quality, water quality, access to transportation options, economic vitality, and quality of life. It is critical to promote the creation and development of communities containing an array of types and uses of buildings and spaces to meet the diverse needs of residents’ daily lives. The design of our cities and rural communities can have great impacts on the quality of our air. Sprawl development isolates residential properties in areas far removed from employment centers and essential services. This, combined with neighborhood design that limits connectivity, increases dependence on the private automobile as the only means for staying connected. This vehicle dependence results in increased air emissions and long-term impacts on our air quality. Land use and land cover largely determine the type and amount of contaminants entering streams, lakes and underground waterways, including aquifers. Degradation of streams begins with as little as 10 percent impervious land cover (e.g., roads, parking lots). Therefore, land use choices and construction of impervious surfaces should be thoroughly planned with a community’s water needs in mind. The unprecedented growth in our cities and suburbs over the last 25 years has outpaced the expansion of the supporting infrastructure. The ability to expand the transportation infrastructure to meet the ever-increasing travel demands of the public continues to be a major challenge. The spatial distance between office and residential locations in the suburban community has led to increased commute times and air pollution, and decreased quality of life experiences. Land Use is the most visible of the sustainability topics. Cities with sustainable land use create an obvious balance of environmental preservation, commerce and livability. Land use and transportation are intricately connected so be sure to visit the Transportation Sustainability Principles. Land management practices have become an increasing focus because the drivers for better land use outcomes (economic, social and/or environmental) inevitably come from how land is managed. An understanding of the links between land use, land management practice and resource condition supports on-ground decisions to change land management practice, and to support sustainable land use policies and programs.